Crime Hot Spot and the Routine Activities and Offender Search Theories

Crime Prevention
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Introduction
Crime hot spots are areas that have a large concentration of crimes within a given space. As they describe the special concentration of crimes that can be identified virtually, by an observer looking at the crimes and the map of the area in question. Such locations whether derived through observation or mathematical calculations represent data that is not random (Felson, Clarke, & Great Britain, 1998).
Hollywood 20 Cinema Hot Spot
The pointed reference in this paper is an area called Hollywood 20 Cinema. As the name suggests, the area is known for movies facilities and thus it is common to find that it is strewn with juvenile and gang activities. One of the key and most notable aspects of the area is the fact that the premises is located away from the normal traffic, which means that the area has very minimal police presence at anytime. The premise also has a parking lot that is not well lit and the neighboring residential areas are quite close to the area, as they are right next to the premise. It is also an area that has great access from the main roads, and that's why most of the people who come here love it for the convenience it offers compared to the other places. It is common to find parents dropping off their children and picking them up later after the movies. This means that the juveniles are most of the time left unattended to by the adults. For this reason, criminals that scour this area take advantage of the many juveniles that are an easy target. In the past, there have been quite a number of arrests but this has not deterred the criminal from hitting their victims from time to time.
Routine Activity Theory
The routine activity theory was developed by Lawrence Cohen and his colleague Marcus Felson. One of the criminal theories that try to explain the criminals' behavior at any given time is referred to as the crime opportunity theory. This theory infers that criminals do not just commit acts of crime in a random manner, rather all their activities are guided by rational choices that they make prior to the act. As such, criminal will always make rational choices to commit crime that is going to give the highest returns with the least risk involved. As such, there is always going to be an opportunity before the crime takes place and the reward must be fitting according to the criminal (Winfree & Abadinsky, 2010). This indicates that there is not always going to be crime, wherever there is an opportunity in reference to the reward and the risk involved.
One of the subsections of the crime opportunity theory is the routine activity theory (North Miami Beach Florida, 2014). This theory hinges on to the aspect of there being an opportunity rather than there being social factors that are forcing the criminal to engage. As such, criminal that is referred to in this theory are less likely to strike due to the fact that they are poor or have not had any job to satisfy their financial needs. With reference to the theory, the area in question is a movie theatre where juveniles and other parties come to enjoy themselves every so often. This therefore satisfies the fact that the area has a routine activity which is watching the movies. There is always a...