Disaster is a natural phenomenon, which leads to significant destruction and violates a conventional style of life. Although, the problems are associated with weather or geology related issues, the aspect of crime rate increase attracts the sufficient attention of sociologists and criminologists because of antisocial behavior of people during and after disaster. The reason why risk managers define disaster criminology as a dangerous problem is that aggravated weather and social conditions present a perfect opportunity for people with low self-control to commit different illegal acts. The risk management presupposes the application of numerous measures to prevent the issues after the disaster and in advance. Hurricane is one of the most dangerous disasters leading not only to material destructions but also to variety of law violations like looting, frauds, and gender assault.
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Risk Management and Crime
The risk of hazardous changes in human routine life and habits is directly related to the problem of crimes. Risk management deals usually with different disasters, which have natural, technological, or human causative factors. It is quite a rare issue and it is less investigated than the management of the disasters because the problem of devastating cases leads mostly to global social organization. People normally try to support each other, protect, rebuilt, and reestablish a proper style and conditions of life. Nevertheless, a variety of evidences confirm that there some exceptions. People do demonstrate antisocial behavior, preferring to use the disaster as the opportunity for gaining personal benefits. Such antisocial activities are in most cases synonymous with crimes. The catastrophes cause different types of such incidences as looting, domestic violence, assault, and fraud among many others. That is why apart from planning the measures to deal with the next possible natural disaster, the risk managers develop the strategies of preventing such acts as well. Any type of disaster can provoke violence at any of its stages. The national Governor Association describes four stages of the disaster: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery (Frailing & Harper, 2017). They also divide catastrophes four groups: natural, technological, terrorism, and natech ones, the last is associated with both natural and technological issues (Frailing & Harper, 2017). Natech are the most dangerous kinds of occurrences as they can produce extreme vulnerability in the community because of long stages of mitigation and recovery. Hurricanes belong to the natech type of disasters.
Hurricane
Hurricane as the weather related hazard has a severe impact on communities because its destructive consequences and the related crimes observed in them. Moreover, it considered to be the most destructive and violent storm on the planet. Different zones of the Earth have different names for this catastrophe. These are typhoons, cyclones, and hurricanes depending on the region over which they form. The general scientific name of this natural disaster is a tropical cyclone. Hurricanes typical but not exclusively form in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean or in the central part of the Atlantic Ocean. The formation of the hurricanes is the process of movement of clod and warm air masses over the water surface. The air with high pressure is pushed inside the zone with low pressure. Then, this cold high pressure air becomes warm and moist forming a destructively strong air engine, which is able to smash everything on its rout. The most famous case of hurricane in America started near New Orleans in Augusts 2005 and disrupted not only physical structures but also social aspects of the community (Varano, Schafer, Cancino, Decker, & Greene, 2010). Many citizens had to leave their homes and move to other cities. Various of criminal activities were caused by the event. The panic was growing as media speculations associated with the hurricane were accompanied by the social fear before criminal extensions. The scientists and risk managers assessed the situation before and after the hurricane and identified the rise of such crimes as robberies, murders, rapes, assaults, thefts, and burglaries among others (Varano et al., 2010). Three the most intensive kinds were identified as property crimes, gender violence, and frauds.
Hurricane Related Crimes
The cases of law violations are related to the post-disaster periods. The post-disaster property crimes appeared to be the most widespread after the hurricane events. Many residents had to abandon their dwellings and almost all their property, creating an opportunity for the criminals and people with low self-control to commit looting. The data about the cases of looting are not statistically exact because the cases of looting, thefts, and physical destructions are hard to differentiate after the variety of problems resulted by natural disasters. The burglaries can happen mostly in the areas of low socio economic development after the accident. Moreover, the investigations of the Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 show that burglaries were the most popular type of crimes, with the extension of it being especially alarming during September 18 - 24 (Leitner & Helbich, 2011).
Following the consequences of the hurricanes, the gender crimes are also rather frequent. However, the reports about the cases are still quite ambiguous and without accurate statistics, it is hard to assess the cases, especially when the majority of houses are destroyed and people evacuated. The major problem is that the criminal justice officers are also evacuated and the prevention, intervention, and investigations of the cases are almost impossible within the area of post-hurricane circumstances until the weather conditions allow it. The incidences are observed more in cases where people cannot be evacuated fast because they should take care of their children, senior relatives, or those with disabilities. They are the most vulnerable, especially when isolated in the dangerous hard to reach impacted area. Many studies and investigations show that women are most frequently raped by the people they know well or have close relationships with (Frailing, 2016). However, people who are looking for a new shelter also lack protection and are in the risk of being assaulted by the strangers. The post-disaster community typically experiences some psychological traumas making certain people socially unstable and dangerous (Frailing, 2016). Therefore, frauds also become the consequences of disaster. The public agencies and non-profit groups are most vulnerable to the activities of fraudsters. However, the successful investigations of such cases are also quite rare because of the virtually total destruction and lost documentations in the area of hurricanes. The situation with crimes after the hurricanes is quite alarming and hard to predict, which is why it demands strategy development for preventing such cases in the future.
Crimes Prevention Strategies
The strategy development is essential with the perspective of reduction the cases of crime after the hurricanes. Although, the hurricane has a great danger of disastrous consequences itself, the post hazardous circumstances lead to criminal intensification and thus should be immediately suppressed. This problem concerns not only the local police or the risk managers but also the governmental institutions, which are tasked with creating legislations aimed at reducing the crimes in the areas of the low socio economic development of cities. The initiation of economic growth in such regions will bring the vulnerability of them in the critical situation to the minimum. The government should also assist in improving the general wellbeing of the people living in poor zones. This issue is the most essential aspect in terms of the prevention the post-disaster crimes as it prevents lootings and safeguards the moral heath of the community. Nevertheless, all the governmental efforts can be vain because personal antisocial behavior of some representatives of communities prone to committing crimes cannot be controlled. Thus, initiation of a specific group of law enforcers is necessary. These officers should work in the areas of post-hurricane consequences, protecting people from different crimes. Moreover, the group of psychological assistance should also be ready to be sent to the disaster region to help the survivors to overcome their mental issues and omit domestic violence. All the people after the hurricane are subjected to being violated and to violating others. It is a problem caused by a short-term crisis and accompanied by panic, fear, depression, and antisocial behavior. The problem of frauds can also be easily addressed with the help of appropriate technological advancements targeted at safeguarding the security of all the important documents. Therefore, appropriate work of the IT technologists is essential. They may create a cloud for the entire base of documents of the company or agency, which can protect the information and delete it at any instance of anti-sanctioned penetration, with an option of restoration in the future. However, antisocial behavior in the circumstances of disaster is non-predictable and it is hard to control it because of socially unstable moods of community members.
The problem is that the crimes and the nature of them are weakly investigated without accurate statistical data, making it hard to control them. One set of problems usually leads to another one. No one can be protected and sure that they can be avoided in the event of disaster. However, as a risk manager, I would recommend people to be aware of such cases. The totality of events has the consequential relations and should be regarded by the risk managers as a norm. I would also recommend people living in vulnerable to hurricanes regions to regard any escalation of events and be ready to a problematic situation. Additionally, being a risk manager, I understand that all the efforts can be useless if people are not be morally and physically ready to criminal danger after the hurricane. Thus, I would insist on providing specific compulsory educational meetings for people living in such areas.
To conclude, disasters are dangerous not only by their physical destructive power but also by the significant criminal development accompanying them. It is associated with the weak moral status, economic issues, and social vulnerability eventually leading to antisocial behavior. The hurricane is one of the most hazardous disasters in the US causing criminal problems such as frauds, rapes, and burglaries among numeous others. A complex assistance of governmental, law enforcement, and psychological services can significantly reduce vulnerability of the population to post-disaster crimes.
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