Lived Experiences of the

Students who are the Victim

of the crime Theft in one of
the Schools in Escalante City
Lived Experiences of the Students who are the victim of the crime theft in
one of the schools in Escalante City

An Undergraduate
Thesis Proposal Presented to the
Faculty of Criminal Justice
NORTHERN NEGROS STATE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Hda. Fe, Escalante City Negros Occidental

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Science in Criminology

Researchers:
Mark Steven Openiano
Kian Custodio
Kien Bryan Playda
Jovel Mahipos
Renald Oyanib
2023
 Lived Experiences of the Students who are the victim of the crime theft in one of
the schools in Escalante City

Chapter I

In schools, theft is a serious issue that costs billions of dollars in lost property
each year. On students, instructors, and the entire school community, this can
have disastrous effects. There are a variety of negative impacts that theft in
schools may have. Theft by students can result in interrupted learning, financial
difficulty, and psychological misery. Theft can make it challenging for teachers to
perform their duties efficiently and can lead to a stressful work environment. Theft
can cause the school community as a whole to lose trust and feel insecure.

A national research on school safety was undertaken in 2019 by the National

Centre for Education Statistics (NCES). According to the data, 42% of all crimes
recorded by schools during the 2017–2018 academic years were theft-related.
According to the report, different types of schools have different rates of theft.
High schools have the greatest theft rates (53%) and elementary schools have the
lowest (31%). The survey also discovered that schools with a large proportion of
students from low-income families have greater rates of stealing. Theft rates were
greater in schools with a high minority enrollment than in schools with a lower
enrollment of minorities.
The most frequent crime reported at Philippine schools, according to a
2020 research by the Philippine National Police (PNP), is theft. The
survey discovered that in 2019, 1,928 theft instances were reported in
schools, making up 36% of all crimes in schools. It also discovered that
the percentage of theft in schools varies by region. The National Capital
Region (42%) and Central Luzon (40%) had the highest theft rates. The
Cordillera Administrative Region (28%) and the Bangsamoro
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao recorded the lowest rates of
theft (29%).

Theft is a serious problem in schools across the globe, and Northern

Negros State College of Science and Technology (NONESCOST) campus
located in Escalante City, Negros Occidental is no exception. In the said
school there is a case of theft. Where the wallet of their victim is left in
the comfort room of male and female, it seems to be the modus
operandi of thieves. A student also reported that his smartphone was
stolen in the canteen of the said school while he was making his coffee.
The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of crime theft on
students of Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology
(NONESCOST) who are the victim of theft and to develop interventions
to support victims and prevent future thefts.
Statement of the Problem

This study seeks to understand the impact of crime theft

on students of Northern Negros State College of Science
and Technology (NONESCOST) who are the victim of
theft and to develop interventions to support victims and
prevent future thefts.

Specifically, this study aims to answer the following

questions:

1. What are the experiences of the students of Northern

Negros State College of Science and Technology
(NONESCOST) who have been a victim of theft?

2. How did the students who have been a victim of theft

cope with the impact of theft?
Significance of the study:

This study is beneficial to the following:

To the students: With the help of this study, the students will become more knowledgeable about theft as a
crime and the safety precautions that their school is taking to keep them safe. Additionally, the value of taking
care of their personal belongings will also become clear to them.

To the teachers: since teachers are also oftentimes subject to threats of the said offense inside the school,
through this study they will be informed how they could effectively and carefully respond to such situations.

To the administrator: Future improvements to the security measures in their schools may be based on the
findings of this study. Additionally, it will give them understanding of the various elements that contribute to
school crimes, which will enable them to develop strategies for fostering a better and more supportive school
environment.

To the City Police: This study will urge them to continue assisting schools in keeping their campuses as well as
the students safety at all times. Furthermore, the city Police will also be urged to develop more strategies in
preventing any school crime from happening and in effectively responding to any school crime that may arise.

To the Local Government Unit: This study will serve as the foundation for additional improvements or
strengthened initiatives aimed at reducing school-related crimes. This can only be used as a starting point for
government-run initiatives including information drives, advertising campaigns, training sessions for school
security staff, and other initiatives aimed at increasing public knowledge of school-related crimes and their
avoidance.

To the current and future researchers: This study will be helpful to both present and future researchers
since it can inform them about their interest in the study and act as a reference or a guide for them when they
conduct studies on the subject or update this research.
 Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

On a college campus, fear of crime may be driven by the

physical characteristics of a specific location, as well as the
demographics and the past experiences of respondents.
Demographic and personal factors such as gender, residency,
race, age, and class status can play a role in expressed fear as
respondents intuitively assess the spaces for prospect, refuge,
and escape. Photographs of various campus locations were
used to present sample of students from a public university
with various physical locations on campus. A survey was
utilized as students assessed their reaction to each location in
relation to fear of crime. Results were mixed in terms of
personal characteristics. Nancy M Steinmetz, D Mark Austin
American Journal of Criminal Justice 39, 511-537, ( 2014 ).
No other crime affects more students, faculty, and staff on
the university campus than theft. While it is common for
campus officials and community members to implement
anti-theft strategies, few of these efforts are ever
examined empirically, let alone experimentally, making it
difficult to rule out alternative explanations for any
changes observed. The present study employed a
completely randomized experimental design to test the
effect of retrofit anti-theft solutions proposed by the
situational crime prevention, design against crime, and
broken windows literatures. Fifty-two classrooms were
randomly assigned to receive either five dry erase markers
made to appear old and used or five unaltered dry erase
markers. Results show that old and used appearing targets
were approximately 36% more likely to remain in the
classrooms at the end of the exposure period compared to
those not receiving the treatment. William A Chernoff
Security Journal 35 (4), ( 1023-1046, 2022 ).
With the increasing rate of violent criminal victimization,
concerns about safety and prevention have begun to resonate
across college campuses throughout the nation. Despite the
efforts put forth by institutions of higher education to reduce
fear of crime and criminal victimization, college students are
subjected to coexist with the probability of crime victimization
on campus. The main objective of this thesis was to explore new
measures of crime prevention on college campuses. Specifically,
the efforts put forth in this study were to focus on understanding
the problem of property theft of personal belongings on college
campuses. The findings based on Pearson correlations and
multiple regression analyses indicate that students’ crime
prevention awareness and behavior are highest amongst female
and non-victimized students. Crime prevention behavior was
best explained by awareness. Furthermore, expanded evaluation
of contributing factors may lead to future crime preventive
measures such as participation in crime prevention seminars.
Katarzyna Aleksandra Kijanczuk Florida Atlantic University,
(2014).
Theft is a serious problem in many countries, and there is a lack
of evidence concerning effective prevention strategies.
Displaying images of ‘watching eyes’ has been shown to make
people behave in more socially desirable ways in a number of
settings, but it is not yet clear if this effect can be exploited for
purposes of crime prevention. We report the results of a simple
intervention on a university campus where signs featuring
watching eyes and a related verbal message were displayed
above bicycle racks. We installed durable signs at three
locations which had experienced high levels of bicycle theft, and
used the rest of the university campus as a control location.
Reported thefts were monitored for 12 months before and after
the intervention. Bicycle thefts decreased by 62% at the
experimental locations, but increased by 65% in the control
locations, suggesting that the signs were effective, but
displaced offending to locations with no signs. The Odds Ratio
for the effect of the intervention was 4.28 (95% confidence
interval 2.04–8.98), a large effect compared to other place-
based crime prevention interventions.Daniel Nettle, Kenneth
Nott, Melissa Bateson PloS one 7 (12), e51738, (2012).
This article presents ethnographic findings from the north-west coastal region of
Mindanao, the largest island in the Southern Philippines. I argue that street-level
theft (pickpocketing, land squatting, and kidnapping) can be seen as emerging, at
least in part, from customary norms based in what Alan Dundes might term folk
ideas. Time-honored behavior patterns conveyed by word of mouth include
getting something for nothing (pa-bukongay), being street smart (pa-abtikay),
and being first (pa-unahay). These locally resonant ideas influence the kinds of
behaviors that are tolerated in children and adults, and they should be considered
as important independent variables when attempting to understand definitions of
and motivations for theft in this region.Timothy AustinJournal of Folklore
Research: An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology 49 (3), 347-
369, (2012) Studies have shown that a poorly designed environment can support
crime. Urban design theories, for instance, associate the probability of crime
occurrence with the extent by which users can look out for each other. In the
University of the Philippines in Diliman, it was found that hot spots on campus,
while varying in their spatial and temporal patterns, exhibit characteristics which
existing literature has shown to contribute to crime. Proximity to street
intersections and accessibility to public transportation were positively related to
criminal activity. The study also showed results on the role of land use and natural
access in the occurrence of crime that differed from findings of other studies.
Spatial Analysis of Property Crimes in a University Campus Alice Ross T Morta,
Jun Taberna Castro, Hussein Sinsuat Lidasan Proceedings of the Eastern Asia
Society for Transportation Studies Vol. 7 (The 8th International Conference of
Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, 2009), 181-181, (2009) .
William A Chernoff Crime science 10, 1-10, (2021). The opportunity for web camera theft
increased globally as institutions of higher education transitioned to remote learning. Given
the thousands of cameras currently installed in classrooms, many with little protection, the
present study tests the effectiveness of anti-theft signage for preventing camera
theft.Nancy M Steinmetz, D Mark Austin American Journal of Criminal Justice 39, 511-537,(
2014)On a college campus, fear of crime may be driven by the physical characteristics of a
specific location, as well as the demographics and the past experiences of respondents.
Demographic and personal factors such as gender, residency, race, age, and class status
can play a role in expressed fear as respondents intuitively assess the spaces for prospect,
refuge, and escape. Photographs of various campus locations were used to present sample
of students from a public university with various physical locations on campus. A survey
was utilized as students assessed their reaction to each location in relation to fear of crime.
Results were mixed in terms of personal characteristics.Elizabeth A Tomsich, Angela R
Gover, Wesley G Jennings Journal of Criminal Justice Education 22 (2), 181-202,( 2011)
The incidence and the impact of crime on college campuses are important issues for
students and administrators alike. This study examines experiences with victimization and
perceptions of crime on campus with a convenience sample of 997 students attending an
urban university in Colorado. Approximately 8% of the student respondents indicated they
had been victimized by at least one type of crime since first enrolling at the university.
Respondents indicated low‐to‐moderate levels of fear and perceived risk of victimization on
campus and viewed the campus as being moderately safe. Male and female respondents
did not significantly differ in victimization rates, although gender differences were found in
levels of fear, perceived risk of victimization, constrained behavior, and perceptions of
overall safety on campus. The results from this study are compared to findings from the
work of Jennings, Gover, and Pudrzynska in 2007, which examined campus crime among
students at a traditional university, published in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education.
 Chapter III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents an outline of research method used, it also provides

information on participants. The researchers describe the research design that
was chosen for the purpose of the study. Also the source of information as
well as the use of instruments that is used in data processing and collection,
the researchers’ attempts demystifies the methods used to interpret data.

Research design

The research design would be a qualitative study using a phenomenological

approach. This approach would allow the researcher to explore the
participants' lived experiences of theft in school in a holistic and in-depth way.

Sample

The sample would consist of a purposive sample of students who have been
victims of theft in the school. The sample should include students from a
variety of backgrounds and experiences.
Data collection

The data would be collected using semi-structured interviews. The

interviews would be conducted in a private and confidential
setting. The interviewer would ask the participants open-ended
questions about their experiences with theft in school, their
thoughts and feelings about the theft, and how the theft has
impacted their lives.

Data analysis

The data would be analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.

Thematic analysis is a qualitative research method that is used to
identify and analyze patterns or themes in data. The researcher
would read and re-read the interview transcripts to identify
common themes. The researcher would then develop a codebook,
which is a list of codes that represent the different themes in the
data. The researcher would then apply the codes to the interview
transcripts. The researcher would then analyze the coded data to
identify patterns and relationships between the different themes.
Ethical considerations

The researcher would need to obtain approval from the Escalante

NONESCOST campus dean before conducting the study. The researcher
would also need to obtain informed consent from all participants in the
study.

Limitations

One limitation of this study is that it would be based on a small sample of

students. Therefore, the findings of the study may not be generalizable to all
students who have been victims of theft in schools.

Another limitation of this study is that it would be based on the participants'

self-reports. Therefore, it is possible that the participants may not be able to
accurately recall all of the details of their experiences with theft in school.

Despite these limitations, this study could provide valuable insights into the
lived experiences of students who are victims of theft in schools. The
findings of the study could be used to develop and implement more effective
support services for students who have been victims of theft in schools.
 INTERVIEW GUIDE

“Lived Experiences of the Students who are the

victim of the crime theft in one of the schools in
Escalante City”

The researchers take the challenge to gather data to

evaluate the experience during the time when the
students became a victim of theft and coping mechanism
of the students of Northern Negros State of College of
Science and Technology (NONESCOST), Escalante City
with the impact of theft. The personal information of the
informants will be regarded as confidential. The interview
will last approximately sixty (60) to ninety (90) minutes.
This questionnaire will gather research data for the
study. The data are needed in the preparation of the
researchers’ thesis.
Please answer the questions objectively and honestly to ensure valid and reliable
results. Rest assured that all information will be dealt with utmost confidentially.

I. Profile of the Informant

Name: (Optional) ­________________________________________
Age: __________
Year level: __________

II. (In-depth Researchers-made Phenomenological Interview Questionnaire)

A. What are the experiences of the students of Northern Negros State College of
Science and Technology (NONESCOST) who have been a victim of theft?

1. What was stolen from you?

2. Can you tell me about the time you were a victim of theft at school?
3. What was your reaction when you realized you had been robbed?
4. How did the theft impact you emotionally, academically, and socially?
5. What support did you receive from your school, family, and friends?
6. What suggestions do you have for preventing crime theft in schools?

B. How did the students who have been a victim of theft cope with the impact of theft?

7. How did you cope with the aftermath of the theft?

8. What advice would you give to other students who have been the victim of theft?
II. (In-depth Researchers-made Phenomenological Interview Questionnaire
Bisaya Dialect)

A. Unsa ang mga kasinatian sa mga estudyante sa Northern Negros State College of
Science and Technology (NONESCOST) nga nabiktima sa pagpangawat?

1. Unsa ang gikawat gikan kanimo?

2. Mahimo ba nimo akong isulti bahin sa panahon nga ikaw nabiktima sa
pagpangawat sa eskuylahan?
3. Unsa ang imong reaksyon sa dihang imong naamgohan nga ikaw nakawatan?
4. Sa unsang paagi ang pagpangawat nakaapekto kanimo sa emosyonal, sa
academics nimo, ug sosyal?
5. Unsa nga suporta ang imong nadawat gikan sa imong eskwelahan, pamilya, ug
mga higala?
6. Unsa ang imong mga sugyot alang sa pagpugong sa pagpangawat sa krimen sa
mga eskwelahan?

B. Giunsa pagsagubang sa mga estudyante nga biktima sa pagpangawat ang epekto sa

pagpangawat?

7. Giunsa nimo pagsagubang ang resulta sa pagpangawat?

8. Unsang tambag ang imong ihatag sa ubang mga estudyante nga nabiktima sa
pagpangawat?