Situational Crime Prevention Theory Of Crime

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.

This essay will outline how crime theories are able to assist in recognizing the causes of criminal activity, as well as demonstrating two criminological theories to two particular crimes. Overviews of trends, dimensions and victim/offenders characteristics of both crime groups will be specified. The two particular crimes that will be demonstrated throughout this essay are; Violent Crime (focusing on Assault) being linked with social learning theory and White Collar crime (focusing on terrorism) being linked to General Strain theory. In criminology, determining the motive of why people commit crimes is crucial. Over the years, many theories have been developed and they continue to be studied as criminologists pursue the best answers in eventually diminishing certain types of crime including assaults and terrorism, which will be focused on.

Summary: This chapter discusses the seven secondary defenses applied to crime after detection. These seven defenses can be split into two categories: discourage and oppose. The four ways which potential victims discourage their attackers: movement away from adversary, communicate ability to escape, distraction, feigns, and startles, and symbiotic protection. The three methods for quick opposition upon attack are chemical and weapon defense, sudden weaponry, and emergency social defense.

Deterrence theory of crime is a method in which punishment is used to dissuade people from committing crimes. There are two types of deterrence: general and specific. General deterrence is punishment to an individual to stop the society as a whole from committing crimes. In other word, it is using the punishment as an example to “scare” society from precipitating in criminal acts. Under general deterrence, publicity is a major part of deterrence. Crime and their punishments being showing in the media or being told person to person can be used to deter crime. Specific deterrence is punishment to the individual to stop that individual from committing other crimes in the future. This type of deterrence is used to teach the individual a

For one to believe in situational crime prevention one must understand the ideas and assumptions behind rational choice theory. Rational choice theory states that “individuals make decisions on whether to commit an offense based on an array of inputs including, effort involved, the potential payoff, the degree of peer support for the action, the risk of apprehension, and punishment.” Situational crime prevention aims to hinder the offender 's ability to see positive inputs that would lead them to committing a crime. One idea behind rational choice theory is the concept of a “Crime Script.” A crime script could be

Humans are complicated creatures. I proclaim that we are innately curious about everything. What, why, how, when are questions that constantly circulate in our minds. These questions then encourage us, naturally, to search for the answers. This is true in the area of crime and criminal behavior as well. Criminological theory attempts to describe why and how crime transpires by studying the countless social factors that influence someone to commit crimes. These theories are then supposed to explain both the understandings and roots of crime. Abstract outlooks offer an image of what something is and the best way of addressing that particular subject. In this section of the course we have explored different author’s sociological perspectives in the realm of theory. Each aim to explain why people engage in crime, but I will focus my attention on anomie/strain theories. First, I will provide a short summary of Merton’s anomie theory, Messner and Rosenfeld’s institutional-anomie theory and Agnew’s general strain theory. Next, I will take some time to highlight the strength or usefulness of the theories, with some critique, but mostly focusing on the positive value. Lastly, I will use the biological example of William Freeman and explain how the strain theory is directly relational.

The issue of whether decision making by criminals is a rational process is a heated topic of discussion when one asserts that crime is the role of choice. Before the classical school of criminology, crime was thought to be the product of the paranormal occurrence of demons, witches, ghouls, and other creatures. The time prior to the classical school of criminology, called the preclassical era, is divided in two parts. Before the time of state intervention into private matters, each individual dealt with violations of their rights. This was a problem because of the continuous cycle of violence being perpetuated. Soon the State (and even the Church) took on the task of dispensing law and order to the masses of the Middle Ages. This led to a

In this week reading highlight a number of theories, in which offenders are typically committing crimes. My selection is routine activity-theory. The reason for the selection is that it covers a broad aspect as to why theories routine crimes occurred. An example is when vehicle burglary is reported and in almost 9 out of 10 it could have been prevented if item was not left in plain view. Besides, other aspects are the offenders’ determination to commit their crimes, and precisely vulnerability and insufficient protection probably play a huge part as well. Every offender may have a unique motivation as to why he or she breaks the law. However, a common motive is to get money from stolen property. Furthermore, poor neighborhood and lack of opportunity

Physical enhancements and beautification of a neighborhood are important components of both increasing the perception of safety and reducing real crime. The environmental design, conditions around a place and how the place is used can lend opportunity for crime to occur (Taylor, 2002). Crime is everywhere and will forever exist as long as there are people in the world. Socio-ecnomic background, ethnicity and geographic location does not change the presence of crime. Research on environmental criminology has concluded that geographic location and buildings architectural features and design have much to contribute to offenders’ opportunity for criminial activity and victimization in a community.

The view of my classmate was that demonic and classical theories addressed crime with methods that were brutal and torturous and I responded that the method of the deterrence theory was similar in that it wants severe, and swift punishment in accordance to the crime committed but without the brutal and torturous treatment.

One significant idea that focuses on the decision to commit crime is deterrence theory. Concepts of deterrence reflect the use of punishments that are swift, severe, and certain to control crime (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball, 2015). Deterrence theory assumes that individuals make a rational decision to either obey or break the law after calculating the costs and benefits of engaging in crime (Lilly et al., 2015). Typically, when the cost of the crime outweighs the benefits, individuals are likely to avoid criminal conduct. Although society continues to push for more severe sanctions, such as, mandatory minimums or capital punishment, research provides that these techniques fail at deterring crime (CITE). Therefore, the certainty of punishment more

Whilst it has been shown that there are a large number of examples of successful crime prevention strategies it also have been presented some critics regarding these approaches and their challenges to implementation. For an even better knowledge of these strategies and their application in workplace crime it is necessary that the study of crime prevention evolves in a manner that will permit to the opportunity reduction techniques to be developed and refined. Morgan (2012) also concluded that even if the importance of evidence-based crime prevention and the quality of evaluations that have been conducted has been recognised more and more it is still necessary to find the best ways through which these methods work on the ground and make better use of the available evidence. Schneider (2014, p.59) has claimed that “strong empirical evidence linking ‘design and prevent’ is yet to be developed and those who blithely report that certain interventions can prevent crime are usually overstating the case”. The next step is the debate of research needed to increase the understanding of crime prevention in order to be effective and sustainable (Department of Criminology, 2016) and to clearly demonstrate that crime prevention is not

As the nineties began, the general theory of crime became the most prominent criminological theory ever proposed; furthermore, it is empirically recognized as the primary determinant in deviant and criminal behaviors. Known also as the self-control theory, the general theory of crime can most simply be defined as the absence or lack of self-control that an individual possesses, which in turn may lead them to commit unusual and or unlawful deeds. Authored by educator Michael R. Gottfredson and sociologist Travis Hirschi, A General Theory of Crime (1990) essentially “dumbed down” every theory of crime into two words, self-control. The widely accepted book holds that low self-control is the main reason that a person initiates all crimes, ranging from murder and rape to burglary and embezzlement. Gottfredson and Hirschi also highlighted, in A General Theory of Crime (1990), that low self-control correlates with personal impulsivity. This impulsive attitude leads individuals to become insensitive to deviant behaviors such as smoking, drinking, illicit sex, and gambling (p. 90). The extreme simplicity, yet accuracy, of Gottfredson’s and Hirschi’s general theory of crime (self-control theory), make it the most empirically supported theory of criminal conduct, as well as deviant acts.

Brandon Welsh, in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, and David Farrington, in the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge, wrote that they consider Crime and Human Nature to be an extremely important book in the history of criminological thought (Welsh and Farrington, 2013). One of the reasons for this point of view is that when the book was published in the mid 1980s most criminologists clearly preferred sociological explanations for how people behaved. That is, they tended to see structural or societal forces as strongly influencing the behavior – especially the criminal behavior – of individuals. As Delisi put in 2011, “The psychology of individuals, and certainly the inner-working

Another theory that has been contributed to the prevention of crime is that of cognitive behavioral therapy for both juveniles and adults. The main focus of behavioral therapy according to Clark (2011), therapy has played a key role in reducing recidivism rates among juvenile prisoners, violent offenders, and substance abuse. Clark states in his work that the therapy assumes the patients can be conscious of their own behavior and thoughts, and thus able to make a change of a positive nature. This emphasis on the prevention of crime is extremely useful, due to the reduction of recidivism. By reducing recidivism you can know worry more about rehabilitation of the offender, and not having to come up with new methods and resources for stopping them.