Routine activity theory

Routine activity theory is a sub-field of crime opportunity theory that focuses on situations of crimes. It has been developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen,

The premise of routine activity theory is that crime is relatively unaffected by social causes such as poverty, inequality, and unemployment. For instance, after World War II, the economy of Western countries was booming and the Welfare states were expanding. Despite this, crime rose significantly during this time. According to Felson and Cohen, the reason for the increase is that the prosperity of contemporary society offers more opportunities for crime to occur; there is much more to steal.

Routine activity theory is controversial among sociologists who believe in the social causes of crime. But several types of crime are very well explained by routine activity theory; for instance, copyright infringement related to peer-to-peer file sharingemployee theft, and corporate crime.

Motivated offenders are individuals who are not only capable of committing criminal activity, but are willing to do so. Suitable targets can be a person or object that are seen by offenders as vulnerable or particularly attractive. The factors that render a particular target attractive are situational and crime specific.

The analytic Focus of the Routine Activities takes a macro-level view and emphasizes broad-scale shifts in the patterns of victim and offender behavior. It focuses on specific crime events and offender behavior/decisions. Routine Activity Theory is based on the assumption that crime can be committed by anyone that has the opportunity. The theory also states that victims are given choices on whether to be victims mainly by not placing themselves in situations where a crime can be committed against them.

The article, A Routine Activity Theory Explanation for Women's Stalking Victimizations, criminologists Mustaine and [5] conducted a self-administered study in the fall of 1996 to 1513 college university women who attended a four-year college. The sample was drawn from students who attended criminal justice and sociology classes. All respondents in the study were volunteers. The average age was 20; marital status was single and white. The students were asked about their everyday activities including the consumption of drugs and alcohol. The basis of the study was whether or not any of the victims had ever been a victim of stalking. Out of 861 women 90 said yes (10.5%). This finding was consistent with the study given in 1997 at another university with college females. Data revealed that persons who leave their home are more exposed to potential offenders and are more likely to be victimized. Women who lived on campus were less likely to be victimized than those who didn’t. The study showed that women who lived on campus are surrounded by more capable guardians and are less like to be stalked.

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