15: Deterrence, Routine Activity And Rational Choice Theory

Question 1

Routine activities theory

Answer 1

Three determinants of crime:
- a motivated offender 
- a suitable target
- a lack of guardianship of that target
Crime as the expected outcome of routine activities and changing social patterns.

Question 2

Hot spots policing

Answer 2

Most crimes occur at a small number of addresses in any community. Hot spots policing concentrates police resources on these high-crime locations.

Question 3

Individualized deterrence

Answer 3

Offenders who are heavily involved in criminal activity are individually warned that their actions are being monitored and that future violations of the law will be dealt with immediately. Extra police and/or probation resources are added to ensure that the legal system does keep its promise.

Question 4

Rational choice theory

Answer 4

Posits that crime is the result of deliberate choices made by offenders based on their calculation of the risks and rewards of these choices.

Question 5

Lifestyle/exposure theory

Answer 5

A theory of crime victimization that acknowledges that not everyone has the same lifestyle and that some lifestyles expose people to more risks than others do.

Question 6

Situational crime prevention

Answer 6

Premised on the belief that most crime is opportunistic rather than the outcome of those driven to commit a crime no matter what the circumstances. This form of prevention attempts to reduce the opportunities for crime rather than just relying on the police after the crime has occurred.

Question 7

5 Categories of Situational Crime Prevention (Comprehensive crime prevention programs)

Answer 7

1. Increase the Effort
2. Increase the Risks
3. Reduce the Rewards
4. Reduce Provocations
5. Remove Excuses

Question 8

LO 1:

Understand the role of law as a deterrent to crime and recognize the limits of deterrence.

Answer 8

Based on Beccaria’s theory that people would only commit crimes if they believed the benefits outweighed the cost. The idea of deterrence is that it would keep people from breaking the law. We know that deterrence can be effective, when the certainty of of punishment is high. When the certainty is low, even if the severity is high, it does not deter criminals very efficiently. A good example of this is the drug trafficking, where we see a the illegal drug prices go down as the quantity increases even when a lot of people have been incarcerated.

Question 9

LO 2:
Discuss how offenders make choices whether or not to commit crimes and understand the assumptions of rational choice theory.

Answer 9

According to routine activities theory, most offenders are opportunists, who see the chance for a reward when they find a suitable victim, who is vulnerable. Other crimes are the result of fights between groups or individuals (hate crimes) and yet other crimes are so called victimless crimes (such as buying and consuming illegal drugs). According to the rational choice theory, delinquents make the decision to commit crimes when the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs.

Question 10

LO 4:
Know the rationale behind situational crime prevention and be familiar with the research demonstrating its effectiveness.

Answer 10

The situational crime prevention theory is premised on the belief that most crime is opportunistic. It presents five categories of crime prevention: Increase the Effort, Increase the Risks, Reduce the Rewards, Reduce Provocation and Remove Excuses. A couple of examples showing the effectiveness of situational crime prevention are: It has been proven to drastically reduce the graffiti on subway cars in New York Ciry by removing the art immediately so the “artist” wouldn’t get to display it, electronic tagging of library books is shown to reduce theft from libraries

Question 11

LO 5:
Understand the need for comprehensive crime prevention initiatives, including crime prevention through social development.

Answer 11

Crime prevention through social development is an important approach in reducing the number of motivated offenders. These methods include improving parenting skills, providing job-training for at-risk youth, and providing preschool programs for children from deprived backgrounds. These methods have proven to be very effective, but are often stopped too early due to lack of funding and resistance from critics who express fear of our society turning into a fortress-society if the state always intervenes.