Article Critique 1

Victimization and being a victim can occur in many different forms. Depending on the

viewpoint of the aggressor and the victim different criminological theories form around an

incident. Criminological theories are the study of why crime happens. Using these one can try to

determine how to reduce or prevent crime all together. Theories stem from the beginning of time

when citizens thought supernatural powers and demons were the reason crime existed. Now in

the modern era many theories exist that are backed by many different viewpoints. The two

theories that relate the most to the victimization of burglary are rational choice theory, and

routine activities theory.

Criminals come in varying forms. Some criminals commit their crimes randomly, maybe

from an outburst of a mental health issue or out of anger. Other criminals are strategic, they think

hard about their plan. They make sure every piece of the puzzle is in place before they commit a

crime. They think of all the bad and good things that could happen and how important those

things are. Criminals like these are thought to be committing crime with the theory of rational

choice. “Rational choice theory proposes that offenders weigh the opportunities, costs, and

benefits of particular crimes” (Hagan, 2016). Some confusion over the rational choice theory is

within its name. One may think that rational choice theorists believe that these criminals think

that the acts they are commiting are rational. That maybe killing someone is the right and rational

thing to do, but that is not the case. These theorists understand that the criminal's decision

making is not rational. Instead they argue that the criminal with weigh the ups and the downs of

the crime they are committing before they chose to commit it.
 There are also many theories that directly apply to the victim instead of applying to the

criminal. These are victimization theories, one of them being routine activities theory.

Victimization theories are not proposed to put blame on the victims at hand but instead to

understand how crimes are committed and to seek prevention tactics. One of these theories is

routine activities theory. This states that if a person does the same thing every single day, and has

the same exact routine to their lives they will be more susceptible to being a victim of crime.

(Hagan, 2016). This is because if a victim’s movements and locations are predictable a criminal

can have an easier time planning their crime. It is also said that specific routines may be more

attractive to criminals than others. For example if a criminal knows that a person has their lunch

break at two every day and that they leave their laptop in their office during that time, that person

would become a suitable target for theft. This theory leads into the risks of being a victim of

burglary.

The article Burglary Victimization in England and Wales, the United States and the

Netherlands expounds upon many different of cases of house burglary in these areas. It contains

a plethora of statistics and data to try to pinpoint how a house is at risk to burglary and how it

can be prevented. It also relates all three places, Wales the United States and the Netherlands, to

see how each differ or are similar in burglary attempts. When assessing the burglary data in all

three countries it seems that Wales and the Netherlands have very similar data compared to the

United States. “Burglary prevalence in the two European countries is 8.1 per cent. [..] By

contrast, US burglary and repeat burglary prevalence are over four times less, namely 1.7 per

cent” (Tseloni, Wittebrood, Farrell & Pease 2004). There are many factors and variables which

help determine this outcome of data. Burglars weigh out many different components and aspects
when choosing a house to rob. Criminologist try to isolate these components and use them to

orchestrate their data. Some of these aspects are; age of person living in the house, if the house

was a standalone structure or an apartment, what towns the houses were located in and more.

Even with all these categories there are still many unknown factors in the burglaries analyzed.

This is called unexplained heterogeneity. “The level of unexplained heterogeneity was more than

three times greater for US households than that for the other two countries” (Tseloni et al., 2004).

This leads to the assumption that the data calculated for the burglaries in the United states may

be less accurate than the other two european countries.

The criminological theories earlier stated directly relate to this article. Rational choice

theory fully supports what burglars are doing before robbing a specific house or residence. These

criminals strategically plan how effective their heist and robbery will be. As rational choice

theory states they outweigh the consequences and the benefits before choosing a victim. “Four

risk factors are generally detailed: target exposure, absence of capable guardianship,

attractiveness, and proximity to potential offenders” (Tseloni et al., 2004). The variables about

the house’s distance from the street, and what style of house are defined as target exposures.

Capable guardianship refers to neighbors or loved ones that can watch a house when the owners

are not home. If the house belongs to a wealthy person, or if through the windows you can see

nice electronics and valuables it is deemed as attractive.

Routine activities theory weighs into this data due to the predictability of one's

whereabouts. Since these burglars do seem to act under rational choice theory then a big part of

the criminal being strategic in robbing a house would be knowing when a person is home. For

someone who is a college student and has different classes every day with a different schedule it
would be very hard to predict when they would be home. If someone is working full time nine to

five job monday through friday it would be very easy to predict when they will be out of the

house. It also predicts a very large window of time for the house to be empty. The person with

the full time job will have a more likely chance of being robbed.

One who is trying to prevent crime can approach burglaries many different ways. What it

really comes down to is making punishments for certain crimes harsher. Any way that will help

prevent robberies happening, which is supported by the criminologists that believe in rational

choice theory. The way to prevent robberies can spring a multitude of ideas, one could be to

educate the public on how to secure their houses with cameras and alarms. To let the public

know to have someone who can house sit when they are not there. Also to not leave valuable

attractive possessions in the window where they can be seen. The best way to reduce these

criminal attempts is to make sure a residence has the qualities opposite of houses that burglars

would find attractive.

Works Cited

Frank E. Hagan (2016). Introduction to Criminology, 9th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Publications, Inc. (ISBN: 9781452242347)

Tseloni, A., Witterbrood, K., Farrell, G., & Pease, K. (2004). Burglary Victimization in England

and Wales, the United States and the Netherlands. Brit. J. Criminol.