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Crime opportunity theory suggests that offenders make rational choices and thus choose targets that offer a high reward with little effort and risk. The occurrence of a crime depends on two things: the presence of at least one motivated offender who is ready and willing to engage in a crime, and the conditions of the environment in which that offender is situated, to wit, opportunities for crime.
Deviance or the sociology of deviance [1] [2] explores the actions or behaviors that violate social norms across formally enacted rules (e.g., crime) [3] as well as informal violations of social norms (e.g., rejecting folkways and mores). Although deviance may have a negative connotation, the violation of social norms is not always a negative ...
Illegitimate opportunity theory holds that individuals commit crimes not when the chances of being caught are low but from readily available illegitimate opportunities. The theory was first formalized by Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin in 1960. [ 1 ]
The theory has been extensively applied and has become one of the most cited theories in criminology. Unlike criminological theories of criminality, routine activity theory studies crime as an event, closely relates crime to its environment and emphasizes its ecological process, [2] thereby diverting academic attention away from mere offenders.
The theory is related to earlier drift theory (David Matza, Delinquency and Drift, 1964) where people use the techniques of neutralization to drift in and out of delinquent behaviour, and systematic crime theory (an aspect of social disorganization theory developed by the Chicago School), where Edwin Sutherland proposed that the failure of families and extended kin groups expands the realm of ...
In other words, Merton believes that the American Dream is a cultural ideal, but the ways in which people go about obtaining it are not the same. This can lead to a considerable amount of deviance (in the Parsonian sense). This theory is commonly used in the study of criminology (specifically the strain theory).
This theory emphasizes the environment that these crimes occur in. There are three major components of this theory. [1]Nodes; Paths; Edges; Nodes refers to the places people travel to and from and the crime generated in specific areas, for example bars, malls, parks, where people work, and the neighborhoods in which people live. [1]
Satanic ritual abuse is an example of this in modern times, and the case of witch hunts is an example from antiquity. These are often called moral panics, and Goode considers them a valid subject (perhaps the ideal subject) for deviance studies. Erich Goode is known for his exploration and exposure of the "moral panic" concept. He takes a "harm ...