Getting Hosed Article Reviews Example

Article Title

Ronald Burns, Patrick Kinkaid, Michael Bachmann. ‘Getting hosed: Petty theft in the car wash industry and the fifth suitability criterion in routine activities theory’. The Social Science Journal 49(2012).263-269.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study was to “examine the applicability of routine activities theory to petty theft” and routine activity theory is a theory included in the crime opportunity theories that focus on situational (or occupational) crime (Burns, 2012, p. 263). That is one is more likely to be a victim of an illegal or a harmful financially-driven activity committed within the contexts of a legitimate, respectable occupation, (Fried Richs, 2010, p. 7). The study investigated petty theft among full-service car wash facilities.
The researchers created situations conducive to criminal behaviour with the intention of finding out whether particular factors increased the likelihood of crime and victimisation. The researchers identified full-service car wash facilities in Texas randomly and assigned them to one of the two experimental conditions.

Condition 1

This involved turning over the test vehicle belonging to a driver with deviant behaviour to a full-service car wash staff with loosely strewn coins on the car seat. Full-service car wash facility was important as it provides all the necessary elements to test the routine activities theory, and researchers were sure it would attract a large variety of customers. Such cars had provocative materials in them i.e. a magazine and a crushed beer in plain sight of the car-washing staff.

Condition 2

This involved turning over a test vehicle to the car-washing staff but devoid of the provocative materials, i.e. there was no provocative magazine or crushed beer cans, in this case. The overall findings suggest that the loss of the loose money in the first experimental condition was more than that in the second control situation.

Sample and Sampling Technique

The research involved 30 full-service car wash facilities in Fort Worth Texas with a full set service crew.15 were subjected to the first condition, and the other 15 were controls. The car wash facilities had to be a full service as they guaranteed all elements needed for testing the theory would be present and the test vehicle used was a White Ford Explorer. The car wash crew that the car passed through were in 3 groups and the first group consisted of 1 to 3 persons whereas the second group consisted of 1 to 2 persons. The third group consisted was the largest consisting of up to 4 people and in the typical wash process, a total of up to 9 individuals had potential access to the money.

Independent Variables (Cause)

The Independent variables were the magazine and the crushed beer can. The magazine was provocative but not particularly pornographic. The magazine used for the research was ‘Maxim ‘magazine that sexualizes women on its cover and its content. The crushed beer can be left under the driver side seat while the provocative magazine was on the passenger front seat. The level of measurement of the two was simply nominal as there was no quantitative aspect attributed to them in the research.

Dependent Variables (Effect)

The dependent variable was the currency that consisted of coins loosely scattered in the car that were taken in different amounts. The total amount of currency included ten silver dollars, 40 quarters, 50 dimes, 40 nickels, and 50 pennies. In total it amounted to 27 dollars and 50 cents ($27.50).
The level of measurement the dependent variables by use of the ratio scale (and in extension expressed as a percentage ratio) and the researchers had to count the final amount of silver dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies and converting the figures into percentage ratios.

Control Variables

The control variables in the research were the test car, the person driving the car and the appearance of the person and the original currency. The test car was the same throughout the research, a white 2007 ford explorer. The driver that drove the car into the different car wash facilities was the same and wore the same clothes. The currency left in each car was also of a similar amount ($27.50).The level of measurement was nominal.

Statistical Analysis

Difference of Means Test Analysis
After the collection of the data, the researchers conducted a difference of means test analysis. This means comparing the averages of the amount of money lost in the two conditions. For condition 1, the total amount of money lost was calculated in dollars and was $37.12.The researchers then did an average of the amount of money lost and found it to be $2.47.The average theft amount came to be $6.18.
For condition 2, the total amount of money lost was $12.67 and the average amount removed among all was$.97(97 cents).The average theft amount for this condition was $4.22.The researchers chose to accept a slightly higher risk of type 1 error and use an alpha value of 0 .1(Warner, 2007).The difference between the two means reached a significant level t (28) =1.72 after comparing against the alpha value.

Test of the Hypotheses

Model 1
Motivation factors were used to predict whether there is increase or decrease in petty theft in a full-car wash facility. The findings indicate that there is more theft of loose change in the car wash facilities in vehicles containing certain motivating factors than in vehicles with no motivating factors.

Model 2

Deviant behaviour was used to predict whether there is increase or decrease in petty theft in a car wash facility. The findings indicate that symbols of deviant behaviour in a vehicle in a car wash motivated the car-wash staff to engage more in petty theft.

Model 3

Certain daily activities of an individual put him more or her at risk of becoming a victim of a criminal activity. The findings suggested that individuals seeking services from the car wash were victims of petty theft as it is an occupational crime setting.

Summary of the Main Findings

The purpose of the study was to examine the applicability of the routine activities theory to petty theft and to find out if certain motivational factors influenced criminal activity in an occupational crime setting. The findings support the routine activities theory that the nature of one’s daily activities places them at risk of some level of victimisation provides an opportunity for committing a crime. A driver depicting signs of deviance motivated the car-wash staff to engage in petty theft. Finally, motivating factors also encouraged the car-wash staff to engage in petty theft. The findings support all the three hypotheses.

References

Burns, R., Kinkade, P., & Bachmann, M. (2012). Getting hosed: Petty theft in the car wash industry and the fifth suitability criterion in routine activities theory. The Social Science Journal, 49(3), 263-269.
Entorf, H. Economic Factors of Victimization: Evidence from Germany. Frankfurt: Goethe-University Frankfurt.
McCarthy, B., & Chaudhary, A. (2014). Rational Choice Theory. In Encyclopaedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice (pp. 4307-4315). Springer New York.
McNeeley, S., & Wilcox, P. (2015). Street Codes, Routine Activities, Neighbourhood Context and Victimization. British Journal of Criminology, azu116.