Routine Activity Theory
Definition
A criminological framework developed by Cohen and Felson (1979) that explains property crime as the product of three converging elements: a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian. Changes in routine activities alter the supply of opportunities without requiring any change in the number of offenders.
Related terms
- Anchor Point
- The offender's spatial base of operations, most often the home, sometimes the workplace or a partner's address. The point geographical profiling is...
- Buffer Zone
- The area immediately around an offender's anchor point where offence probability is suppressed because the offender avoids committing crimes near recognisable locations...
- Burglary
- The offence of entering a building or structure without authorisation with intent to commit an offence inside. Distinguished from theft by the...
- Capable Guardian
- Any person or mechanism whose presence deters an offence. Guardians include neighbours, bystanders, CCTV, lighting, and patrols. Presence alone is sufficient: the...
- Crime Triangle
- A visual tool, also called the problem analysis triangle, showing the three routine activity elements as the sides of a triangle. An...
- Dark Figure of Crime
- The gap between the actual volume of crime and the amount recorded in official statistics. Crimes go unrecorded when victims do not...
- Displacement
- The relocation of crime following a prevention intervention. Can take five forms: territorial (to another place), temporal (to another time), target (to...
- Distance-Decay Function
- The empirical pattern that offence frequency declines with distance from the offender's anchor point, after a small zone of avoidance close to...
- Hit-Rate
- Performance metric for a geoprofile: the percentage of the search area that has to be examined before the anchor is found, lower...
- Hot Products (CRAVED)
- The acronym CRAVED (Concealable, Removable, Available, Valuable, Enjoyable, Disposable) describes the characteristics that make consumer goods attractive theft targets. Developed by Clarke...
- Jeopardy Surface
- The probability map output of geographic profiling, rendered as a colour-coded topographic display where high-probability zones for the anchor point appear in...
- Rational Choice Theory
- A criminological theory, associated with Cornish and Clarke, that treats offending as purposive behaviour: offenders assess the rewards, costs, risks, and effort...
Explained in these topics
- Foundations of VictimologyA framework developed by Cohen and Felson (1979) that explains victimisation through the convergence of a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absenc...
- Geographical ProfilingCohen and Felson's 1979 framework that an offence happens at the intersection of a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian.
- Property Crime and Economic OffendingA criminological framework developed by Cohen and Felson (1979) that explains property crime as the product of three converging elements: a motivated offender,...
- Rational Choice and Routine Activity TheoriesCohen and Felson's 1979 framework arguing that predatory crime requires the convergence of a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a capabl...