Topic: Routine Activities Theory (Chapter 5)

Routine activity theory, like the related lifestyle-exposure theory, emerged as a key theoretical approach in criminology in the late 1970s. Routine activities refer to generalized patterns of social activities in a society (i.e., spatial and temporal patterns in family, work, and leisure activities). 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. 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). 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. 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).

For this discussion, consider that this theory, unlike most criminological theories, does not consider the motivation of the offender (it is assumed to exist). Instead, this theory focuses on factors like "capable guardianship" and "suitable targets" that can theoretically be impacted by individual and policy-level crime prevention strategies. Which approach (focusing on offenders versus focusing on targets) do you think has the greatest potential for reducing the crime rate? In other words, should crime prevention/reduction strategies focus on the offenders that commit crimes or the places and persons that are victims of crime?