Application of Routine Activities Theory to the Study of Residential Armed Robbery in Ghana Neeh Nhai Lhayea South Dakota State University, [email protected]
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South Dakota State University Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange Theses and Dissertations 2016 Application of Routine Activities Theory to the Study of Residential Armed Robbery in Ghana Neeh Nhai Lhayea South Dakota State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd Part of the Criminology Commons, and the Regional Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Lhayea, Neeh Nhai, "Application of Routine Activities Theory to the Study of Residential Armed Robbery in Ghana" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1008. This Dissertation - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. APPLICATION OF ROUTINE ACTIVITIES THEORY TO THE STUDY OF RESIDENTIAL ARMED ROBBERY IN GHANA BY NEEH NHAI LHAYEA A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Major in Sociology South Dakota State University 2016 iii This dissertation is dedicated to John, Naashika and Kossiwa iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this opportunity to extend a special thank you to my dissertation advisor, Dr. Jacob Jantzer. I am very grateful for his generous, unending support, invaluable advice and guidance throughout my candidature. I would also like to thank each member of my advisory committee for their guidance and encouragement throughout my time at SDSU. Further appreciation and thanks go to Dr. Arwood, Dr. Diane Kayongo-Male and Dr. Yingling who made my journey to a successful completion of this program possible. I also wish to thank the entire sociology faculty and Dr. Emery, the chair of the department. My appreciation and thanks go to ASP Atsem and Mr. Kwakyi of the Ghana Prisons Services for their unwavering support during my data collection for this project. Finally, I would like to thank my friends for their support throughout my tangle road to completing this research. A special thanks to my family, the Lloyd Family, Moussa and Kossiwa who absorbed my daily stresses and frustrations, making this a worthwhile journey. v CONTENT LIST OF FIGURES...........................................................................................................xii LIST OF TABLES …...…………………………………………………………....…...xiii ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………xiv Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................................1 The Present Study…................................................................................................1 Research Question...................................................................................................3 Problem Statement…...............................................................................................3 Rationale of the Study………..................................................................................4 Theoretical Significance……..................................................................................4 Chapter 2: Literature Review...............................................................................................6 Definition of Armed Robbery………………………………..................................6 Distinguishing between Armed Robbery and Burglary in the Ghanaian Context……………………………………………………………………………7 Defining armed robbery in the Ghanaian Context...................................................7 Typologies of Armed Robbers……………………………….................................8 Conklin Typology on armed robbers…...................................................................8 Professional robbers.................................................................................................8 Addict robbers..............................................................................................9 Opportunist robbers.....................................................................................9 Alcoholic robbers.........................................................................................9 Einstadter’s typology of armed robbery..................................................................9 Ambush........................................................................................................9 vi Selective Raid............................................................................................10 Planned Operation......................................................................................10 Gibbons’ typology of armed robbers.....................................................................10 Professional “heavy” Criminal..................................................................10 Semi-professional......................................................................................10 Categorizing Residential Armed Robbers in the Ghanaian Context.....................10 Armed Robbery Evolution and Coping Mechanisms in Ghana…….....................11 Planning for armed robbery...................................................................................13 Victim or Target Selection ....................................................................................14 Guardianship Factors.............................................................................................14 Guardianship Strategies and Target Hardening.....................................................14 Motivating Factors.................................................................................................16 Empirical Generalization.......................................................................................18 Summary................................................................................................................20 Chapter 3: Theoretical Framework....................................................................................21 Introduction............................................................................................................21 History of Routine Activities Theory....................................................................21 Definition of Routine Activities.............................................................................22 Motivated Offender………........................................................................23 Guardianship..............................................................................................24 Target.........................................................................................................25 Theoretical Propositions........................................................................................28 Summary................................................................................................................31 vii Chapter 4: Research Methods...........................................................................................32 Introduction............................................................................................................32 Hypotheses.............................................................................................................32 Empirical Model....................................................................................................33 Research Design and Data Collection...................................................................34 Survey Instrument .....................................................................................35 Operationalization of Variables.................................................................35 Response Coding...................................................................................................37 Part A.........................................................................................................37 Part B.........................................................................................................37 Scarcity of Crime Data in Ghana...........................................................................37 Data Collection......................................................................................................38 Who Were Eligible?...............................................................................................39 Informing Inmates about the Study........................................................................40 Filling Out Questionnaire items.............................................................................40 Validity and Reliability..........................................................................................41 Data Analysis Procedure........................................................................................41 Tests of Significance..............................................................................................41 Summary……........................................................................................................42 Chapter 5: Result…….......................................................................................................43 Descriptive Data.....................................................................................................43 Guardianship..........................................................................................................43