Predatory crimes– one person attacking the person or property of another
Consensual crimes– two people cooperating to break the law
Fighting – two conflicting parties that both act illegally p 28
Setting– place for reoccurring behavior at known times
Crime setting– people converge or diverge in a special way that influences their crime
opportunities p 28
Most human behavior occur in some type of setting, but only certain settings are risky
for crime
Risky settings p 29
Crime risk concentrates in transportation nodes and storage area like docks and
warehouse where electronic products are stored p 29
Crime concentrates in particular settings and is not evenly distributed
Crime can be meaningless unless you’ve known to what led up to it
Sequence for criminal act into three stages p 30
Three elements of a criminal act:
Most criminal acts occur in a favorable setting.
-A likely offender
-A suitable target
-The absence of a capable guardian against the offense
Most criminals start young; some criminals may be late bloomers. Daily life helps
some reach their full criminal potential whereas others have a stunted criminal
growth. P 31
The march of life provides new criminal opportunities so it changed the pool of likely
offenders as time goes on, while making some previous offenders more or less
efficient
Suitable target– any person or thing that draws the offender toward a crime, whether
a car that invites him to steal, some money that he could easily take, or somebody
that provokes him into a fight
Guardians are not police or security; they are ordinary citizens going about their daily
routines p 31
You are the best possible guardian for you and your property. Friends and relatives
can serve too. Even strangers can if they are nearby. Some guardians are employees.
With a guardian present, the offender avoids attempting to carry out an offense. A
guardian is not someone with a gun or threatens the offender, but someone whose
presence serves a gentle reminder that someone is looking. The absence of a guardian
is very important when offenders and targets are present.
Ecks crime triangle p 32: the offender, the crime target, and the place of setting where
the crime occurred.
Handler- supervises potential offenders like mom, dad, coach, or teachers whose
presence discourages misbehavior.
A place is supervised by a place manager whose presence and alertness discourages
crime from happening there p 32
Place manager- hotel clerks and apartment building managers. They control the
physical environment, set and enforce rules, oversee behaviors and thus influence
crime.
For predatory crimes the guardian is the most important element.
Predatory offenses are a small portion of all offenses p 33
Part 1 (I) crimes are mostly predatory offenses with victims, including rape, robbery,
murder, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, auto theft, and sometimes
arson
Part 2 (II) crimes, many lack clear and direct victims. These are drug and alcohol
violations, runaways, traffic infractions without accidents, as well as fights p 33
The predatory sequence works like: p 34
-a likely offender enters a setting
– a suitable target enters too
– a guardian leaves
-an offender attacks the target
Crime attractors– likely to draw offenders. Sometimes the first and second steps are
reversed- the targets are already there before the offender arrives.
Crime generators: offenders and suitable targets are around for other purposes, but
criminal acts emerge. P 34
Crime generators can transform into crime attractors in this sequence:
– a setting hosts normal legal activities
-these activities assemble likely offenders and targets making that setting a crime
generator
-that gives offenders successful crime experiences in that setting after which
-the setting becomes a crime attractor, with crime there getting still worse
