Question:

Your niece e-mails you and asks for help as a criminal justice professional with a high school project about victimization.  She says that her project is coming along nicely, but she admits she is stuck on the portion relating to where crimes most often occur, and she would like your help.  Reply to your niece's e-mail giving her information regarding where violent and non-violent crimes occur most often, using a victim's residence as a point of reference.  Further, offer your opinion as to why the majority of crimes occur where they do.

Answer:

Criminal victimization is one of the most nerve-racking experiences. Considering in terms of violent and non-violent crimes, both bring out a devastating experience on an individual. However, violent crimes have to be taken much seriously when compared to non-violent crime though it demands punishment. Violent crimes, which are very difficult to generalize, most often are seen occurring in entertainment oriented places where there are alcohol servings. The time period for such kind of crimes takes place in- large during weekends. It is the same in the case of property crimes too, which though not relatively serious, takes place during weekends. Violent crime also takes mostly during mid or late night in places such ATM centers, night clubs, convenience stores etc when it is easy to assault an individual (Violent Crime Safety, 2007, para. 5).

The most common type of violent crimes are punching, slapping, shoving, pushing that have almost become common everyday. The most serious ones are murder and manslaughter, forced rape, aggravated assault, kidnapping, armed robberies etc. The victims of these crimes are most often found to be familiar to the criminal who is convicted. Crimes like murder take place at times in the individual’s residence and in certain cases public places where most often streets are deserted. Violence like rape takes place in the individual’s residence and in the present days in the college campuses too. Crimes like kidnapping takes place even in the busiest markets places. Sometimes carjacking indulges in kidnapping the victim along with the car and dropping him off at a distant place. In such cases, the victim is brutally attacked (Mcgoey, 2008, para. 1). Armed robberies also complement the same kind of tactics. The crime most often takes place in the broad daylight in cities where the victims are helpless.

Non violent crimes include property crimes such as shop lifting, motor vehicle theft, drug possession and simple thefts, pick pocketing and fraudulence. Crimes like shop lifting take place during late nights around two or probably three when the entire street is uninhabited. Motor vehicle theft most often takes places in parking areas, where abundant of vehicles are parked. The theft most often is done by breaking. Crimes like drug possession are most often found in houses. Pick pocketing takes place in public crowded areas, crowded buses and trains where the victim is most often unaware of the crime. Fraudulence is most often seen in front of airports, where the cab drivers demand a huge sum of money from tourists for a less distant destination.

There are many violent and non-violent crimes taking place in many of the residences. These occurrences most often happen when the crime offenders come to know that the house is either uninhabited during the time of crime or when there is only one member left behind in the entire house. One of the incidences at West Georgetown, 1400 blocks showcases a burglary in one of the residences. The complainant stated that an unknown person had entered the house and took her wallet containing cash, credit cards, and gift cards. There was a complaint from another resident in the same block on unlawful entry. This complainant noticed that it was an unknown male who had entered his house. He also addressed that the door to his house was unlocked at the time of entry and he did not know the motive behind it. These types of crime are categorized as nonviolent crime since there are no reported physical injuries to any of the victims (Public Safety Announcement, 2008, para. 3 & 4).

If we take a close look at the crime history, it most often involves domestic violence issues. It takes place in most of the residences where the attacker is most often known such as spouse, boy friend, girl friend, someone who is seen on a regular basis, sometimes in workplace etc. These crimes generally take over due to petty quarrels, sometime enmity, misunderstanding etc.