Kailik Faulk

Professor Cory Schnell

CRJU 430 Communities and Crime
11/4/22

Criminal Opportunity

Situational characteristics of places can influence crime events. Why people have
security systems? Why do people live in gated communities? When its time to comes to crime.
Guardianship is key factor when it comes to crime prevention. Law enforcement won’t always be
present, but the social factors such as neigborhood or neighbors can deter potential offenders.
For example, if a young kid is home by their self, that kid isn’t as capable of defending
themselves as an adult would be or their parents. Houses that are in rural areas, may take
police longer to respond to calls. These are instances that can be taken into consideration when
evaluating the opportunity of crime in certain locations. For cybercrime, people that respond to
scam emails gives the criminal the opportunity to commit these crimes. According to rational
choice theory offenders make decision to commit crimes at micro-places because the
circumstances that area provides, influences the offenders decision making. Crime is
purposeful and done with a motif, therefore the act of committing a crime is the result of a
comprehensive decision. A great example of this is targeting a drug dealer for an armed robbery
because they are less likely to report the crime to the police ( Wright and Decker, 1997).
Convenience is a natural human way of thinking. The same applies to committing a
crime. It wouldn’t be convient to stop by a grocery store that is 30 minutes off route from you
work, instead opting for a grocery store that's in route to the house in more convenient.
Facilities and site features con have characteristics that facilitate the commission of
crime. According to Routine Activities theory, three things must happen for a crime to take place:
A motivated offender. 2. Suitable targets 3. Capable guardians. Depending on these
characteristics places have underlying risk. Offenders go through process of thoughts before
committing a crime. A motivated offender will determine a target to achieve their criminal
objectives. From there the presence or lack of capable guardianship all plays a role in commitng
a crime. If an offender wants to rob a store for money, the cashier is protected behind gated
fiber glass that opportunity isn’t present. The connection between characteristics plays a huge
role on why crimes is more common in areas than others. By deeconstructing or micro analyzing
the characteristics of buildings, traffic, pedistrian activity, lighting, etc. tells why certain locations
experience more crime. The infrastructure or layout of areas make can effects crime in different
locations.
The more accessible you a place is the more it perpetuates crime. If there is no
opportunity to commit crime then a crime simply won’t be commited. So when determining why
offenders commit crime to the possibility of it effected on the offenders perceived chances of
achieving his criminal objectives. It must also be noted that criminal opportunity can also just
derive from performing ones daily activities. For example, a person could be going shopping
and notice the store is low on employees. On top of that there is no one monitoring to the self
checkout area, making the opportunity for theft more likely. In this case, the individual had no
prior intentions of committing theft, but while performing his daily routine, an opportunity arose.
Although some criminal opportunities are obvious, such as an abandoned car on the side of a
road. Others are not so. Most criminal opportunites theories are arguing that one way that crime
can be reduced is to limit the opportunity of the crime being successful. By focusing on
extenatuing factors such as guardianship or being a suitable target.