Appointment Robbery: Do Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Strategies Work? Voices from the Street

Abstract

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) theory posits that crime can be reduced with modifications and planning to the physical environment by making involvement in criminal activity more difficult to complete by increasing the visibility of the offender thereby raising the risk of being caught. A new type of criminal opportunity has evolved in the 21 st Century with the introduction and explosion of direct e-commerce opportunities with online and app advertisements to buy and sell items through such venues as Craigslist, OfferUp, Letgo, and Facebook Marketplace. This new crime is defined as an 'appointment robbery'. Using interviews of 12 active robbers from a metropolitan area in Texas, this study explored whether or not offenders were deterred from participating in criminal behavior due to the implementation of CPTED strategies. Results from this study suggest that offenders reported that territoriality, natural surveillance, activity support, and access control did serve as deterrents during the decision to commit a robbery. The study examined the original CPTED theory as posited by Jeffery in 1971. The study found support for the original four CPTED strategies.

An assessment of crime prevention through environmental design in student housing: a weight-of-evidence approach

“…Natural surveillance is a component of CPTED, a principle of the environment’s ability to generate human opportunities to watch over one another (Molaei and Hashempour, 2020; Vasquez et al , 2020). Many studies have demonstrated that natural surveillance encourages authorised persons to use their demarcated spaces, arguing the inherent risk and difficulty of ensuing crime (Cozens et al , 2019; Cozens and Sun, 2019; Reynald, 2015; Shariati and Guerette, 2020, 2019).…”

Strategies for Gaining Access to Robbers: The Importance of Identity, Rapport, and Commitment Acts

“…The gatekeeper was identified by the primary author, who was at the time a gang interventionist and had known him for five years. The gatekeeper was an individual who was active in robbery and had strong connections and reputation throughout criminal networks and who participated in different types of crime (Vasquez et al, 2020). The primary researcher asked the gatekeeper, Tito, to be introduced to people who were engaged in robberies.…”

“…The primary researcher asked the gatekeeper, Tito, to be introduced to people who were engaged in robberies. Due to Tito's strong reputation in the streets, it was easy for him to clarify the study objectives and to validate the researcher as a nonthreatening individual to the participant's social and legal status (Biernancki & Waldorf, 1981;DeShay et al, 2020, Irwin, 1972Vasquez et al, 2020;Vasquez & Vieraitis, 2016).…”

“…The final criterion focused on whether or not the individual was considered to be an 'active offender' in a robbery. Previous research has defined the term 'active offender' as people who have participated in two more criminal acts within the two prior months and, more importantly, who were not presently incarcerated (DeShay et al, 2020;Vasquez et al, 2020;Vasquez & Vieraitis, 2016;Wright et al, 1992). All participants met the criterion.…”

Do Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Strategies Deter Taggers? Voices from the Street

“…The broader focus of CPTED is to highlight and encourage positive community ownership of a space and to support legitimate use of the space, while psychologically deterring potential offenders and preventing criminal activity. Research has shown that techniques of CPTED are best used early in the design stages so that the physical appearance of the area can be built to reduce criminal activity (Parnaby, 2007;Cozens & Love, 2015, Marzbali, Abdullah, Ignatius, Tilaki, 2016Armitage, 2018;Vasquez, Rodriguez, Suh, & Martinez-Cosio, 2019). Yet there remains a lack of clarity regarding a model that emphasizes which of CPTED's fundamental components actually works from the offender's perspective.…”