Routine Activities Theory: Definition of the Routine Activity Approach to Crime

hi there this is margaret from

criminologyweb.com

and in this video i'll cover routine

activities theory

[Music]

routine activities theory is a theory

that tries to explain

why crime happens it is very well known

in the fields of criminology and

sociology

and was originally developed by lawrence

cohen and marcus felsen

in 1979 they published a now famous

article where they proposed the central

idea of the theory

so what does routine activities theory

say routine activities theory is based

on the idea that offenders make

rational choices about whether to commit

a crime

the idea is that crime is the result of

people's everyday behavior of the way

in which offenders and victims go about

their daily lives

crime is not something extraordinary

that requires a deep psychological

analysis

instead the theory says that for crime

to occur

three elements must be present namely a

motivated offender

a suitable target and the absence of

capable guardians

when these three elements come together

at the same time

in the same space crime occurs so let's

have a look at each of these three

elements

the first is a motivated offender

although this is one of the three

central elements routine activities

theory is not very interested in it

cohen and felson simply assume that a

motivated offender is present

they're not interested in why the

offender is motivated

this is where the theory is different

from most criminological theories

which are focused on why the offender

wants to commit a crime

instead routine activities theory is

more interested in the victimization

side

which is why it's very influential in

victimology

so routine activity theory doesn't

suggest that it takes a deep

psychological motivation to commit a

crime

instead ordinary people can be convinced

to commit crime relatively easily

whether people decide to commit a crime

depends on the two other elements

namely whether a suitable target and

guardianship are present

so the second element is that a suitable

target needs to be present

the question here is what makes a target

suitable

a number of factors play a role first

there is the value of a target that can

refer to money like how much something

is worth financially

or also for example what it means for

someone's status like for example having

a particular gadget

second there is inertia which refers to

how difficult it is to move or transport

an

object for example it's quite difficult

to move very large appliances like

freezers

it's much easier to transport a mobile

phone

third how suitable a target is depends

on the visibility of the target

if for example valuables are left out in

plain sight it's much easier to steal

them

than when they're hidden and finally the

access to a target is important

people and objects who are in a public

space that everyone can enter

are easier to target compared to a

private space

at first sight these factors are most

applicable to property crimes and

robbery and

routine activities was originally

developed to explain

direct content predatory crimes meaning

crimes where an offender comes into

direct physical contact with a victim

but it has since been applied to many

more types of crime for example drug

dealing

cyber crime and white collar crime

target suitability

does not just refer to property but also

to crimes against people

because it can also refer to the

vulnerability of people to becoming a

victim

for example some victims are less able

to defend themselves or

some victims look like they might carry

more valuable items and might therefore

be more suitable targets the third

element that is necessary for crime to

occur is an absence of capable

guardianship

guardianship can be interpreted in many

different ways of course

one could think of the police because

they can prevent crime

but guardianship is meant in a much

broader way in fact

it's often the presence of ordinary

people that can prevent crime

for example if an offender is motivated

to commit a crime

he or she might not do it if there are

many people around

these people act as guardians simply by

being present because they might act

when they see a crime happening

on the other hand of course if guardians

are absent

a crime is more likely to occur so on

the whole routine activities theory says

that crime occurs when these three

elements are present in that sense crime

is not something extraordinary but the

product of

everyday life it occurs when people's

daily routines like the way they go to

school or work

produces opportunities for crime like

when a

motivated offender comes across a

situation where there is an

object or a victim that is not well

protected

conan felsen originally developed

routine activities theory

to explain why crime rates in many

western countries

increased instead of decreased between

the 1950s and the 1970s

many older criminological theories had

said that crime is related to poverty

if poverty goes down then crime goes

down

but the mystery was that between the

1950s and the 1970s poverty went down

yet crime went up

how could that be explained what conan

felsen said was that the reason that

crime went

up was not so much due to the motivation

of the offenders

instead they argued that two factors

caused the crime

increase first people were homeless

often

more and more women started to work

outside of the home which meant that in

everyday life

fewer people were present in residential

areas also there were more

single person households and people

started going out

more like on holiday that meant that

overall fewer people were home and

guardianship in the neighborhood went

down

in other words it became easier to

commit crime because nobody

was watching there was lower

guardianship

on top of that during the same period

there were more and more suitable

targets

people started buying televisions and

stereos for example

that were expensive and could easily be

stolen and resold

so summing up it became easier to commit

crime because there were fewer people

watching

fewer guardians and simultaneously there

was more to steal

namely more suitable targets summing up

routine activities theory has a

different focus from traditional

criminological theories

whereas those are focused on why

offenders are motivated for crime

routine activities theory is more

focused on the other two elements namely

on the presence of suitable targets and

guardianship

that doesn't mean that it is necessarily

incompatible with traditional theories

but its focus is different which has

made it an important part

of criminological theory for more

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