Paper 1 criminiolgy - Grade: B PDF

Preview

Summary

Essay theories chapter 1 through 3...

Description

Jailyn Willis 09/21/21 Criminology Tuesday and Thursday 10:30-11:45 Professor Liang Paper 1

The Routine Activities Theory is the view that an individual’s daily activities can affect his or her chances of becoming a crime victim, the routine crimes theory assumes that crime is more likely when three factors are simultaneously present, motivated offenders, attractive targets, and an absence of guardianship such as police, bystanders, or even a dog (Barkan,2018). Routine Activity theory looks at a crime from an offender’s point of view. A crime will only happen if the offender thinks the target is suitable or the guardian is absent. Routine and lifestyle theories devolved about the same time in 1970s, Routine activity emphasis the habits, lifestyle, and behavioral patterns of potential crime victims enhances their contact with offenders and thereby increase the chances that crimes will occur (Barkan,2018). Routine activity is one of the main theories in environmental criminology, routine activity as a crime prevention focuses on the essential elements that make up a crime, this theory provides the proper evidence to prevent crimes through altering at least one of the three factors either the offenders, the target or the guardianship who can prevent the crime from happening. They use two sets of reasoning to help understand two important trends in crime and victimization: (1) different victimization rates for various categories of people, such as a young versus old and (2) the increased US crime rate during the 1960s even though poverty and unemployment fell during the decade. These don’t necessarily mean that the information is incompatible with the traditional steps and procedures, but its focus is different which has made it an important part of the environmental criminology.

1

Routine Activity theory provides a Marco perspective on crime in that it predicts how changes in social and economic conditions influence the overall crime and victimization rate. (Felson and Cohen,1980) Postulate that criminal activities are a “structurally significant phenomenon,” meaning that violations are neither random nor trivial events (390). Cohen and Felson (1979) reasoned the routine activities inside or near one’s home result in less victimization than activities that occur away from home. When people are at home, they are safter from burglary, because they provide guardianship for their home, and they are also saft\er from robbery and some other crimes, because they are not out in public providing attractive target for motivated offenders. Many older criminology theories states that crime is related to the poverty rate in the community, if poverty goes down then the crime rate goes down, but the mystery was that between the 1950s and the 1790s poverty went down, yet the crime rate went up the opposite of what theorist thought in the beginning. Routine Activity has a crime triangle, the tringle consists of the handler which is the offender the guardian being able to watch the target/victim and the manager which is the place where the crime is taken place. The theory triangle introduces an important tool, the triangle can also be called the problem solving or analysis triangle. The triangle can examine both elements of the crime the location, target, and the offender and the potential responses for each of the steps within the crime. In result, the activities partake in over the course of the day and throughout the night, can make individuals more susceptible to being viewed as suitable targets by offender. This theory relates to the patterns of offending to the everyday patterns of social interaction individual’s experiences every day. The crime is acceptable if the offender can get the target without any guardianship making the rewards easier and giving the offender easy access to the target. Offender have certain reason for going to certain targets, if the target is suitable for the offender

2

liking the targets perception is vulnerable, kind, has a willing to help personality their more likely to become a victim to this offender, it the target doesn’t have anyone to say nor wanting to fall into their trap and not giving the time of day their not the offender type of victim, the offender doesn’t want to hassle with the target, it the offender can get in and out with the crime then it a done thing, if not he or she may come back for this target. The offender has many decisions to make during this time of approaching the target, he or she must see if there are any witnesses or guardianships around to see what going on between the offender and target to get involved and help the target from being a part of this crime. A guardianship can be the only thing protecting the target from the offender, just the presence of the guardianship being in sight can safe the target life from becoming a victim to the offender. If the offender can see anything in plain sight where he or she could get caught in the motion of committing a crime he or she will rethink their action before committing to it. A guardianship can determine whether or not the offender can commit the crime in time without getting caught by the guardianship or cameras or anything in sight that catch the actions of what the offender has done. The essential part of a routine activity theory is the interaction between an offender and the area of his target, the opportunity, and the cost of the target (Barkan,2018). Routine activity has positive and negative sides to its theory, the theory can be used as a way for prevention practitioners to reduce the crime rates within the same cities and states by telling the community to watch out for certain things in their town that aren’t normal there and that look sketchy causing the rate to go down within the community because people are being aware of their surrounding and keep an eye out for people. It also explains the changing of the crime rates without having the account of it increasing and decreasing extremely, the weakness of this theory consists of assuming the crimes of the offender and why they did the crime, and

3

not being able to give legitimate causes of the crimes being committed. The major weakness in this theory is making the assumption that the offender is acting before thinking and not really process the crime that he or she is about to crime to maybe ruin the victim day or their life in a matter of minutes because of a careless thought. The theory ignores the criminality of the crime and focuses on the how and why it happened. The routine activity is mostly used to justify why the heightened risk is mostly involving the youth and teenager who are being victimized in the routine activity, the background of the independent youth increaser their demographic influence, they hypothesized that young people have higher victimization rates than older people because they spend so much more time away from home (Barkan,2018).Research also supports the situational nature of the crime and how certain “risky behaviors” increase the likelihood of encountering violent situations. By putting oneself in a risky situation and environment in their neighborhood, the youth are more likely to increase their likelihood of their criminal environment. Youth males experience the highest frequency of victimization because of their nightly routine and activities, and their activities provide legal and significant support for the theory and the works behind it and the stereotypes that come with this theory because of their where abouts in the nighttime. As a result, routine activity theories use three main factors of how they’ll solve the problem when in use only two of these factors because they’re the most effect within the results and the data worldwide with the fastest turnaround time to get the new out within the communities. Routine activities theory holds crime rate that have a better criminal opportunity for it to happen again. A central implication for the understanding of the theory offending the terms of a rational calculation giving the proper statistics of the crimes with specific details and instructions on how to prevent being the next victim of these offender next crime.

4

Citations Felson, M. and L.E. Cohen. (1980). Human ecology and crime: A routine activity approach. Human Ecology, 8(4), 389−405. Barkan, S. (2018) Criminology: A sociology understanding 73&96

Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44 (4):588-608 Averdijk, M. (2021, February 22). Routine activities theory: Definition and meaning. Criminology Web. Retrieved September 24, 2021, from https://criminologyweb.com/routine-activities-theory-definition-of-the-routine-activityapproach-to-crime/. Government of Ontario, Ministry of Children and Youth Services, Communications and Marketing Branch. (n.d.). Ministry of Children and Youth Services. Chapter 3: Rational Choice And Routine Activities Theory. Retrieved September 24, 2021, from http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/professionals/oyap/roots/volume5/chapter03 _rational_choice.aspx. Routine Activity Theory Crime Prevention. (2012, November 9). Retrieved October 24, 2021, from http://www.crimeprevention.nsw.gov.au/Documents/routine_activity_factsheet_nov2014.p df.

5...