AN ANALYSIS OF VICES AND ITS CAUSES THAT LEADS CRIMINALITY IN URBAN

PLACES SUCH AS SANTIAGO CITY AS A FOUNDATION OF PREVENTION PLAN

Background of the Study

“Crime has existed since the dawn of time.” According to Schafer (1976),

violence has lasted since the biblical misbehavior occurred during the time of Adam and

Eve, despite the fact that human cultures have evolved, and regulations have been

established since then. Crime has existed from the dawn of time and has never gone

away. Furthermore, crime has become such a "common societal phenomena" that it is

now considered a functional feature of an organization.

There is no one ‘cause’ of crime. Crime is a highly complex phenomenon that

changes across cultures and across time. Activities that are legal in one country (e.g.

alcohol consumption in the UK) are sometimes illegal in others (e.g. strict Muslim

countries). As cultures change over time, behaviors that once were not criminalized may

become criminalized (and then decriminalized again – e.g. alcohol prohibition in the

USA). As a result, there is no simple answer to the question ‘what is crime?’ and

therefore no single answer to ‘what causes crime?’ Different types of crime often have

their own distinct causes.

In the Philippines, urbanity is defined as the presence of certain institutions

associated with an urban lifestyle, such as a town hall, church or chapel, public plaza,

park or cemetery, market place, buildings for trade activities, and public buildings such

as schools, puericulture, a health center, and a library.

 A heterogeneity of cultures with concomitant differences in beliefs and behaviors;

(2) differences among group members, with relationships between persons restricted to

specific needs; (3) increased mobility, impersonality, and anonymity; and (4) people

who vary in age, race, ethnicity, norms, and values, according to demographic studies.

These are predisposing factors that contribute to the rise of urban crime. In comparison,

crime rates are higher in poorer neighborhoods and locations with higher population

density, deplorable living conditions, and a large number of unemployed workers.

Rapid urbanization, industrialization, and migration to the cities, as in other

nations, are important factors contributing to rising crime rates in Philippine metropolis.

The sudden extraordinary outflow of people from rural to urban areas has resulted in

urban degradation throughout the country. Increasing challenges in rural areas,

compounded by natural and man-made disasters that continue to strike the country,

have led in significant migration to urban regions. In-migration, combined with natural

population growth, is responsible for the growing urban population and the varied rise of

primate cities such as Santiago City.

These factors further exacerbate the visible growth discrepancies between rural

and urban areas. This puts a pressure on resources and causes problems within the

city and in the metropolitan area. Labor, capital, and entrepreneurial talents from the

periphery have been drawn to the centers as the economy has developed through

industrial investments and infrastructure support centered in major cities. Inequalities in

resources, opportunities, power, and access to social status rewards lead to alienation

and frustration, as well as pockets or subcultures of violence that lead to criminal

activity. Most criminologists, correctly or incorrectly, blame urban crime on a lack of

solid crime prevention planning and community apathy toward participation in anti-crime

efforts. Furthermore, the Philippines' law enforcement is now dealing with a number of

misconduct issues among its personnel. These issues play a key role in the public's lack

of trust in the police, as well as the country's high crime rate, which the team aims to

improve. This project intends to research crime management ideas such as decision

support systems, mapping, analysis, management, and geographical information of

crimes in order to better community-based Philippine policing.

Having said that, these are the most likely causes for many people to engage in

vices that lead to crimes. As a result, the primary purpose of this study is to examine the

vices and causes of criminality in Santiago, particularly as they pertain to community-

based crime prevention. The study's primary focus is on the factors that motivate

criminals to commit these crimes, as well as developing a crime prevention and

management strategy for the area.

Theoretical Framework

This chapter provides an overview of some of the key theories that seek to

explain the causes of crime; it is by no means an exhaustive list. Each of the theories

covered has its own strengths and weaknesses, has gaps and may only be applicable

to certain types of crime, and not others. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ theory.

The theories covered can be categorized into two main approaches: 1) Biological

theories 2) Sociological theories

Biological theories

Biological explanations of crime believe that some persons are biologically

different from non-criminals and are therefore "born criminals." Cesare Lombroso is the

most well-known proponent of this technique.

Lombroso and Biological Positivism

Cesare Lombroso, an Italian prison psychiatrist in the 19th century, drew on Charles

Darwin's views to imply that criminals were atavistic: essentially "evolutionary

throwbacks." He claimed that their brains were underdeveloped or incomplete. In his

examination of inmates, he discovered that they shared a number of physical

characteristics, such as slanted foreheads and receding chins. Lombroso was implying

that criminality was a result of genetics and biological characteristics: criminals were

born that way. Lombroso's theory is fundamentally a biological positivist hypothesis.

Lombroso's work has been out of favor for a long time. Biological hypotheses, on the

other hand, have continued to evolve. Rather of measuring physical characteristics of

the body, modern approaches concentrate on:

 Biochemical conditions (e.g. linked to poor diet or hormone imbalance)

 Neurophysiological conditions (e.g. learning disabilities caused by brain

damage)

 Genetic inheritance and/or abnormality

 Intelligence

These efforts to pinpoint the causes of crime within the individual reveal that

offenders and non-offenders have distinguishable characteristics. To put it another way,

the criminal is "other": he or she is different or aberrant in some way from everyone

else.

Sociological theories

According to sociological theories, external influences such as the individual's

experiences in the community, peer group, and family shape crime.

Anomie/Strain Theory

Emile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of sociology, used the term anomie

to describe the breakdown of social standards that frequently occurs as a result of fast

societal change. Robert Merton (1957), an American sociologist, used this concept to

explain criminality and deviance in the United States. According to his view, crime

emerges when there is a disconnect between a society's cultural goals (e.g., material

prosperity, status) and the structural mechanisms to fulfill these goals (e.g. education,

employment). This misalignment of means and aspirations causes anger and drives

some people to seek achievement by illegitimate or criminal means.

In a nutshell, strain theory asserts that societal cultural values and social systems

pressurize individuals to commit crimes.

Subcultural Theory

Concepts of status dissatisfaction and differential opportunity, which were utilized

by North American subcultural theorists to explain the delinquent actions of

underprivileged groups in the 1950s and 1960s, are linked to anomie and tension.

Albert Cohen (1955), a researcher who looked at group crime by young, lower-class
men, is linked to status frustration. Lower-class teenagers, according to Cohen, were

unable to aspire to middle-class cultural aspirations and, unsatisfied, rejected them in

order to build their own subcultural system of values. They earn status and respect at

school, for example, by meeting the expectations of classmates rather than teachers,

and by engaging in delinquent activities such as smoking, truanting, and acting up in

class. On these notions, Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin (1960) expanded, pointing to

the disparities in opportunity structures available to lower-class young people in different

neighborhoods: criminal (earning a living from crime), conflict (territorial violence and

gang fighting), and retreatism (drugs and alcohol).

Social Control Theory

Control theory, strictly speaking, does not address the causes of crime, but rather

the reasons why individuals obey the law. In other words, rather than explaining

deviance, it explains conformity. It is most closely connected with the work of Travis

Hirschi (1969), an American social scientist who claimed that strong social relationships

cause people to conform to social standards in general. When these bonds are

disrupted or weak, they engage in delinquent behavior. The following are the essential

elements of social bonds:

Attachment: What is the strength or weakness of a person's interaction with others? Do

these people expect this person to behave in certain ways (for example, following the

law)? The stronger the bond and the higher the expectations, the more likely the person

is to comply.
Commitment: The more an individual commits to a specific lifestyle (for example, being

married, a parent, or working), the more he or she stands to lose if they become

involved in criminal activity (and so deviate from the lifestyle).

Involvement: The more time a someone spends engaging in law-abiding activity, the

less time he or she has to engage in law-breaking activity.

Belief: this has anything to do with upbringing. A person who has been raised in a law-

abiding household is less likely to become involved in criminal activity.

Right Realism/Rational Choice Theory

Individuals are seen as rational agents in this area of thought, which means they

are capable of making their own decisions, including whether or not to commit crime.

Individuals consider the anticipated benefits and drawbacks of any course of action

before taking it. Around the 1980s, right realism arose in the United States and the

United Kingdom in response to rising crime rates and a perceived failure of sociological

approaches to sufficiently address the true causes of crime. Right realists with political

backgrounds, such as James Q. Wilson (1975) and Charles Murray (1990), argue that

criminological theory should inform criminal justice policy.

The rational choice theory, which is linked to the work of Cornish and Clarke, is

one of the most important theories to emerge from this school of criminology (1986).

Individuals, according to this notion, not only decide to commit crime, but also when and

where they commit it. This approach is applicable to a variety of policy initiatives known

as situational crime prevention, sometimes known as "designing out crime." This is a

catch-all word for a variety of techniques aimed at reducing the likelihood of criminal

activity.

Conceptual Framework

The researcher's goal in this study is to learn about the vices that causes crimes

in Santiago City, in order to establish preventive method and strategic crime

management plan especially on this times of pandemic.

Because it is the most dependable and accurate method of acquiring facts about

the study, the researchers employed a survey questionnaire as the major source of

information and data relevant to the investigation. The surveys were distributed to law

enforcers including normal citizens (purposive sampling method). Furthermore, the

researchers conducted an interview to discuss their prevention strategy and potential

improvements in the crime management of the area.

SANTIAGO CITY

Input Process Output

VICES THAT
LAW ENFORCERS
CAUSES RESEARCHERS
AND CITIZENS
CRIMINALITIES

Determining the vices and

its causes that leads to
* Different vices and its
criminalities in Santiago
causes that leads to
City.
criminalities are
VICES AND ITS CAUSES *Survey through recognized.
THAT LEADS TO questionnaires
*Suggestions/Recommen
CRIMINALITIES IN *Interview the law enforces dations for the prevention
* Given questionnaires to
*Foundation for newly
the selected respondents.
developed crime
* Analyze and Interpret the management plan for the
questionnaire based on area.
honest response of the
respondents