Theft on Campus: Penn State Harrisburg

By: Michael Keefe, Tim Brubaker, and Juan Pena

Routine Activities Theory

• Theory developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen in 1979.

• Crime theory that looked at the reasons people commit theft.

Routine Activities Theory Cont.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CRIME

Motivated Offender

A Suitable Target

Lack of Capable

Guardianship

Penn State Altoona Crime Report

Campus: Altoona

2009 2010 2011

Larceny/Theft

28 33 31

http://www.police.psu.edu/cleryact/documents/AltoonaPolicySafetyU2012.pdf

Penn State Berks Crime Report

Campus: Berks

2009 2010 2011

Larceny/Theft

25 23 28

http://www.police.psu.edu/cleryact/documents/BerksPolicySafetyU2012.pdf

Penn State Harrisburg Crime Report

Campus: Harrisburg

2009 2010 2011

Larceny/Theft

15 14 33

http://www.police.psu.edu/cleryact/documents/HarrisburgPolicySafetyU2012.pdf

Hypothesis

• Juniors and seniors will have something stolen more often than freshmen and sophomores.

• The item that will be stolen the most will be money.

Methods

• Created a nine-question survey• Distributed to exactly 100 students during common hour• Distributed in Stacks Market, the Library, the CUB, and

dorms

Results

Results Cont.

Results Cont.

Table 1 – Experienced Theft

Total Percent of Total

Female 38 23.7%

Male 62 19.4%

Discussion

Discussion Cont.

• We would create a study where only males or females are examined

• We could also study only freshmen males or junior females

• This will more clearly identify the true victim of theft on campus