Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. It also introduces its application to crime prevention and policing.Ĭohen, L. Wortley and Mazerolle 2008 gives an elementary introduction to the routine activity approach and its related theoretical perspectives (rational choice and crime pattern theory) within the overall concept of environmental criminology (of which routine activity theory is a central part). 1978 presents a lifestyle-exposure theory of personal victimization that has individual routine activities at its core. Felson 2006 provides a discussion of routine activity theory within the context of life sciences (ecosystems) and some of its suggested key processes. Felson 2002 provides an argument for and gives a good textbook-style introduction to the key ideas of routine activity theory and its application to crime prevention. In terms of policy and prevention, the routine activity approach has mainly been linked to situational crime prevention and policing (for example, hot spots analysis).Ĭohen and Felson 1979 introduces routine activity theory and its role in the study of crime rates and their changes. Some efforts have been made to integrate the routine activity approach with other criminological theories. When applied at the individual level, the routine activity approach has generally aimed to explain why a person is victimized, or offends, by explaining how his/her individual routines (lifestyles) bring him/her into contact with (or expose him/her to) situations conducive to crime. Routine activity theory is sometimes combined with rational choice theory, an action theory that explains human action as the result of rational choice (i.e., acting on the best available option perceived). The situational model stipulates that a criminal act occurs as a result of the convergence of a motivated offender, a suitable target, and a lack of guardianship (control, supervision).
Routine activity theory links a macro-level structural model (spatial and temporal patterns of routine activities in society) with a micro-level situational model that aims to explain why a crime occurs. Another key idea is that people act in response to situations (including when they commit crimes) therefore, the kinds of situations they encounter in their daily lives influence their crime involvement (and, as a result, influence a society’s crime rate), and changes in people’s exposure to situations may lead to changes in their crime involvement (and, consequently, changes in a society’s crime rate). A key idea is that the structure of routine activities in a society influences what kinds of situations emerge, and changes in a society’s routine activities cause changes in the kind of situations people confront. Routine activities refer to generalized patterns of social activities in a society (i.e., spatial and temporal patterns in family, work, and leisure activities). Routine activity theory, like the related lifestyle-exposure theory, emerged as a key theoretical approach in criminology in the late 1970s.
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