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CCJ1010
Criminology
Dr. E. C. Buchholz
Chapter 9
Theories of Crime, Place, and Victimization
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Are there areas you can think of that are more dangerous than others?
Are there places that are more dangerous at night than during the day?
Environmental Criminology
• Examines the location of a specific crime and the context in which it occurred in order to
understand and explain crime patterns.
• Where and when did the crime occur?
• What are the physical and social characteristics of the crime site?
• What movements bring offender and target together at the crime site?
Adolphe Que´telet (1796-1874)
 Links between seasonal differences and probability of committing crime
o Property crimes increase in the winter months (in France)
o Violence of the passions predominate in summer
Rational Choice Perspective
Clarke & Cornish
• Based on utilitarianism, assumes that people make decisions with the goal of maximizing
pleasure and minimizing pain.
• Based on traditional economic choice theory, which argues that people will evaluate the
options and choose what they believe will satisfy their needs.
• Choice theory assumes people make decisions with a goal in mind and that they are made
more or less intelligently and with free will
• Implies limited sense of rationality
• Offender may not be able to calculate costs and benefits accurately, decision may later seem
foolish
Two Distinct Characteristics
• Those of the offender
o Specific needs
o Values
o Learning experiences
• Those of the offense
o Location of the target
o Potential yield
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Has its greatest potential in developing strategies to frustrate perpetrators and prevent
them from committing a crime then and there.
Its greatest challenge in demonstrating that such prevention will not lead to the
commission of the intended crime later on or to the commission of other crimes
(displacement).
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Routine-Activity Approach
Cohen & Felson
• A crime can occur only if there is someone who intends to commit a crime (likely offender).
• Something or someone to be victimized (a suitable target).
• No other person present to prevent or observe the crime (the absence of a capable guardian).
• No person to control the activities of the offender (personal handler).
• Further advances in technology create further advances in crime.
• Chance that a piece of property becomes the target of a theft is based on the value of the
target and its weight.
 Burglary
Rengert and Wasilchick
• The amount of planning
o Professional burglars plan more than amateurs
• Systematic selection of a home
o Presence of burglar alarms
o Watchdog
o Mail piled up
o Newspapers on doorstep
• Attention to situational cues
o Corner property
Robberies
Wright and Decker
• Frequently target street-involved members
o Unlikely to go to the police
o Have lots of money, jewelry, etc.
• Women because they believe they won’t resist
• Deterred by bystanders, guards, cameras, alarms
Ronald Clarke
 Products attractive to thieves
 CRAVED
Concealable
Removable
Available
Valuable
Enjoyable
Disposable
Theories of Victimization
Victimology
 Hans Von Hentig (1887-1974)
 Many crime victims contribute to their own victimization be it by inciting or provoking the
criminal or by creating or fostering a situation likely to lead to the commission of the crime
 The entire event is crucial because criminal behavior involves both the action of the offender
and the interaction between offender and victim
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Theories of Victimization
Lifestyle Theories
Hindelang, Gottfredson and Garofalo
Proposition:
1. The probability of suffering a personal victimization is directly related to the amount of
time that a person spends in public places.
2. The probability of being in public places varies as a function of lifestyle.
3. Social contacts and interactions occur disproportionately among individuals who share
similar lifestyles.
Lifestyle Theories Continued
4. An individual’s chances of personal victimization are dependent upon the extent to which
the individual shares demographic characteristics with offenders (young urban males).
5. The proportion of time that an individual spends among nonfamily members varies as a
function of lifestyle.
6. The probability of personal victimization increases as a function of the proportion of the
time that an individual spends among nonfamily members.
Lifestyle Theories Continued
7. Variations in lifestyle are associated with variations in the ability of individuals to isolate
themselves from persons with offender characteristics.
8. Variations in lifestyle are associated with variations in the convenience, the desirability,
and vincibility of the person as a target for a personal victimization.
Victim-Offender Interaction Marvin Wolfgang
• Coined the term victim precipitation to refer to situations where victims initiate the
confrontations that lead to their death.
• Wolfgang estimated that as many as one quarter to one half of intentional homicides are
victim precipitated.
Theories of Victimization Continued
 Repeat victimization
 Small number of people and places account for a large number of the crimes committed
 Offenders choose victims based on knowledge they gained in previous victimization about
the risks and rewards of a particular offense
Fast-food restaurants have a greater chance of repeat police calls for service within one week of
the last call.
 Hotspots of crime
Sherman, Gartin, and Buerger
 Certain types of crime committed in specific places
o 50% of police calls received were from 3% of the addresses and intersections in the
city (Minneapolis)
 Focus on crime should not be on victims, but on the places themselves by making them less
vulnerable to crime
o Must reduce social disorder
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 Geography of crime
 Large amount of crime occurs at a small number of places, and such places have distinct
characteristics
 More crime occurs around high schools and bars
 More opportunities in city centers to commit crime and fewer social controls in place
 Ports and marinas vulnerable to vessel and equipment theft
Interrelatedness of Theories
“Suitable target”
Routine-activity
Woman drinking at bar Lifestyle theory
Alcohol
Situational factor
Bars
Place considerations
= Sexual assault
Crime Prevention through Environmental Design - CPTED
C. Ray Jeffery
• CPTED posits that environments can be altered, often at little expense, to decrease
victimization.
Oscar Newman
• “Defensible Space” refers to improved architectural designs, particularly of public housing, in
order to provide increased security.
Situational Crime Prevention (SCP)
• Based on rational-choice theory
• Knowledge of how, when, and where to implement a specific measure that will alter a
particular situation in order to prevent a crime from occurring
• Target-hardening techniques
SCP
• The phantom crime prevention at Disney World
• Situational prevention of auto theft
• Convenience stores
• Parking facilities
• Displacement
Disney World
• Virtually every pool, fountain, and flower garden serves both as a visual attraction and a
means to direct visitors away from, or toward, particular locations.
• Potential trouble is anticipated and prevented.
• Opportunities for disorder are minimized by constant instruction, by physical barriers, which
severely limit the choice of action available.
• The vehicles that carry people between locations are an important component of the system
of physical barriers.
• Throughout Disney World vehicles are used as barriers.
• Every Disney Productions employee, while visibly and primarily engaged in other functions,
is also engaged in the maintenance of order.
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SCP
Auto Theft
Florida Convenience-Store Security Act, 1990
 Tallahassee Convenience Store Study
o At least two clerks on duty
o Post “limited cash” signs
o Increase exterior lighting
o Restrict escape routes and hiding places
 Parking Facilities
 Garages are dangerous places
o Individuals are alone in a large space
o Many hiding places
o Amount of valuable property is high
o Open to the public
o Offender’s car can go unnoticed
o Lighting is usually poor
Issues with SCP
 “Undesirables” are excluded from public places (political correctness)
 Aim is to keep likely offenders away from suitable targets not exclude people
 Crime is displaced to a new location and time
 Evidence suggests displacement is not as prevalent as suggested
 Law-abiding citizens are inconvenienced
 Treats the symptoms rather than the causes of crime
Displacement
 The commission of a quantitatively similar crime at a different time or place
Felson and Clarke
 Geographical/territorial displacement
o Crime moved from one location to another
• (prevention efforts on the east side of town shift crime to the west side of town)
 Temporal displacement
o Crime moved from one time to anoth
• (night prevention efforts shift criminal activity to day time)
 Target displacement
o Crime directed away form one target to another
• Choosing a different victim
 (targeting old women instead of young women [dragnet])
 Tactical displacement
o Substituting one method of committing a crime with another
 Functional
o The offender stops committing one offense and moves to another….
(offender changes from MVT to burglary)
 Perpetrator
o One offender quits or is caught only to be replaced by another
(think of drugs or prostitution)
End of Chapter 9