Crime topic 5

Question 1

According to Cohen and Felson, what four criteria determine a target’s suitability for being subject to crime?

Answer 1

value
inertia
visibility
access

Question 2

According to Cohen and Felson, what are the three necessary elements for commission of most crimes?

Answer 2

Suitable targets
A motivated offender
Absence of a ‘capable guardian’

Question 3

What are the ways to reduce crime (according to Cohen and Felson) by reducing motivation?

Answer 3

Reduce reward e.g. there is no money here signs
Remove target e.g. don’t walk alone at night

Question 4

What are the ways to reduce crime (according to Cohen and Felson) by employing capable guardians?

Answer 4

Security guards
CCTV
Family dog
Neighbourhood watch

Question 5

What are the ways to reduce crime (according to Cohen and Felson) by hardening the target?

Answer 5

Install burglar alarms
Lock valuables in safe
Lock doors and windows
Install quality locks
use lights at night

Question 6

What was the reason for the substantial rise in predatory crimes in US following WWII?

Answer 6

A major shift in routine activity away from the home as a result of change in labour market - with properties unattended, burgkary became easier and more people being out and about increased the number of attacks

Question 7

What did Brown investigate? How?

Answer 7

The effectiveness of CCTV by comparing the crime statistics of several areas before and after they had CCTV systems installed.

Question 8

What areas did Brown investigate?

Answer 8

Newcastle, Birmingham, Kingslyn

Question 9

Where did brown suggest CCTV is most effective?

Answer 9

Where large groups of people congregate

Question 10

In Newcastle, how much did burglary nd criminal damage reduce by through the installation of CCTV?

Answer 10

burglary - 58%
criminal damage - 34%

Question 11

What does Burrows suggest about CCTV?

Answer 11

it simply displaces crime to other locations where there is less surveillence

Question 12

What did Burrows investigate (the actual study)?

Answer 12

A study of the installation of CCTV in four London Undergriynt Stations

Question 13

What did Burrows find?

Answer 13

In the stations in which the CCTV had been installed, crime reduced 70%
In all london underground stations, crime reduced 38%, but in the 15 closest stations, it only dropped 25%

Question 14

What is the main issue with Bratton’s zero tolerance policy? (according to Pratt, Franklin and Gau)

Answer 14

The policies can lead to resentment of law abiding citizens - especially with the use of stop and searches

Question 15

What are some of the possible other explanations for the reduction in crime that was seen after the zero tolerance policy?

Answer 15

they had introduced 7000 extra officers - increased amount of resources
Other crime prevention policies were created in this time

Question 16

What suggests that Bratton’s zero tolerance policy might not have been the thing that mainly influenced the levels of crime?

Answer 16

Other aras have adopted similar policies that have not had the same effect.

Question 17

What was Bratton’s original zero tolerance policy?

Answer 17

8-10 officers sent into the new york subway and arrest 10,20 fare dodgers each time

Question 18

What was the theory behind Bratton’s zero tolerance policy?

Answer 18

Minor disorders will lead to more serious crimes - US police officers cracked down on petty crimes

Question 19

What did Bratton do when he became police commissioner?

Answer 19

He introduced the zero tolerance policy for the whole of New York - took on 7000 officers who conducted sweeps

Question 20

What were the results of Bratton’s zero tolerance policy?

Answer 20

arrests for serious crime dropped 22% - was taken up by other police forces and crime fell in the USA for 5 years in a row until 1996

Question 21

What did Ernest Jones investigate?

Answer 21

looked at the effects of eye images on cooperative behaviour in a novel contect - littering behaviour in a university cafeteria

Question 22

What were the results of Ernest-Jones’s study?

Answer 22

50% reduction in littering in the presence of posters featuring eyes, as opposed to flowers (effect was independent of whether the poster asked for litter clearing or contained an unrelated message, suggesting the effect was not to draw attention to verbal instructions

Question 23

What were the three elements of Wilson and Kelling’s study?

Answer 23

Policing in Newark
Broken windows theory
The way ahead

Question 24

What do Wilson and Kelling suggest about the police in terms of the way ahead?

Answer 24

They are key in maintaining public order because their role makes them responsible for stepping in a their uniform makes them easy to identify by residents as someone who is responsible for helping them

Question 25

What do Wilson and Kelling note about the limited resources of the police?

Answer 25

They would support the police carrying out foot patrols, but they note that they need to target their resources with care, suggesting they need to identify neighbourhoods that are at the tipping point - where the public order is deteriorating but not unreclaimable - broken windows need to be fixed straight away

Question 26

What do Wilson and Kelling claim aout untended vandalism in a town?

Answer 26

it is a sign that no one cares and so can lead to a break down of community controls - adults stop scolding rowdy children, the children become more rowdy - families move out, unattached adults move in - fights break out - residents change their behaviour

Question 27

What is the broken window theory?

Answer 27

If a window in a building is broken and not repaired than soon all the other windows in the building will be broken as an unrepaired window is a sign that no-one cares

Question 28

Outline the informal rules established by patrolling officers according to Wilson and Kelling?

Answer 28

Drunks and addicts were allowed to sit on the stoops but not lie down, drinking was allowed in side streets but not in main streets; bottles had to be in paper bags

Question 29

Why didn’t the police officers like the foot patrol idea of Wilson and Kelling?

Answer 29

It meant being out on the streets in all weathers and it was hard work

Question 30

Why didn’t the police chiefs like the foot patrol idea of Wilson and Kelling?

Answer 30

It reduced the ability of the police to respond to call outs and they didn’t always have control over where officers were

Question 31

What did a review of the foot patrol idea of wilson and kelling after 5 years show?

Answer 31

There was no decrease in crime rates, bit residents reported they felt more secure and tended to believe that crime had been reduced
Officers on foot were also found to have a more positive attitude towards citizens than patrol car officers

Question 32

What did Armitage suggest about cul-de-sacs?

Answer 32

analysed data for recorded crime from January 2007 through to December 2009 and dound that sinuous cul-de-sacs (curvy ones with ‘leaky’ footpaths) are the road layout where the lowest levels of crime are likely to occur

Question 33

In what ways did Nevin find the same results as Raine cross culturally?

Answer 33

the exact same matching of lead levels and violence curves in Britain, Canada, France, Australia, Finland, Italy, FRG and New Zealand

Question 34

Outline the stikingly strong relationship between changes in environmental lead levels and corresponding changes in violent crime 23 years later in the US

Answer 34

young children who are most vulnerable to lead absorption go on 23 years later to perpetrate adult violence.
When lead levels fell in the late 1970s and early 1980s so too did violence fall in the 1990s and the 2000s.