CMY2602_Summary Exam Notes.

CMY2602_Summary Exam Notes. Crime prevention: all measures taken by way of government policy and private initiative to prevent crime, with the exception of the criminal justice system.  Crime prevention models are usually based on specific theories or factors of crime that may have played a part in the commission of crime or victimization, while programs have no theoretical basis.  1971: USA established the National Crime Prevention Institute under the auspices of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration in the Department of Justice. Federal government took charge of NCPI in 1986 to involve communities in crime prevention.  England: o Local crime prevention panels existed from 1966. o 1975: Home Office Committee on Crime Prevention. o 1983: establishment of the Home Office Crime Prevention Centre and the Research and Planning Unit.  France: prevention councils have been operating at local, regional and national levels since 1983.  Sweden and Denmark: national crime prevention councils since late 1970s.  SA: National Crime Prevention Policy – 22 May 1996. Advocates an integrated, multidimensional crime prevention model for interdepartmental cooperation at central, regional and local authority levels. Four pillars: o The reduction of crime through effective environmental planning and design focusing on designing systems to reduce the opportunity for crime and increase the ease of detection and identification of criminals. o The enhancement of community values and campaigns to educate the community aimed at changing the way communities react to crime and violence. It involves programs that make use of public education and information to facilitate meaningful citizen participation in crime prevention. o Transnational crime prevention for the specific purpose of crime across the borders. o An effective and integrated criminal justice system. It must provide a sure, clear deterrent for criminals and reduce the risks of reoffending.  Factors crucial to successful crime prevention: o State and community involvement in implementing a comprehensive crime prevention policy. o A multidimensional crime prevention approach, which incorporates a number of crime prevention models and their programs. o Crime prevention models and programs based on causation theories and factors which may be operative in crime and victimization. o Attention to the uniqueness of crime patterns and causes peculiar to a country or neighbourhood. o Proper planning and the evaluation of crime prevention programs (which must also be cost-effective).  Crime prevention approaches: o Social crime prevention model (by Graham):  Socioeconomic structures/systems (families, schools, churches, recreational facilities, jobs) are important socialization structures.  Shortcomings in these structures may contribute to crime.  Social crime prevention programs are therefore designed to help vulnerable groups, and to eradicate poor socioeconomic conditions and social inequalities. o Limiting opportunities for crime model:  Focus on potential victims, community and the physical environment.  Includes effective urban and environmental planning; publicity campaigns aimed at making people more security conscious; target reinforcement; CCTV.  Successful in preventing crimes against property and people (robbery, pickpocketing). o Community-based crime prevention model:  Make offenders aware of the risk of being caught in specific neighbourhoods.  Examples: neighbourhood watches, safe houses, etc.  Successful in preventing robbery, pickpocketing, burglary, crimes against property and car theft. o Biophysical prevention model:  Early identification and treatment (esp. in children) may play an important role in preventing crime.  Examples: vitamin supplements, diet adjustments, medication, therapy. o Psychological prevention model  Focus on inner psychological needs and disorders that may give rise to criminal behaviour.  Interpersonal problems and poor communication, particularly within the family, may contribute to criminal behaviour.  Psychological treatments: psychological tests, psychotherapy, social casework. o Integrated crime prevention models  Prevention of specific crime:  A number of factors are seen as contributing to the particular crime.  These factors are treated using appropriate crime prevention programs.  Examples: rehabilitation, training in family and social skills, psychological treatment, techniques for coping with frustration and assistance with finding employment.  Crime prevention and control by means of the criminal justice system:  Law regulates human behaviour and must, therefore, be just. o Successful programmes:  Sherman, Gottfredson, MacKenzie, Eck, Reuter and Bushway found that the following worked well in USA:  Regular home visits by nurses and other professionals, and weekly home visits by teachers of preschool children to combat child abuse.  Family therapy and parental guidance for families with at-risk youths and adolescents.  School programs, such as innovative development programs, the reinforcement of accepted norms and education in social skills.  Trade apprenticeships for former offenders.  Increased policing of crime risk areas.  Monitoring and detaining high-risk recidivists.  Arresting professional men who abuse their families.  Rehab for convicted offenders aimed at risk treatment.  Therapeutic community treatment programmes for drug users in prisons. 2. PROPERTY CRIMES 1: SHOP THEFT AND EMPLOYEE THEFT  Property crime is an umbrella term for crimes that are committed with fiscal gain as the primary motive.  Includes fraud, shop theft, employee theft, common theft, vehicle theft, theft out of vehicles, computer theft, stock theft, burglary, arson and vandalism.  Malicious shrinkage: an umbrella term relating to the losses that occur while companies are producing, distributing and eventually selling goods to customers. Includes shoplifting and employee theft.  In the case of employee theft, the following elements are identified: o Unlawfulness: authorisation is absent during the taking of the money/merchandise. o An actual deed: the taking and appropriation of a moveable corporeal thing. o The intention of depriving the employer permanently of his property.  Determinants that often lead to arrest in cases of shop theft include the value and resale price of the item, as well as whether the item was stolen in a professional and adroit manner.  Internationally, department stores and pharmacies suffer the greatest losses from shoplifting.  In SA, food retailers suffer the greatest losses, while factories suffer the least losses.  Britain has the highest worldwide level of stock losses, followed by Germany. Switzerland is the country with the least shop theft.  According to the CGCSA, there has been a definite increase in shoplifting incidents over the years, which cost the SA retail industry R6 million annually in 2004.  Research by Hollinger shows that ± a third of the employees interviewed acknowledged having stolen goods from their employers during the preceding year. More than 2/3 of the research group reported counterproductive behaviour such as alcohol or drug abuse while on duty, misuse of sick leave, prolonged breaks and lunchtimes, as well as slow or poor workmanship.  Hefter reports that: o 1 in 3 employees is actively involved in employee theft. o The majority of employees steal once a year. o 9% of employees steal from their employers between 4 and 12 times a year. o Employee theft is investigated by security managers more often than any other breach of security. o 1 in 3 bankruptcies may be directly attributed to or is a direct consequence of employee theft.  The 2001 National Retail Security Survey in the USA showed that employee theft makes up 46% of inventory shrinkage.  The most frequently occurring offence by employees was theft of cash followed by theft of merchandise.  Most likely places for staff offending: tills and back areas. 3. NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SHOP AND EMPLOYEE THEFT 3.1. THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SHOP THEFT:  Common characteristics: o Does not contain element/threat of violence. o No need to gain unauthorised access to a building/premises. o Most commonly an opportunistic crime.  Shoplifter motives and typology: o Butler: people who shoplift are motivated by a series of socioeconomic and/or personal factors, including temptation, psychological/psychiatric problems (depression, stress, senility, effects of pregnancy, cerebral arteriosclerosis), poverty, a desire for excitement, peer pressure, and the need to outsmart adults. o Shop theft can also occur towing to political considerations – actions aimed against capitalist institutions. o Caputo’s motives: simple greed, reactions to personal crisis situations, low self-control, unemployment, drug abuse, divorce and relationship separation, perceived low risk of apprehension, and eating disorders. o According to smith, 4 types of shoplifter can be identified:  Amateur: steals on impulse, because he desires and wants to use the item (food, clothing). Easiest to detect due to lack of planning.  Juvenile: steals for thrill and status among peers. Amateurs and juveniles may eventually become professionals.  Professional: steals for economic gain. Chooses smaller items with high resale value. Frequently involved in other crimes (credit card fraud, drug use). 10% of all shoplifters.  Kleptomaniac: rare. Usually steals low-value items because of psychological urges. Often feels guilty. Essential feature is the recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal objects that are not needed for personal use or their monetary value. Items are often discarded, given away or returned.  Modus operandi: o Methods of concealment: dropping items from the shelf into open bags waiting at the shoplifters feet, putting items in handbags or baby carriages, hiding items in rolled up newspapers and making use of false compartments in items of clothing (jackets, soles of shoes). o In groups, they often distract store personnel by entering the shop in a group and splitting up in different directions, or sending an employee into the stores storage area to find something.  Items most commonly shoplifted: o Products with high resale value, small size, and designer brands. o CGCSA: toiletries (esp. expensive perfumes), razor blades, camera film, batteries, videos, DVDs, CDs, tobacco products, jewellery. o Items are usually sold at flea markets. 3.2. THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF EMPLOYEE THEFT  Common characteristics: Few employees who steal from employers have a long-term commitment to their employers or find themselves in dire financial straits at the time of the offence.  Motives for employee theft: o Explanations of offending differ between types of staff and their circumstances. o Debt o Opportunities that staff are exposed to in the course of daily duties o Workers who are unhappy with their working environment/circumstances have a higher tendency to offend, and rationalise the offence, lowering guilt levels. o Hollinger and Clark’s survey: feelings of unfair treatment were among the strongest predictors of employee theft. Strong link between theft and feelings of injustice in workplace. o Fischer and Green:  Revenge for (perceived) injustices.  Inadequate remuneration.  Self-enrichment (goods are easy to resell).  Assistance to others. o Offenders themselves give the following reasons (Lydon):  Awareness of other employees stealing  Personal financial difficulty  Remoteness of being caught  Belief that if they are caught they will not be prosecuted/punished. o Joubert, Maree and Hesseling-Louw:  Economic pressure  Demographic aspects (many thefts by young inexperienced part-time employees)  Opportunity  Dissatisfaction  Norms  Attitudes towards theft  Power through theft  Theft as a safety valve (working out their frustrations)  Instability (emotional) 4. EXPLANATION OF SHOP AND EMPLOYEE THEFT 4.1. THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR SHOP THEFT  Rational choice perspective o Identifies the human will as a predisposing factor in the decision to commit crime. o Potential offenders calculate the costs and benefits of crime, and select the alternative with the highest utility. o Evidence of decision making: importance of means of escape; contemplation of various tactics/means of committing the crime.  Routine activity theory (by Cohen and Felson) o Also known as lifestyle approach, and is related to the rational decision-making perspective. o Likelihood of crime is increased by the presence of three variables: the motivated offender, suitable targets, and insufficient guards. o People are inherently self-centred and hedonistic.  Shoplifting as consumer behaviour o It is part of people’s conduct in their role as consumer. Shoplifting results from the coincidence of 3 factors: a motivated consumer (shoplifter), desirable products and the opportunity to steal them. o The majority of shoplifters do not have a record of prior criminal behaviour. Over 30% of respondents in self-report surveys admit to being involved in shoplifting. 4.2. THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR EMPLOYEE THEFT  Social control theory o People are greedy and, therefore, steal as soon as the opportunity presents itself. o Focus on formal and informal social structures in the workplace. The role of such structures is to limit criminal behaviour by means of determination and regulation. o Normative support: the standards, perceptions and values the work group has established for itself (group norms). o Employees tend to impose their own informal normative sanctions, which, in turn, determine and regulate acceptable behaviour. Some types of theft are acceptable and not seen as theft. o The generally negative public perception of the ethical standards of business executives has contributed to the problem by helping workers feel that employee theft is simply a natural part of business.