Discussion: The Purpose of Theory

12/15/2020

Week 3 Discussion

The Purpose of Theory

I live in the ninth-largest city in California and 50th largest city in the United States (world

population, n.d.). Any individual that resides inside this city is at risk of being a victim of a crime

regardless of the theories. In my city crime rates are higher than 85% than the national average,

violent crimes are 20% higher, an individual has a 1 in 22 chance of being a victim of a crime,

the city is safer than 14% of the cities in the United States, and each year crime only declines by

1% (Area Vibes, n.d.). Each theory could best explain the primary reason for victimization in my

city. To explain, my city is known for two very negative aspects drugs and sexually transmitted

diseases and each theory can explain as to why that certain individual was targeted either by their

everyday routine (routine activity), the places they visit (deviant place), where they live and what

they do (lifestyle), and their participation in instigating a criminal for criminal activity (victim

participation).

o Routine activity

The routine activity theory describes how likely offenders come to commit a crime partly

based on their normal activities and an individual’s routine travel and activities can bring a

motivated offender into contact with their desirable though vulnerable asses without appropriate

guardianship (Smith & Brooks, 2013). There are numerous individuals including myself that

have a routine or routine place that we go each day that can potentially lead them to be victims of

a crime. To use prostitution as an example, they are known to work in the same place or the same

couple of places each time they ‘work’ making them the perfect targets for a criminal to take

advantage of. They can be robbed, raped, sexually assaulted, or even murdered because they

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have a consistent routine that essentially makes them an easy target. Earlier I stated my city was

known for two negative aspects one being sexually transmitted diseases, this coincides with the

amount of prostitution that happens throughout my city. If you reside in my city, it is common

knowledge which area of town you do not want to be caught in because it is a location known for

prostitution.

o Deviant place

Grand Canyon University (2019) illustrates that in the deviant place theory an individual is

more likely to become the victim of a crime when exposed to dangerous areas and the more that

individual frequently ventures into bad neighborhoods where crime or violent crime is common,

leads to a greater risk of victimization for that individual. Within my city crime happens

everywhere; crime does not have an address, you can be rich, poor, middle class, homeless any

classification, it does not make you any less likely to be a victim of a crime. Crime happens more

in three sections of my city, an area called Oildale, another that locals call ‘the pit’, and the East

Side of my city. For individuals who do not normally venture into deviant places their chances of

being a victim of a crime their chances are 1 in 22 (Area Vibes, n.d.) and as long as they do not

consistently venture into troubled areas their chances of victimization will remain the same, but

the more the individual ventures into the deviant place they begin to form a routine which is

another victimization theory which essentially can double an individuals chances of

victimization depending on the crime and the criminal.

o Lifestyle

The lifestyle theory as defined by Madero-Hernandez (2019) is a person with certain

demographic profiles that are more prone to experience criminal victimization because their

lifestyles expose risky situations. Any person residing in any of the three areas within my city

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that were discussed above can experience criminal victimization because of where they live, how

they were raised, or how they live their life. For instance, an individual who has two hard-

working parents that try their best to be there, provide, and raise their children right, who lives on

the East Side of my city is more prone to either be the criminal or the victim of the crime. You

have the possibility of that child getting involved with a gang or criminal activity because of who

they decided to spend their time with. Peer pressure is a straw that can break a certain camel’s

back.

o Victim participation

An example of victim participation in cases that involves prostitutes and their ‘Johns’. To

further argue this point Harper (2020) proclaimed that the victim participation theory, views

victimology from the standpoint that the victims themselves may initiate, either passively or

actively, the criminal act that ultimately leads to injury or death. A prostitute can go to ‘work’

like they do every night and have a client that begins to act aggressively or out of their normal

and find themselves in a victim participation scenario. Passively or actively, they have initiated

the situation; without knowing they could have acted a certain way or performed a sexual act a

certain way that coincided with the recipient’s fantasy that was unknown by the prostitute but the

way they speak, or act during the intercourse initiated the actions of the recipient causing injury

or death.

I am a person that does not venture from places I have been which can put me in the category

of routine activity but I protect myself from being victimized by carrying things that I can use to

protect myself, I do not normally venture to new places alone (I do not like going anyplace

alone), I do not interact with people who do not have the same mentality or personality that I do,

I never go into deviant places and if I do, again I am never alone or I will go straight from my car

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to the place I am going and then straight back to my car, and I park as close to the entrance as

possible. There is no longer anything within my lifestyle that attracts risky situations and to take

my honesty a step further there are four friends that I talk to and see sporadically. My lifestyle

involves my animals, my schoolwork, and my family especially this year; I have not seen my

closest friends in months.

Law enforcement application of these theories in assisting with the decrease of violent

victimization would be ideal but ultimately not probable. I state this because applying these

theories sounds easy, but they do not tell you what type of victim a criminal will choose. Law

enforcement can send out a description of the victims that the criminal is choosing but they will

never be able to use these theories to completely dwindle the exact individual that will become a

victim of a crime. To argue this point further, you can tell individuals the criteria of victims and

hope that they listen and begin taking the precautions necessary to protect themselves but there is

no way in knowing if the individuals are taking the information seriously. You can lead a horse to

water, but you cannot make the horse drink the water. If law enforcement applies these theories

then information about the type of victimization (routine activity, deviant places, lifestyle, and

victim participation) need to be made public knowledge to help elevate violent victimization.

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References

3 Modern Theories of Victimology. Grand Canyon University. (2019, September 2).

https://www.gcu.edu/blog/criminal-justice-government-and-public-administration/3-

modern-theories-victimology.

Area Vibes. Bakersfield, CA Crime. Bakersfield, CA Crime Rates & Map.

https://www.areavibes.com/bakersfield-ca/crime/.

Bakersfield, California Population 2020. Bakersfield, California Population 2020

(Demographics, Maps, Graphs). https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/bakersfield-

ca-population.

Harper, L. (2020, November 6). The Four Theories of Victimization - Soapboxie - Politics.

Soapboxie. https://soapboxie.com/government/The-Four-Theories-of-Victimization.

Madero‐Hernandez, A. (2019, August 23). Lifestyle Exposure Theory of Victimization. Willy

Online Library.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321884132_Lifestyle_Exposure_Theory_of_Vi

ctimization.

Smith, C. L., & Brooks, D. J. (2013). Chapter 5: Physical Security. In Security Science the

Theory and Practice of Security (pp. 105–127). essay, Butterworth-Heinemann.

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