When one asks the question: what is crime? He or she can prepare for many answers, the truth is what was not a crime yesterday can very well be a crime today; therefore a universal answer would be anything that the authorities governing a geography location deems illegal is a crime. Crime comes in different categories from felony to misdemeanor.
Felonies are characterized as violent crimes, crimes that inflict pain to another’s body: murder and assaults, including domestic violence and assaults committed with motor vehicles; sexual violence; and mental violence. Physical crimes-crimes that inflict pain or death on another person’s body, this includes first degree murder (killing with malice aforethought), second degree murder (killing that is not premeditated), manslaughter for example, failure to stop at the traffic light and someone dying as a result. Society may not want to admit this but domestic violence, violence against spouses is one of the more prevalent types of crime and it happens in every strata of society. Variables for this type are power, weakness jealousy, selfishness and inability to manage anger. Sexual crimes as rape, sex with a minor and child molestation. There can also mental violence as in kidnapping and using sexual slurs or innuendoes to cause fear or mental anguish to another person. Psychologists are still trying to figure out why some people become killers, so far the best answer they have found is some people are born killers; and even though they may exhibit traits of killer even as children there is nothing that can be done to deter them from their destructive path. Other killers are products of their environment; that is they become killers by association. They also discover that rapists and pedophiles are inherent; they can learn to stem their desires but they are never cured. Violent crimes affect every community and are no respecter of class or creed. The Office for National statistics reports that; “The 2011/12 CSEW shows that there were 2.1 million violent incidents in England and Wales with 3% of adults victimised. The number of violent incidents has halved from its peak in 1995 when the survey estimated over 4.2 million violent incidents”(web 2013).
Almost everyone at some time or another can attest to the fact that he or she has been victim of property crime. According to Patricia Linn:
Property crime is defined as non-violent removal, without permission, of someone else's property, usually for the financial benefit of the alleged thief. Common types of property crime include burglary or breaking and entering into a residence or business, and stealing property; theft of items from a store or a person, (i.e. purse snatching and motor vehicle theft); and arson (n. d.).
Every property theft is a crime of opportunity and burglars study their victims before committing their crimes. Houses in inner cities are easier to break into because in these areas houses are less secure; however, it is unlikely that burglars break into these houses. One reason is there usually is not much to steal and in these neighborhoods people know each other and someone usually home. Middle class neighborhoods are more susceptible to theft because the occupants are mostly working people and many burglars know how to side-step security alarms. Also there is more loot to be gained especially high technical equipment. A burglar will study a neighborhood before he or she commits a burglary; that is he or she will watch who and when houses are empty; if they are covered- surrounded with trees; if they are poorly lit; and have easy escape. “In selecting targets, burglars consider the size and condition of a house and the type of cars in the driveway as indicators of the type and value of the house's contents” (criminology 2010). The safest homes are homes in upper class neighborhoods, usually the maid or the butler or both are home, sometimes the gardener. Another factor is certain people in these communities call attention to themselves; consequently, upper class are almost always safe from thief. A car thief knows which cars are easier to steal but cars are broken into more often than stealing the car itself; cars in unsecure car garages are the easiest places for car burglary. Often times thieves are enticed to breaking into cars because their occupants leave valuable items in plain sight. Stores especially department stores experience thief during open hours; and stores in places like strip malls are good targets after hours.
The effects of business crime can be viewed by some as ‘victimless’, whereas in reality it’s effects are widely felt on employers, employees, customers and the wider community. The British Retail Consortium suggests that retail crime costs every household in the UK an extra £90 each year on their shopping bills (Criminology 2010).
The easiest kind of thief is the one done directly the person, like purse snatching. In malls, bus stations, train stations, and anywhere that is crowded is a good venue for purse snatching. Last but not least there are employee thief, this is the most common kind of property thief; some employees do not even consider themselves thieves.
Depends and who the burglar is or where he or she is conducting burglary the time of day makes a difference. Burglars really do not want to hurt anyone; therefore, they conduct their business when no one is around. If the occupants work all day and are home in the evenings then naturally a burglar who wants to rob them will break in during their time of absence. The same thing will happen if homeowners are afternoon workers then their homes will be robbed in the afternoon. Weekend is another time when burglars might get an opportunity to break into homes, especially if the occupants are young and like to go out on weekends. There are no easy way to tell when burglaries are committed; when people return to their homes in the evenings and realized that they have been robbed they really cannot tell what time of day they were robbed, they only know that it is during the time they were away from home. Property thief is sometimes a violent crime.
Task10
(Please put your location in) Crimes can be prevented and everyone can help, it is not just the police duty to prevent crime; and it is easier than we may think. According to Dunham, Simpson and Eck, citizen can help greatly to prevent crimes. Property crimes are the ones that citizen can help most; they can make sure that they have good doors and they lock before they leave their homes; also having good windows and making sure they are lock is a big help. A store owner may analyze the shoplifting that takes in his store and find a workable solution to fix it. The homeowner may also want to cut down some of the trees that give the criminal the privacy he or she needs to steal. The manager of an apartment building can make sure drugs addicts and drug dealers do not hang out around his apartment, one of the main reasons for stealing is addicts who want money to buy drugs; no addicts, no dealers, no thief (2009). Many communities have citizen’s crime watch and sometimes the mayor of cities gives monetary incentives to citizens who wish to improve their homes and add burglar alarms to them.
Living in an urban community property thief is one of the most frequent crimes; yes my community has a little of everything; murder, domestic violence, sexual abuse on children and minors, domestic violence and kidnapping, however, these are few and far between. Thieves are drawn to certain neighborhood because stealing in urban neighborhoods is more lucrative. The police with whom I spoke is Maureen Sterling. She says the first thing that is done in our neighborhood is to save the children; consequently they are starting with children in elementary schools when they most vulnerable they bring to their awareness the dangers of talking and taking rides from strangers; they encourage them to walk in groups. They show what drugs can do to people and once they are hooked they will do anything to get drugs mainly stealing which lands them in jail. These same lessons are taught to junior high and high schools children with more details and graphics.
Police literally walk around the neighborhood and talk to citizens about safety they also go to homeowners association meetings and bring to citizens’ awaareness the importance of having proper locks on their doors and windows, how to keep their surroundings lit and trim trees that grow close to their homes as a matter of fact it would be a good idea to cut down trees that cover their homes. More importantly, they will be placing more street lights in poorly lit parts of the city and camera will be placed strategically around the city. They are also training citizens to be more vigilant in their communities; if a car is being driven suspiciously take down the license number, call the police and neighbors; parents should not allow their children and teenagers especially girls to walk alone. Ms. Sterling says that this has already started in some parts of England; “Surveillance of the roads provides a vivid and clear example of what is termed "pre-crime" activity This illustrates how in the recent past the temporal focus in criminology has moved from post-crime due process procedures comprising the pursuance, prosecution and punishment of offenders to pre-crime security measures to prevent and pre-empt crime before it happens” (Corbett 2008).
Before I was acquainted with this Class I would hear words like “neighborhood watch,” and “crime awareness,” but I never paid attention to them even when I would see police walking around my neighborhood, I would take it for granted, they are supposed to do their jobs. Until now since our home has never been broken into I have never concerned myself with property burglary. Yes I have had things taken for me like my favorite toy or an expensive pen at school but nothing that involved the police. I know now that I can help the police by becoming part of the neighborhood watch; making sure good locks are on my windows and my doors, and keep the doors lock whenever I am home. This has been an awakening for me.
Violence is a big word that carries a lot of weight, anything that authorities deem illegal is violence; it can be physical, mental, deprivation of one’s right, or thief. There is no way to wipe out violence, however, society does need perpetuate it, we should be good citizens and help the police to prevent crimes.
For our crime prevention activities to work, they must be evidence-based and
built on knowledge derived from research.
Work Cited
Corbett, Claire. (2008) “Techno-Surveillance of the Roads: High Impact and Low Interest.” Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal. 10, 1. 1 Print
Criminology (2010) “Potential reward,” “The effects of business crime.” 84, 95 Print
Dunham, Jessica, Sampson, Rana, Eck, John E. (2009). “Super controllers and crime prevention: A routine activity explanation of crime prevention success and failure.” Security Journal. Issue 23, 1, 57. Print
“Focus on: Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, 2011/12.” Office of National Statistics. Web. 17 Jul. 2013
Linn, Patricia. (n. d.). “What are the five types of crime?” web. 17 Jul. 2013
