Situational Crime Prevention Strategies

Routine activity theory states that for a crime to be committed, three important factors need to be present including: a motivated offender, an accessible target, and the absence of a capable guardian against a violation. Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen introduced the routine activity theory in 1979, where they believed that an individual who has these three characteristics gives them a greater possibility of committing a crime. Moreover, situational crime prevention is known as strategies of ways for preventing or reducing the opportunities for criminals to commit crimes that derive from the routines of an individual’s everyday life. Ronald V. Clarke introduced situational crime prevention theory in 1983, where he believed that removing the situation instead of removing the criminal could prevent crime. In this paper, I will be discussing what routine activity/situational crime prevention theory is, and apply two peer-reviewed articles from Google Scholar that test the routine activity/situational crime prevention theory by discussing what the authors are trying to figure out and discuss their findings, and lastly, tie the routine activity/situational crime prevention theory articles to our textbook in hopes to fully understand in depth what the theory encompasses.

In crime, there are two types of prevention, Situational and Social crime prevention. Situational crime prevention makes it harder for people to commit crimes without being caught. Situational strategies of crime prevention may include CCTV cameras which are great for proving that a person committed the crime but do not stop the crime completely. Soial crime prevention strategies include putting children into schooling to prevent them from living on the street and committing

To begin with, criminal justice is a system that is designed to maintain social control, which means it is a necessary aspect of every society since “Laws are the conditions under which independent and isolated men united to form a society” (Beccaria, 1764: 16). In order words, crime control deals with the methods that are taken by a society to reduce its crime. As a matter of fact, there are various crime control strategies from community policing to risk assessments. In addition to the different tactics for controlling crime, there are several theories that not only attempt to explain the causes of crime, but also outline different ways to handle offenders; for example, deterrence, rehabilitation, and even retribution.

Ron Clark describes situational crime prevention as ‘a pre-emptive approach that relies, not on improving society or its institutions, but simple on reducing opportunities for crime’. He identifies three features of measures aimed at situational crime prevention, firstly that they

Routine activity theory was first proposed by Cohen and Felson in trying to address the rise of criminal rates in the 1970s within a social context. This theory attempts to explain the possibility of crime that is influenced by our daily routines,

It is unfortunate that crime exists in our daily lives. There really is no way to stopping crime completely, no matter how many laws or punishment are present, people will continue to keep breaking rules. There are many theories of why that may be the case, for example, Caesar Lombroso and his “atavistic” theory with the Positivist School theory and how people were “born criminals”, or the Rational Choice Theory, devised by Cornish and Clarke, described that people could think rationally and how people will naturally avoid pain and seek pleasure referred to as “hedonism” (Cartwright, 2017, lecture 4). Since it is apparent that crime will continue to exist, it is not only important to understand the study of crime and the feedbacks to it,

Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson (1979) expanded on these principles and introduced routine activities theory as an ecological perspective on criminal behavior. Furthermore, the quintessence of routine activity theory is the assertion that there are three necessary components that must be present for crime to occur: the motivated offender(s) (individuals seeking/able/willing to commit offenses), presence of

In modern America, a primary goal of the criminal justice system is to prevent crime as a means to protect and safeguard the rights of the general public. It is important to note that crime prevention consists of many objectives, including the deterrence and reduction of crime. Nowadays, a plethora of criminal justice agencies have worked to establish strategies, through the agency of public policy, to avert crime. Certainly, some tactics have proven to be more effective than others. In particular, early intervention is extremely efficient and effective in targeting distinct risk factors that may lead to felonious behavior. Therefore, the criminal justice system should principally operate through early intervention tactics because such programs

Following this study, there were two derivatives of the Chicago School theory (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). The first is the situational crime prevention theory, this theory examines the opportunities to commit a crime which is attributed to Robert Clarke. The theory placed an emphasis on poorly designed structures, moreover, the

The crime control model is the “perspective that emphasizes the efficient arrest and conviction of criminal offenders” (Schmalleger, 2015, p. 22). A few of the underlying ideas of this model are keeping public order, preventing future crimes, and controlling unacceptable

Situational crime prevention constitutes primary crime prevention measure. This is to say that it is aimed at deterring crime before it occurs. Situational prevention, like other similar primary prevention measures, focuses on subduing crime opportunities instead of the attributes of criminals or even potential criminals. It seeks to curtail opportunities for certain groups of crime by increasing the risks and difficulties associated with them and significantly reducing the rewards. Situational prevention is made up of three key elements: a sound theoretical framework, an authoritative methodology for dealing with specific crimes, and a collection of opportunity-reducing approaches (Felson & Clarke, 1997).

Situational crime prevention grounded in the reasonable choice perspective in that it controls no less than one segment to change the open entryways for wrongdoing and in this manner change the essential authority of potential blameworthy gatherings. To the extent standard activities theory, situational wrongdoing abhorrence can be viewed as the parts by which controllers (i.e., guards, put chiefs, and handlers) dishearten wrongdoing. Over the span of late decades, pros and criminal value specialists alike have used the strategies for situational crime prevention to fathom wrongdoing issues, make interventions, and survey the reasonability of those mediations. Situational wrongdoing foresight was proposed to address uncommonly specific sorts of wrongdoing by efficiently controlling or managing the incite condition in as enduring a way as could be normal considering the present situation, with the explanation behind decreasing open entryways for wrongdoing as observed by a broad assortment of blameworthy gatherings. Situational crime prevention strategies focus on sufficiently changing open door structures of a particular wrongdoing by growing the undertakings, extending the threats, diminishing the prizes, reducing inductions, and removing pardons. All finished, situational crime prevention techniques change the event decision by modifying the liable party's impression of a specific criminal open entryway. Regardless, it should be seen that a blameworthy gathering's

The Routine Activities theory was developed by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson and is derived from rational choice theory (Walsh & Hemmens, p. 122). Cohen and Felson claim that crime is the result of “(a) motivated offenders meeting (b) suitable targets that lack (c) capable guardians” (Walsh & Hemmens, p. 123). The Routine Activities theory is used to explain not only crime rates but also risk of victimization. It is closely related to Lifestyle theory and often combined with it.

There are many theories that attempt to explain the cause of criminal events. One such theory is routine activity theory developed by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson in 1979. This theory was meant to fill the gaps in existing models that failed to adequately address rising crime rates during the 1960 's (Browning et al., 2000). Cohen and Felson suggested that crime should be thought of as an event that occurs at a specific location and time and involves specific people and/or objects (Felson,

The focus of this paper will be based upon different crime prevention strategies implemented by members of the communities, local and government authorities.