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Victimization - Crime in Modern America

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As a way of dealing with victim and crime problems in modern America, criminologists study the relationship between criminals and their criminal acts with four theories: lifestyle, victim precipitation, routine activities, and deviant place. Lifestyle theory emphasizes that based on lifestyle choices, people become targets when exposed to situations and criminal offenders, leading to committing crimes. Examples of some lifestyle choices include residing in bad areas, excessive drug and alcohol use, going out at night alone, and working with known felons. In this theory, personality traits are shared by the victims, which can be seen in law violators like low self-control and impulsivity (Finkelhor & Asdigian, 1996). This notes the connection between perpetrators and victims of crimes. In comparison to more conservative lifestyle counterparts, both show antisocial and impulsive behaviors, which might lead to their victimization since they cause the person to increase higher chances for victimization. Victim precipitation deals with the position where the victims might initiate active or passive criminal acts that lead to death or injury (Outlaw, Ruback, & Britt, 2002). It is the idea that there is a struggle of power when there is a passive precipitation of violence. During passive precipitation, an attack is initiated by behaviors done unconsciously by the victim. One example that can be used is a politician. An activist group leader threatens him due to his actions attracting negative characteristics from his personality and actions that can harm society. When the attacker's existence is unknown to the victim, passive precipitation can also exist. In this case, long-time employees are threatened because a new employee might quickly rise above corporate ranks. Routine activity measures victimization based on a set of conditions reflected upon typical individuals' routines: 1) Absence of capable protectors 2) Existence of motivated off

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