The Contribution and Role Played by Individual Persons in Criminal Victimisation

Joseph Mwai, Cyprian Kavivya, Stephen Handa

Abstract

Committing a crime is the outcome of a process where many factors are at work. In most cases, crime is not an action but a reaction, or an overreaction, to external and environmental stimuli. This investigation aims to find out why individuals contribute to their criminal victimisation and sometimes even play some role in accelerating or provoking the offender to commit the wrong. Suppose individuals ensure that adequate steps are taken to deter, delay and provide warnings to assist in summoning assistance to prevent crime or reduce the impact of wrongdoing. In that case, criminal victimisation may drop considerably. Situational crime prevention theory proposes that if society takes some measures to reduce the chances of committing a crime, the potential offenders will not succeed in their endeavour to offend. This article argues that the commission of crimes is primarily a function of opportunities to break the laws, which, admissibly, is influenced by the behaviour of potential victims occasionally. Researchers now just do not see a victim as an innocent point of impact on crime but know the victim, at times, playing quite an active role as a contributor to his victimisation. This study adopted a cross-sectional survey design. This approach lets the scholar get data from various sets of populations simultaneously. In this study, the emphasis is on reducing victimisation through enhancing individual personal security. Towards this end, the researcher sought to examine the role played by particular persons in victimisation. The study examined these relationships using samples of common area residents (n = 210), key informants (n = 45) and 145 members of focused group discussions. The findings of this research are expected to provide data that helps inform policymakers and the individuals who are the primary victims of criminal victimisation of the need for enhanced personal security to assist in crime risk management. The study was conducted in Kajiado County, which sits on the southern side of Nairobi City, the capital of Kenya.

10.22178/pos.106-27


Keywords


personal security; criminal victimisation; environmental stimuli; crime prevention

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References


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Copyright (c) 2024 Joseph Mwai, Cyprian Kavivya, Stephen Handa

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