Felson

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Felsons Crime Everyday LifePart 1

• The Routine Activity Theory

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Overview

• Felson forces readers to think realistically and
  creatively about crime and crime control.
• The book presents the Routine Activity Theory
  that crime originates in, and can be controlled
  through, routine activities of everyday life.
• Theory offers a new criminology that breaks
  from media and political biases that often drive
  crime control efforts with recognition that crime
  is normal human behavior.

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Key Features of the Routine Activity Theory

• Crime is a normal.
• Opportunity is a root cause of crime.
• Crime occurs in the the presence of temptations
  and absence of controls involving
• Likely and motivated offenders.
• Suitable targets.
• Absence of capable guardians.
• Crime can be controlled socially/informally and
  naturally by decreasing temptations and
  increasing controls.

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Main Points in Chapter 1 Fallacies About Crime

• Crime is less dramatic than it seems in the
  media.
• Be careful about your image of the criminal
  dont imagine as too ingenious, organized, evil,
  innocent. And, most importantly, dont pretend
  criminals are them and youre us.
• Remember most people who talk about crime have
  some sort of agenda or axe to grind. Focus on
  crime itself, and not all the distractions.
• Look for ways to make criminology more, not less,
  objective.

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10 Fallacies of Crime

• Dramatic Fallacy
• Cops Courts Fallacy
• Not-Me Fallacy
• Innocent Youth Fallacy
• Ingenuity Fallacy

• Organized Crime Fallacy
• Juvenile Gang Fallacy
• Welfare-State Fallacy
• Agenda Fallacy
• Whatever-You-Think Fallacy

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Discussion Questions

• Which of these 10 fallacies about crime do you
  find difficult to resist?
• What sorts of information do you need to
  continually resist these fallacies?
• Why doesnt everybody engage in crime?
• What stops you from committing crime?

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Main Points in Chapter 2 The Chemistry for
Crime

• A criminal act has 3 elements likely offender,
  suitable target, and absence of guardian.
• A fight begins with an insult and escalates
  often with alcohol and an audience. Peacemakers
  can quiet things and prevent escalation.
• Offender activities are most important for
  defining crime categories.
• Offenders CRAVE hot products and targets of
  violence for specific reasons.
• Opportunity is the root cause of crime.

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The Importance of Setting

• Settings are where people converge or diverge
  to influence crime opportunities.
• Just as economists study markets, criminologists
  can study settings.
• Settings are the central organizing feature of
  crime and its absence (p. 21)

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Chemistry for Crime

• Every crime has both a particular and a common
  chemistry.
• Chemistry for crime can be applied to
• Predatory Crime
• Fights
• Illegal Markets

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Three Elements of Crime

• A likely offender.
• A suitable target.
• The absence of a capable guardian against the
  offense.

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Additional Important Crime Elements

• Props that help produce or prevent crime (e.g.,
  weapons, tools)
• Camouflage that helps the offender avoid notice.
• Audience the offender wants to impress or
  intimidate.

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Guardians Peacemakers and Place Managers

• Ordinary citizens in usual roles can serve as
  guardians against crime.
• Examples
• Homeowners and long-time renters
• Building superintendents and receptionists
• Bartenders, managers, owners
• Small-business persons and store managers
• Street Vendors
• Security People with focused responsibilities
• Park and playground supervisors
• Train station managers
• Bus Drivers

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Hot Products

• Some products are stolen more often than others.
• In Hot Products, Clarke (1999) explains that
  certain goods are craved by thieves because
  they are
• Concealable
• Removable
• Available
• Valuable
• Enjoyable
• Disposable

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The Impact of Setting

• Setting influences how much the targets within
  them are craved.
• Features of setting that can influence
  desirability of targets and temptation v.
  controls
• Access
• Entries and Exits
• Visability
• Value
• Inertia

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Some Considerations

• Offender Motive Criminal acts are often fueled
  by different motives (and different types of
  offenders) which can influence the types of
  targets they select. Important to remember as
  motives shift, so do targets.
• Differences in human categories Certain types of
  people are more/less likely to be offenders and
  victims at different times and situations.
• Theft of Heavy Items The general retail value
  per pound rule is most applicable in urban areas.
  The weight of items increases the farther from
  the city and/or when item has wheels.
• Popularity Crime rate trends depend on whats
  popular among youth.

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Where do Crimes Occur?The Social Ecology of
Crime(from the work of Brantingham Brantingham)

• Nodes Settings that provide particular crime
  opportunities (homes, schools, workplaces,
  entertainment areas)
• Paths Pathways between nodes offer crime
  opportunities and risks.
• Edges Where two local areas touch crime is most
  risky. Edges are high crime areas (e.g., edges of
  campus).

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Chemistry for Crime in a Nutshell

• Each crime has a particular and a common
  chemistry.
• Offenders are only one small element of crime.
• Within settings, presences, absences, entries,
  exits, value of targets, etc must be considered.
• Some settings favor one offense but not another.
• Illegal activities feed on routine legal
  activities.
• Everyday life organizes the type and amount of
  crime in society by more or less delivering
  temptations without controls.
• Opportunity is the root cause of crime.

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Main Points in Chapter 3Crime Decisions

• Offenders make decisions and respond to settings
  that limit their choices.
• Offenders freedom to decide is greater at some
  moments and lesser at others.
• Violent and sexual offenders can be explained by
  the routine activity theory they make choices
  and even though their behavior may seem bizarre,
  it can be explained by usual developmental,
  cognitive, and behavioral processes.

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Temptations versus Controls

• Everyday life delivers uneven temptations and
  controls.
• Crime is committed by people who are tempted more
  and controlled less.
• Studies show clearly that offenders are tempted
  and controlled by tangible factors in immediate
  settings.
• Can be understood through a modified utilitarian
  model principle of limited rationality the
  average person cant keep everything in mind in
  weighing the consequences of committing a crime.

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Self Control

• All human beings are weak and need some help with
  self control.
• Self control interacts with external controls and
  temptations someone with low self control faced
  with low temptation and external controls may
  not be prone to crime.

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Blame

• Paradox in assigning blame - the criminal justice
  system is founded on blame - people make personal
  choices to commit crime and should be held
  accountable. However, society delivers
  temptations and controls limiting (or not)
  criminal actions.
• Can be understood through the Potato Chip
  Principle at some moments we have fewer
  choices than others a person never has complete
  freedom or complete constraint, but the degree of
  constraint shifts by time, place, setting.

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Self-Control Cues

• Were all born weak and need reminders to stay
  out of trouble.
• Although those low in self-control tend to be
  more likely to commit crimes and to have many
  other problems, self control is not purely and
  individual trait. Better to think in terms of
  assisted self-control (p. 43) reminders in
  various social settings.

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Stigma and Crime Control

• Stigmatizing certain groups, people, geographical
  areas interferes with crome control.
• A stigma is not an environmental cue that tells
  something about crime or its control.
• We tend to use careless and ineffective stigmas
  that serve only to point fingers at someone other
  than ourselves.
• Felson says, . . . Forget the stigmas or halos.
  Regard the people in your midst with a moderate
  dose of benign suspicion (p. 44).

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Violence as Rational

• If find out how an offenders think, will come to
  understand that all criminals use practical
  techniques in the context of routine activities
  when they commit crime.
• From Felsons perspective, all violence is
  instrumental.
• The words emotional and rational are not
  opposites.

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Everyday Roles and Crime Chances

• Married people and those living with family (and
  others) are less likely to be both offenders and
  victims.
• Despite the family violence industry (p. 48),
  people are safer at home.
• When a young person moves away from home, this
  turning point creates a greater chance of
  victimization.
• Association with delinquent friends can be an
  intoxicant. Thus, being around all others does
  not necessarily reduce crime chances.

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Discussion Questions

• Thoughts on this theory of crime?
• Strengths/weaknesses of the theory?
• How will you go about conducting your analysis of
  the chemistry for crime in your neighborhood?
  Examples?

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Term Project

• The purpose of the project is to apply the
  Routine Activity Theory by analyzing the
  chemistry for crime in your neighborhood.
• Final paper should directly address this theory
  and Felsons work in the intro and discussion.
• See Term Paper Grading Criteria for details on
  whats required/expected for each component of
  the project/paper.

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Next Class

• Finish reading Crime Everyday Life
• Lecture will focus on Chapters 9-11 on
  Environmental and Situational Crime Prevention
  and the observation/data collection strategies
  and recommendations you should be thinking about
  as you conduct your term project.