Crime and Victimization, Research Paper Example

The victim precipitation theory stems from the notion that victims precipitate or provoke their own victimization through actions that eventually result in injury or death. This theory presumes the victims actions as providing the criminal incentive for the offender. It is imperative, therefore, that such victimization and offending conduct are interrelated and that many criminal occasions involve some incentive on the victim’s part. According to Tepper et al (2006) the crime in such circumstances often arises as a result of interactions between victims and offenders that essentially begin with either aggressive or non-aggressive actions on the part of the subsequent homicide victim. This theory, therefore, implies that several victims are not simply innocent victims but occasionally suffer violence that is occasioned by their own active or passive actions. Precipitation of this victimization can be active precipitation, which occurs as a result of provocative acts by the victims or passive precipitation when victims possess personal characteristics that unintentionally encourage the attacker. An example of the precipitation theory of victimization is a crime like date rape where the crime is often precipitated by the victim by virtue of going on a date with the attacker.

An instance of a real life scenario involving a criminal activity is the Boston marathon bombing. The bombing took place on Monday April the 15^th 2013 at the finish line of the Boston marathon. The incident involved two bombs that exploded not more than a block apart, and this incident left 5 people dead and scores injured. The agencies involved in the activity include the federal bureau of investigations, the bureau of alcohol tobacco, firearms and explosives, the national counterterrorism center, the central intelligence agency and the drug enforcement administration. The agencies that took the case were the appropriate agencies for this situation since most of these agencies are specifically suited for such occurrences. The national counterterrorism center for instance is tasked with dealing with terrorism acts, and this situation was determined as an act of terrorism; therefore, the center had jurisdiction on the issue. The FBI and the CIA are mandated to conduct investigations and make arrests of suspects in such instances and their participation were appropriate. The bureau of fire arms and explosives is mainly concerned with incidents involving either explosives or fire arms and the current situation meant the case was within their jurisdiction (Kelley 2013).

In view of the Boston marathon bombing, the implementation of a change in the policing in such an event would have significantly affected the circumstances of the crime. Increasing police patrols during public events would have acted as deterrence to the criminals and as such the opportunity for criminals to commit the crimes would have significantly reduced. The presence of additional police officers in the area would ensure additional security for the participants of the event. Additionally the increase in police patrol increases surveillance in order to stop and apprehend the perpetrators before they commit the crime. Another change that would significantly affect the incidence of such criminal activities is the implementation of screening policies. These policies ensure that individuals in public places do not possess weapons that can be used in criminal activities. Screening reduces the incidence of crime and in such a scenario such screening would have potentially averted the criminal activity since the bombs would have been detected by the screening process (Murdock 2004).

References

Kelley, L. (2013). Combat Terrorism – Foreign and Domestic. Author House,

Murdock, C., A. (2004). Improving the practice of national security strategy: a new approach for the post-Cold War world. CSIS.

Tepper, B. J., Duffy, M. K., Henle, C. A., & Lambert, L. S. (2006). Procedural injustice, victim precipitation, and abusive supervision. Personnel Psychology, 59(1), 101-123.