One
of the most prevalent is routine activities theory, and there is ample
scientific research to give credence. There is more to crime than simply the
profile of the offender. Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson, the criminologists
behind this theory, published a journal detailing the specific ways in which
crimes take place through “routine activities.” For a crime to transpire, three
elements need to be in place: an available target, a motivated offender, and
the absence of a guardian to stop said crime. (Cohen & Felson, 1979, American Sociological
Review, 588-608) This means that as
long as the reward is worth the risk the offender is taking, and the victim is
not sufficiently protected from the crime being committed, the crime will take
place. But how does an offender become motivated in the first place?
Offenders
can be motivated by almost anything that will cause them either personal gain
or personal satisfaction. If the offender seeks to rob someone to gain wealth,
then seeing an expensive watch on the target’s wrist may be motivation enough.
They can also be motivated by hate for a race, or group, as well as sexual
gratification or wanting to have power over someone else.
In a study conducted by the Bureau
of Justice Statistics that compiled data for hate crimes that transpired
between 2004 and 2015, the most common bias for hate crimes was race at 48%. (Bureau of Justice Statistics) If they see the
victim as someone that they do not see as equal, albeit race, gender, sexual
orientation, or any other factors that can constitute a hate crime, they may be
inclined to attack the person. Hate crimes have actually risen by 17% from 2017
to 2018; which is the highest rise since the aftermath of the destruction of
the twin towers on September 11th, 2001. (VOA News) This shows that offenders are gaining
motivation from something happening in our society that is causing them to lash
out in violence against their targets.
Offenders can also be motivated
through the thought of sexual desires being satiated as well. One out every six
women has been a victim of an attempted rape or a completed rape and every
ninety-two seconds another person in America is sexually assaulted. (RAINN) This means that in
the time it took to get from the cover-page to here, approximately two more
offenders found available targets and weighed the risk versus the reward in
their head and ultimately decided to commit an act of utter depravity and evil.
Men can also fall into the “available target” for sexual assault but only at
about 10% the rate that females do. (RAINN) I discuss this a lot
with my significant other, and about how different it is living as a man
compared to having to always be on guard from potential offenders. We almost
live completely different lives when in public (not while out together, though)
as where she has to avoid certain alleys or ward off potentially aggressive
suitors, and I almost don’t have to worry at all. It’s shocking to a male when
he realizes all of the things they don’t have to be on guard against.
Besides a motivated offender and a
suitable target, the final element needed for a crime to occur, according to
Cohen and Felson, is the absence of a guardian. This means that when the
offender attempts to move on the suitable target, regardless of the crime being
attempted, an intervention by someone or something is needed. If an offender is
walking down an alley and sees a young, seemingly defenseless victim walking
toward him, he may look around to ensure that nobody is there that could
interject. Most offenders want crimes to go as smoothly as possible, so if
there’s someone there that would put a wrench in the gears, even someone who
wouldn’t be able to overpower the offender in a physical altercation, the
offender is less likely to commit the crime.
There are a multitude of significant inventions, policies,
and social change that have led to a more properly prepared targets, and
better, more-capable guardians. With the advent of banks, people no longer had
to keep their savings in their home and thus, their home became less of a
target than when people kept their savings somewhere hidden in their homestead.
This is extremely important as it would be unimaginable to come home or wake up
to your entire life savings burglarized from your home. E-money, such as debit
and credit cards, money orders have also been detrimental to crime as well. The
author of the book, Cashless Money, David
Gorman, states that ““In fact, certain crimes would be eliminated altogether.
Violent crimes; such as, bank and ATM robberies, store holdups, armed
robberies, employee cash theft, armor car heists, kidnap for ransom, armed
muggings and purse snatchings would be significantly reduced, if not entirely
eliminated because there will be no physical paper cash to steal.” (Gorman, 2007, Cashless Money)
Debit and credit cards allow the individual to access their
money even when it is inside of a bank, thus removing the burden of carrying
cash in your wallet or purse. If someone were to try and rob me while I’m out
and about, they wouldn’t get anything but a piece of plastic that I can
immediately call and deactivate as soon as the altercation is ended. There are
few exceptions, however, like when you have to pull out large sums of cash from
an ATM to pay the rent or another expensive purchase. During these times I
ensure to always keep the cash hidden and outside of my wallet. This is a trick
I learned when travelling to Mexico frequently as a teenager. If a cop pulls
you over, it was common for them to ask for money to “go away.” If you give
them five dollars and he see another forty dollars in your wallet, they will
take the whole amount, thus the need to hide the rest in a sock or bra.
Money orders have commonly been a
way to send money between parties without having to mail it, which is very
risky, and to pay large bills without using cash. My landlord accepts money
orders only and carrying $1,400 in money orders is a lot safer than in cash.
Money orders come with receipts and if you pre-fill them, cannot be used for
any other reason. This means that if someone steals it from you, they can’t use
it at all.
E-money
can also help with crimes outside of robbery as well. According to a report
written by the Oakdale Police Department, because the money is traceable,
where-as cash is a lot harder to trace, financial crimes such as smuggling, and
tax evasion would also “cease to exist.” (Jenkins, 2008, Transition To A Cashless Society) With everything having a back-log, it’s
very easy to see just how someone is spending their money and very hard for
someone to hide it, especially if their bank account records are subpoenaed in
court.
This is also important in the cyber sector as well. As a
Fraud Analyst for Bank of America, I knew that having an entire transaction
report for each client helped significantly in looking for fraud on their
cards. The problem with e-money, however, is that without it, cyber-fraud
wouldn’t exist. So even though this has helped tremendously with robberies and
burglaries, it is creating more crime in the cyber world. The enormous
difference between the two centers on the fact that one is violent and
happening towards you in real-time and the ladder is done from thousands of
miles away and non-violent. We have ways to fight back against cybercrime, and
there’s no denying that replacing violent crime with remote crime is in the
best interest of the members in a society.
The
rise of police departments throughout the 1800’s has also significantly
contributed to the role of having a capable guardian in routine activities
theory. Whether on active patrol, or just the thought of a police officer
possibly being right around the corner is detrimental to the plans of the
motivated offender. One such way of policing that could disrupt offenders would
be hot spots policing, which relies on technological data to locate certain
areas, called hot spots, where police would patrol more frequently. According
to a meta-analysis taken from the National Institute of Justice, hot spots
policing saw a marginal decrease in crime when combined with problem-oriented
policing. When hot spots policing was combined with traditional policing
approaches, it was only about half as effective as problem-oriented policing. (National Institute of Justice) This is only a
slight suggestion that hot spots policing works overall, but it does give
credence to Cohen and Felson’s theory of routine activities.
What
happens when the motivated offender can’t rationally think about the
consequences of his actions before attempting to carry out the crime against
the suitable target? The adolescent brain is basically a caterpillar inside of
the cocoon. Right now it kind of resembles mush but at around twenty-five, give
or take a few years depending on the individual, it will emerge as a beautiful
butterfly, completely capable of rational decisions. While the adolescent brain
is in this “mush” state, however, it is raging with hormones in an attempt to
finish constructing the cerebellum and the cortex.
In
a journal written by Dr. Linda Chamberlain, “A mature prefrontal cortex is
necessary for good judgment, controlling impulses, solving problems, setting
goals, organizing and planning, and other skills that are essential to adults.”
(Chamberlain,
2014, The Amazing Adolescent
Brain)
This means that without the fully developed cortex, adolescents cannot judge
situations as well as a fully-grown adult can. This may make the adolescent
think that they have a suitable target and no capable guardians around or not
rationalize the crime in their head correctly. They may believe they can get
away with something or they may be acting on impulse alone. Teenagers are
especially dangerous during this timeframe, and it’s important to understand
their state of mind and how it relates to them committing crime.
On
another note, the teenage brain may also make them make decisions that could
end up in their victimization. Because of the lack of rational response in the
teenage brain, they may be more likely to make the wrong decisions when in an
area or situation where a crime is able to occur. Crime is never the victim’s
fault, period. It doesn’t matter what the victim is wearing, the expensive
items they’re flashing, or even what neighborhoods they walk through; the
victim is not to blame for the evil intentions of others. However, there are
certain things I rationalize in my head before doing. Mentioned above was not
carrying large sums of cash on my person. I also ensure not to aggress on
strangers over a simple altercation. These are things that the adolescent brain
could potentially struggle with deciding.
The
empirical data shows that routine activities theory is very sound. The studies
for all three of the elements prove them to be a vey valid way to look at crime
as a whole. The motivated offender, the suitable target, and the lack of a
capable guardian all lay out the foundations for how a crime transpires. Using
studies and prevention techniques against these three individual pillars of
routine activities is a perfect way to fight crime on all fronts and at every
stage of the crime. If we can more easily prevent crime, the entire system will
prove to flow more fluidly.
Works Cited
Chamberlain, L. B. (2014). The Amazing Adolescent
Brain.
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social Change and
Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach. American Sociological
Review, 588-608.
Farivar, M. (2018, November 13). FBI Reports Largest
Spike in Hate Crimes Since 9/11. Retrieved from Voice of America News: https://www.voanews.com/a/fbi-hate-crimes-report/4656468.html
Gorman, D. (2007). Cashless Money. Minneapolis: Mill
City Press, Inc.
Jenkins, L. L. (2008). TRANSITION TO A CASHLESS SOCIETY
AND ITS EFFECT ON . Oakdale: Oakdale Police Department.
Lynn Langton, P. (2017, June 29). Hate Crime
Victimization, 2004-2015. Retrieved from Bureau of Justice Statistics: https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5967
National Institute of Justice. (2019). Hot Spots
Policing. Retrieved from CrimeSolutions.gov: https://www.crimesolutions.gov/PracticeDetails.aspx?ID=8
RAINN. (2019). Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics.
Retrieved from Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network: https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence
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