Regimen activity theory essay

Routine activity theory is a sub-field of rational choice[->0] and criminology[->1], developed by Marcus Felson[->2] and Lawrence E. Cohen[->3]. Routine activity theory says that crime[->4] is normal and depends on the opportunities available. If a target is not protected enough, and if the reward is worth it, crime will happen. Crime does not need hardened offenders, super-predators, convicted felons or wicked people. Crime just needs an opportunity. The basic premise of routine activity theory is that most crimes are petty theft[->5] and unreported to the police[->6].

Crime is neither amazing nor remarkable.

It is mundane and happens all the time. Another premise is that crime is relatively unaffected by social causes such as poverty[->7], inequality[->8], unemployment[->9]. For instance, after World War II[->10], the economy of European countries was booming plus the Welfare claims were increasing. During that time, crime increased significantly.

According to Felson and Cohen, it is because the success of contemporary contemporary society offers a whole lot opportunities of crime: there is much more to steal. Routine activity theory could also help describe the dramatic rise in crime during the 60s.

Due to the increase in female participation in the labor market, the homes are left without a capable guardian as adult caretakers at home during the day decreased. Furthermore, rapid growth of suburbs and the decline of more traditional neighborhood, led to the decline of informal controls that would have once existed with a tightly-knit neighborhood. Lastly, with the baby-boom generation[->11] coming old in the 1960s to the 1980s, it amounted to a excessive quantity of motivated offenders and offense rate predictable increased in the same way.

With such changes in the nuclear family, more and more youths were lacking supervision, especially when both parents worked outside the home; the number of temptations increased for youth to commit crimes. [1] Routine activity theory is controversial among sociologists who believe in the social causes of crime. But several types of crime are very well explained by routine activity theory including copyright infringement[->12], related to peer-to-peer file sharing[->13], employee theft[->14], and corporate crime[->15].

To get crime being committed, three aspects will be needed: 1) A Motivated Offender 2) A Suitable Goal 3) The Lack of a Capable Guardian Lack of a competent guardian may range to anything that would make the right target much easier to victimize. Coming from a person walking by itself, to a poor police occurrence, to someone else who would prevent a encouraged offender via offending for the reason that circumstance. It has to be taken into account that the mom or dad does not need to be a person at all, neither does the suitable target; there are numerous examples of objects and environmental designs that act as a guardians or perhaps security procedures to prevent motivated offenders as well.

This kind of branches in the realm of CPTED[->16] (crime reduction through environmental design) where seemingly tiny measures such as the addition of lights, fences, better locks, open or perhaps visible areas and security cameras act as the capable mom or dad and can prevent crime against a suitable concentrate on, in this case a building, recreation area or other areas. [1] Furthermore, crimes rate if generally proportional to the number of determined offenders, including teenagers and unemployed persons, in the human population. Of course , inspiration can be decreased when legitimate means are around for offenders to attain their goals.

Motivation can increase, when the option of criminal offenses is the simply viable choice available for a great offender to accomplish their desired goals. Another deterrence that affects the routine actions that produces crime is the moral beliefs and socialization of the offender. If a person has been socialized to hold standard beliefs, even in the presence of lawbreaker opportunities, offenders would avoid crime. This kind of is the durability of social bonds that serve as a buffer to counteract the lure of criminal actions.

A critique of routine activity theory states that opportunities to commit crime by youth tend not to generally bring about a crime dedicated when the parental controls are missing. Likewise suggesting that routine activity fails to disregard other hypotheses in relation to the causes of crime, this kind of associal learning theory[->17]. One more criticism of this theory says that despite the fact that opportunities to get crime are high the moment both mother and father are involved in the workforce, crime can even be displaced to the area high is low supervision by simply parents. Meaning regardless of condition, crime can still occur.

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