More handpicked essays just for you.
Paper about routine activities theory
Paper about routine activities theory
Socio economic factors affecting juvenile delinquency
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Paper about routine activities theory
Routine Activities Theory I chose the routine activities theory because to me this theory is one of the biggest and most important theories in Juvenile Delinquency itself. Many people may not understand what the routine activity theory is about and it may be confusing to them. This theory has been played around with many times and by many researchers. The first researchers to develop the theory were Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson. Lawrence and Marcus theorized that rates increase because prosperity of contemporary society allows many more chances for juveniles to steal and commit crimes. Simply put the routine activity theory says that if there is an offender who wants to commit a crime and there is a target which can be attacked the
They studied the criminals lives and show how the link as juveniles and the factors that led them to become a criminals. Statically showing, most people that become criminals fail high school. Showing if a person continues their education the likely hood of becoming a criminal become less and less. These individuals come from broken homes, little education, little money and lack of resources. Growing up in a broken home or family, the child begins to suffer because of either neglect or lack of supervision from a parent figure, either they are not home or work low wage jobs just to make it. Since there is a lack of family support, the child will look for support from another source. The supports they usually find are products of their environment, usually gangs or other bad influences. Even with places that helps less than fortune kids have a role model or after school activates, but most of the time, they do not seek these programs which could help the child on a better path, rather than a life of crime joining a gang or even just commit crime altogether. The main influences on our lives are our families and society that we grow up in, and has a great effect on the individual which can dictate what they do with their lives. When looking at the theory, the effects come from homelessness, abuse neglect, subcultures,
Situational Action Theory (SAT) was developed by Wikström and Treiber (2009) as a means to determine why people commit immoral acts. The SAT model is a theory based out of criminology and suggests that people will be more likely to make moral decisions based on the “active fields” in which they live, operate, and are given opportunity to take action (Wikström, Ceccato, Hardie, & Treiber, 2010, p. 55). Wikström and Treiber (2009) postulates that all crime and violent crime are moral actions which are influenced by four key areas; the person, the setting, the situation and action taken as a result of their moral decision thus “all acts of violence can be explained within the general framework of a theory of moral action” (p. 76). SAT takes a generalized approach to explaining why people do or do not break moral rules, including both
...presented by Giordano et al. and Kreager et al. that note its limitations. Laub and Sampson’s theory is detailed and extensive in its explanation of why individuals desist from crime.
When criminals think that the benefit of committing the crime will outweigh the cost if they get caught, they make a choice to commit the crime. There are two varieties of rational choice theory. One, situational choice theory, which is an extension of rational choice theory and two, routine activities theory or RAT, which states that the daily routine or patterns in ones’ activities make it much easier for an individual to become a victim of crime. The theory is, crime is more likely to happen when a criminal and their victim come together in the absence of authority (Schmalleger). A situation made easier to come by when the criminal knows the victim’s daily routines or patterns.
The premise of routine activity theory moves away from the suggestion that crime is caused by social impacts such as unemployment, inequality and low socio economic status, and rather looks at crime occurring when there is a convergence of a motivated offender, a suitable target and a lack of suitable guardians (Cohen & Felson, 2010). Routine activity theory focuses on trends in behaviour, and asserts that crime is specific to space and time (Williams, 2012). Routine activity theory looks at the differing risks that different locations possess, and the correlation between different lifestyles and victimisation (Cohen & Felson, 1979). By identifying the factors that can influence a person or a place being at an increased risk of victimisation, it may be possible to educate residents, increase the number of capable guardians and apply strategies to reduce crime by utilising law enforcement and increasing guardianship (Cullen & Wilcox,
Individuals have the power to make their actions and behaviors secret to anyone and still be considered normal. In Edmund’s study (2007), he talked about how Dr. Zimbardo’s experiment and tested how two different groups of individuals, are given roles that they must fulfill. People can change without others knowing they did. Studies have shown that people are willing to change their behavior in order to fit in. People change their behavior under three circumstances: motivated individual, lack of guardianship, and suitable target (Tillyer, 2011). In Flora’s study (2007), she talks about the routine activity’s theory. It explains why individuals are more likely to commit behaviors that they normally would not do. A motivated offender is where an individual sees an opportunity to commit a crime. Lack of guardianship is where a parental guardian or someone in charge is absent in a situation. Suitable target is where an offender finds an individual that is an easy target. When an individual has all three of these conditions, it makes it easier for them to commit a crime. The theory suggests that individuals are more likely to change their behavior.
In 1982, the political scientist James Q. Wilson and the criminologist George Kelling psychologist, both Americans, published in The Atlantic Monthly in a study that for the first time, established a causal link between disorder and crime. In that study, called The police and neighborhood safety, the authors used the image of broken windows to explain how the disorder and criminality could slowly seep into a community, causing its decline and the consequent drop in quality of life.
Two major sociological theories explain youth crime at the macro level. The first is Social Disorganization theory, created in 1969 by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay. The theory resulted from a study of juvenile delinquency in Chicago using information from 1900 to 1940, which attempts to answer the question of how aspects of the structure of a community contribute to social control. The study found that a community that is unable to achieve common values has a high rate of delinquency. Shaw and McKay looked at the physical appearance of the neighborhoods, the average income of the population, the ethnicity of the neighborhood, the percent of renters versus owners, and how fast the population of the area changed. These factors all contribute to neighborhood delinquency.
One of the more common theories often used to explain this trend is general strain theory. General strain theory was first introduced Robert Agnew when he was trying to revise anomie theory from a micro level, social psychological perspective (Akers and Sellers, 2013). According to Agnew’s revised theory, he claimed that, crime and delinquency were often an adaptation to stress. For example, if an individual was in desperate need for money, Agnew claims that this individual would often feel frustrated, angry, or experience a range of negative emotions, which could result in this individual coping with this strain through crime (Cullen, Agnew, and Wilcox,
Theory can be described in many ways, and most of the times are used to label certain traits, features or characteristics of a particular person, group, or category. According to Miller (2005), “A theory is a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can incorporate laws, hypotheses and facts” (para. 1). In the simplest of terms, theories are concepts or more of a collection of concepts about an area of concern or interest which facilitate and give an explanation, prediction, or intervention which is gathered by research and experiments. Theories in criminology help to explain why and how deviant and criminal behaviours occur as they do. This helps to understand and determine factors that contribute a person to engaging
They both wanted to know why crime had increased so greatly in the 1960’s. Cohen and Felson then divided all crime in three major categories. Cohen and Felson “argued that crime events required three minimal elements to converge in time and space: (1) an offender who was prepared to commit the offense; (2) a suitable target, such as a human victim to be assaulted or a piece of property to be stolen; and (3) the absence of a guardian capable of preventing the crime. The lack of any of these three elements, they argued, would be sufficient to prevent a crime event from occurring”("Routine Activities Theory (Criminology Theories) IResearchNet," n.d.). The Routine Activities Theory is a theory of crime events. It breaks down each crime and scenario to depict what a true crime is. This relates to race as well because race has a lot to do with crime. The race of the person in the crime helps with breaking the crime down as well as putting it in the FBI stat
Wilson, James and Herrnstein, Richard. "Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime" New York: Free Press, 1998.
Similarly, routine activity theory argues that attention should be focused on the condition in which the crime takes place rather than on the offender. It was devised by Cohen and Felson (1979). They argued that the contemporary society invites high crime by generating illegal opportunities such as public display of expensive portable goods (iPods, iPads, laptops, mobile phones) which are carried out by
In criminology, researchers have constantly tried to explain why people commit crime and engage in juvenile delinquency. Many theories have emerged for over a century about why people commit these deviant behaviors. Macro-level theories focus on social structures and the effects of those structures on the human behavior. Basically, macro-level theories explains aggregate crime. Micro-level theories focuses on individuals and their interactions with various groups of people. For example, the relationship between family members, friends, and groups, that individuals interact with every-day, which explains individual criminal behavior. These interactions affect their attitudes, beliefs, and what seems normal for people. One of the most interesting theories that that tries to explain this, is Hirschi’s social bonding theory, which is based on how crime is the result of weakened bonds to society and is considered a micro-level theory.
explained why people engaged in delinquent behavior. Through studying these theories, we are able to analyze and critique the way they viewed criminals and how we can shape our Criminal Justice Systems to become more affective in dealing with criminals and their behavior. Another important note that we all have to understand is that no one theory will be able to take complete control over one or more views, because of this theories should be integrated together to form new and larger approaches to the problem that is before us today.