Sociology 2266A/B Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Routine Activity Theory, Crime Prevention, Metatheory
26 Jul 2020
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Introduction to situational crime prevention
What is situational crime prevention? The Tylenol case study:
- In 1982 seven people died in Chicago as a result of taking Tylenol poisoned with
cyanide – mass murder? Domestic terrorism?
- Investigators looked for a link between these people – not related etc. the link was
the Tylenol capsules – resulted in huge recall – cost Johnson and Johnson millions
and damaged their brand image.
- There was no 24-hour news at the time so they drove cars with speakers up and
down the streets to warn people.
- James Lewis stepped forward, said they would continue doing so if they didn’t pay
him $1 million – was in a different city at the time of the offenses so cannot link
him directly to it.
- Perpetrators never caught, motivation was never discovered = resulted in
widespread fear
- Resulted in some copycat offenses.
- Tamper proof packaging was quickly introduced when relaunching the product as
prior to this people couldn’t tell if the products were being tampered with.
- US government introduced regulations for packaging of food, drugs and cosmetics
- Two guiding principles
1) Breaks in seal highly visible
2) Convenient for customer
This focuses on the crime event and how to reduce the risk of it happening again
Routine activity theory:
- Cohen and Felson (1979); Felson and Boba (2010)
- Theory of ‘metatheory’ – crime happens when 3 elements converge = a motivated
offender, a suitable target (doesn’t necessarily mean victim e.g. could be a laptop)
and the absence of a capable guardian (not literal, guardianship can be just being
surrounded by your peers, doesn’t have to be formal)
- They use this to explain trends in crime over time
- As a metatheory, it provides an overarching framework into which other theories
fit.
- They realised that there was a wise in crime after WW2, so turned to the following
theory:
Sampson, Eck and Dunham, 2010:
They said that there was an increased opportunity for crime to happen, more women were
going to work – no one was in the house more often than not – led to break-ins happening
more frequently.
- Latest version of crime triangle – crime happens when there is an offender and a
target in a place – what we have in this theory, there is someone who manages a
place and someone who can defend a target, then round it all there are super
controllers.
- A handler is anyone who has some kind of influence over the offender
- There is possible for guardianship to be ineffective e.g. CCTV – offenders know that
CCTV often is not monitored
- Mangers – people like bar staff etc.
- Super controllers - rules and structures for everything to happen
Rational choice:
If we talk about how offenders choose to offend, or to not offend, we end up with rational
choice.
- This was first developed in the 1980’s by Cornish and Clarke
- Purposive and ration – offenders make rational decisions about their behaviour –
someone decides in the heat of the moment, but with the information available
they have in that short time – they split decisions into involvement and event
- Involvement – getting into a life of crime in the first place
- Event – crime itself, immediate causes of crime
- Each crime there is, there are different decisions around it
- Simon’s concept of Bounded Rationality – not enough information available so
therefore the decisions are not ‘pure’
Crime opportunity theory:
- Opportunities play a role in causing all crime
- Crime opportunities are highly specific
- Crime opportunities are concentrated in time and space
- Crime opportunities depend on everyday movements
- One crime produces opportunities for another
- Some products offer more tempting crime opportunities
- Social and technological changes produce new crime opportunities
- Opportunities for crime can be reduced
- Reducing opportunities does not usually displace crime
- Focused opportunity reduction can produce wider declines in crime
For example, if there are more cars on the road and more people are buying cars, car
theft will increase – but also if the systems against car theft get stronger – then car theft
will decrease.
Patterns of crime are predictable, if we block the opportunities for crime we can stop it
from happening, one of the key ways we do this, is using the 25 techniques of situational
crime prevention.
Document Summary
Investigators looked for a link between these people not related etc. the link was the tylenol capsules resulted in huge recall cost johnson and johnson millions and damaged their brand image. There was no 24-hour news at the time so they drove cars with speakers up and down the streets to warn people. James lewis stepped forward, said they would continue doing so if they didn"t pay him million was in a different city at the time of the offenses so cannot link him directly to it. Perpetrators never caught, motivation was never discovered = resulted in widespread fear. Tamper proof packaging was quickly introduced when relaunching the product as prior to this people couldn"t tell if the products were being tampered with. Us government introduced regulations for packaging of food, drugs and cosmetics. Two guiding principles: breaks in seal highly visible, convenient for customer.
