Danielle M. Reynald

Guardians on Guardianship: Factors Affecting the Willingness to Supervise, the Ability to Detect Potential Offenders, and the Willingness to Intervene:

Within criminology, much attention has been given to the processes of offending and victimization, but comparatively few studies have focused on the processes underlying guardianship. The current study turns the spotlight toward the capable guardian as the critical actor within the crime event model with the power to prevent crime. This study interviews residential guardians to examine key factors that render them capable of disrupting opportunities for crime. Results reveal three critical dimensions of capable guardianship at micro-places: (1) the willingness to supervise, (2) the ability to detect potential offenders, and (3) the willingness to intervene when necessary.

Factors Associated with the Guardianship of Places: Assessing the Relative Importance of the Spatio-Physical and Sociodemographic Contexts in Generating Opportunities for Capable Guardianship

Routine activity theory can be applied to places in which a motivated offender encounters a suitable target that is not effectively guarded. The focus of this article was on the third aspect of this theory as the explanatory power of guardianship was examined and compared to other related contextual factors in explaining criminal victimization at micro-places. This empirical study used an observational measure of guardianship in action in residential places by observing household occupancy, monitoring by residents, and direct intervention during the daytime and nighttime. The results demonstrated the significant role of active guardianship compared to other spatio-physical and sociodemographic factors in explaining the amount of property crime recorded at the street segment level. This article is concluded by highlighting the ways in which these contextual factors help generate opportunities for capable guardianship, while simultaneously blocking opportunities for property crime.

The Offenders’ Perspective on Prevention Guarding Against Victimization and Law Enforcement

Law-abiding citizens are concerned with deterring and preventing crime. One strategy to accomplish this goal is to increase the costs and reduce the benefits that particular situations present to offenders. This form of crime control is known as situational crime prevention. Like law-abiding persons, offenders must concern themselves with being victimized. Differently, however, offenders must also worry about being detected and punished by formal agents. Thus, situational prevention from the offenders’ perspective is relatively complex, encompassing efforts to block not only opportunities for victimization but also for law enforcement. Building on the work of Clarke, the present study uses qualitative data from drug dealers to illustrate how and why offenders use situational strategies and techniques to evade their adversaries. The article concludes by discussing implications for future work.

TRANSITORY MOBILITY, CULTURAL HETEROGENEITY, AND VICTIMIZATION RISK AMONG YOUNG MEN OF COLOR: INSIGHTS FROM AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

The coupling of racial and economic stratification has been found to result in a range of adverse outcomes for youth of color, including disproportionate exposure to violence and victimization. Primary explanations of these patterns, particularly at the micro-level, have focused on the impact of street culture. In this article, we draw from a multiyear ethnography in Cape Town, South Africa, to offer a theoretical elaboration of the place of culture in contributing to victimization risks among urban minority young men. The study is based on data collected from a sample of 26 young men of color who lived on the Cape Flats between 2003 and 2006. Using grounded theory methods, we suggest the import of unequal access to spatial mobility as a multifaceted means by which culture mediates young mens risks for victimization in disadvantaged communities. We find that transitory mobility--conceptualized as youths temporary access to cultural spaces outside their segregated residential neighborhoods--is an important source of cultural heterogeneity in townships that can intensify the strength of local social identities and outgroup antipathies directed at those whose mobility is perceived as a cultural threat. Transitorily mobile young mens cultural repertoires are a key facet of street efficacy that can either insulate them from risk or heighten their vulnerabilities. Our findings are suggestive of important sources of variation in young mens victimization outcomes in disadvantaged communities, offering insights about factors that shape risks beyond those linked to the victim-offender overlap in high-risk settings. Language: en

Environmental Design and Crime Events

This article presents an overview of theoretical perspectives that explain the relationship between crime and environmental design. It describes how crime event research has been influenced significantly by developments in our understanding of how environmental design influences both offender decision making and crime preventive action by citizens. Key crime prevention techniques that involve the manipulation of environmental design will be explained and their empirical standing will be considered. Through a discussion of the practical applications of design theory and concepts, some fundamental limitations and gaps in criminological knowledge about the crime–design link will be highlighted. In conclusion, this article will emphasize the need for better integration of the role and function of crime controllers to continue the advancement of the crime–design framework.

Toward the Adaptation of Routine Activity and Lifestyle Exposure Theories to Account for Cyber Abuse Victimization

With the advent of the Internet and the emergence of cybercrimes (e.g., cyber stalking, cyber harassment), criminologists have begun to explore the empirical utility of lifestyle exposure and routine activity theories (RATs) to account for personal victimization as a consequence of cyber abuse. Available cyber abuse studies have produced inconsistent empirical support for both models, which has reignited the debate about whether terrestrial theories, such as RAT, will ever be able to adequately explain cybercrimes due to the spatial and temporal disconnect between the theories and the cyber environment. This article reviews existing cyber abuse scholarship, explores potential reasons for the weak empirical support for routine activity and lifestyle exposure theories in cyberspace, and proposes several directions for future research. We suggest that to further our understanding of cyber abuse processes, scholars need to carefully define and operationalize the key theoretical concepts in the light of latest developments in RAT (i.e., addition of new controllers—handlers and place managers, and super controllers), and conduct in-depth qualitative studies, as well as quantitative studies, that employ robust methodological designs and multi-level statistical analyses.

Guardianship in Action (GIA) Within Brisbane Suburbs: Examining the Relationship Between Guardianship Intensity and Crime, and Changes Across Time

Using Reynald’s guardianship in action (GIA) model, direct observations of properties along high- and low-crime street segments, within one low-crime and one high-crime suburb of Brisbane, Australia, were conducted (N = 1,113). Multiple observations of properties were recorded across multiple times of the day and day of the week, in order to determine (a) the guardianship intensity exhibited by suburban residents, (b) whether areas that experience different levels of property crime were associated with different levels of guardianship intensity, and (c) whether guardianship intensity differed across time of day and day of week. Results show that guardianship intensity was significantly higher on the high-crime street segments. Although levels of occupancy differed significantly in line with expected routine activity patterns, there were no significant differences in monitoring and intervention behaviors observed over time. Current findings are discussed in light of the unique suburban residential context of Brisbane, and avenues for future research are examined.

Guardianship Against Sexual Offenses Exploring the Role of Gender in Intervention

This article reviews the literature on bystander intervention with a view to establishing what we know about how guardians can be effective in preventing, disrupting, or reducing the severity of sexual offenses against women through intervention. Viewing bystanders as potential guardians, this review explores what is currently known about the presence of potential guardians at the scene of sexual offenses against women, and how these potential guardians respond to witnessing such events. Research shows that the likelihood and type of intervention by available guardians varies across situational contexts. Relatedly, trends in the characteristics of available and active guardians also reveal the importance of individual characteristics such as age, and most significantly gender, in affecting the willingness to intervene and perceptions of capability in intervening in various situational contexts. Results suggest that while men generally have greater confidence in their physical capability to intervene directly, women generally express a greater willingness to help and are more likely to intervene indirectly. The implications of these gendered bystander responses for sexual assault prevention are discussed.

Seeing is Believing?: Comparing Negative Affect, Realism and Presence in Visual Versus Written Guardianship Scenarios

ABSTRACT We compared participant responses on three written guardianship scenarios versus visualized versions of the same scenarios in terms of realism, presence, negative affect elicited by the situation, perceived risk, and the choice to intervene. We find that people who received the visual scenarios report higher presence, but not realism, than those who received the written version. Furthermore, visual scenarios elicited stronger negative affect and resulted in a lower likelihood to intervene. Finally, presence, but not negative affect, mediated the relation between condition and the choice to intervene. Implications of the visual scenario method for future research are discussed.

Offender–victim relationship and offender motivation in the context of indirect cyber abuse: A mixed-method exploratory analysis

Cyber abuse can be executed directly (e.g. by sending derogatory emails or text messages addressed to the victim) or indirectly (e.g. by posting derogatory, private or false information, documents, images or videos about the victim online). This exploratory, mixed-method triangulated study examines cyber abuse crime events with the goal of identifying factors associated with the increased risk of personal victimization from both direct and indirect methods of cyber abuse. First, in-depth qualitative interviews with cyber abuse victims (n = 12) were conducted. The interviews were analysed using thematic analysis to generate hypotheses. These hypotheses were then tested using content analysis of newspaper reports (n = 110) and victims’ posts on online forums (n = 91) describing incidents of cyber abuse. Logistic regression using Bayesian Model Averaging analysis revealed that the combination of a prior offender–victim relationship and expressive motivation best predicts the use of indirect methods of cyber abuse, while direct methods of cyber abuse are more likely to occur when the offender does not know the victim and is motivated by instrumental ends. Implications for crime prevention are also discussed.