Preview

What Is Routine Activities Theory?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
240 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
What Is Routine Activities Theory?
Lawrence E. Cohen and Marcus Felson developed the routine activity theory in 1979. What is routine activity theory? Routine activity theory is an environmental, place-based explanation of crime, where the behavioral patterns and intersections of people in time and space influence when and where crimes occur. This theory is very different from other criminological theories, as routine activity focus on why people are motivate to committing crimes, finding suitable target, and the absence of guardians that are capable to intervene. Routine activity theory looks at crime from an offender’s point of view and why the motivated offender would act on those motivations. For these offenders, they assess the situation to determine if they will commit
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Functionalism and Crime and Deviance
    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Functionalism and Crime and Deviance

    Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of functionalist approaches in explaining crime…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Strain Theory: The Serial Killer Of John Wayne Gacy
    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Strain Theory: The Serial Killer Of John Wayne Gacy

    The bus stops that Gacy frequented in the years he was active were teaming with the type of people that were not living lifestyles within the norms of society. His first killing was of a 16-year-old boy taking a bus trip to Chicago by himself. It is the Lifestyle theory that says the victim lives a life or does things in their life that places them in a place of danger or in the path of crime. The offender must feel comfortable enough to approach the victim and the victim must be vulnerable enough to be one. It is their intersection that completes the crime; offender, victim, and opportunity. It is also the living outside of societal norms that uses Differential Association to explain that bring the victim and the offender together through an “association” outside the protective circle of society. Routine theory also explains that our lifestyle through our choices of simple things such a time to walk home, the telling of a loved one we will be somewhere and we don’t stay there, or that we are going on an interview with someone and do not give details. In the case of Gacy, several men said they were going for an interview and never returned. What if one of the first had said, “Hey, Mom, I am going to go to an interview with Gacy’s Company.” How many lives could have been saved by that one statement? It is the simple choices that make a world of difference between…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    AJS 542: Personal Criminological Theories
    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages

    AJS 542: Personal Criminological Theories

    Crime is bad behavior displayed by citizens who reject societal norms and instead chose to commit crime. However, there are many types of theories of why crime occurs the most prevalent cause for crime involves the social environment of the criminal offender. Psychological theories discusses that these interruptions in childhood development is the cause for crime but because the delays developmental is the effect of the criminal’s environment. The same goes for biological theories that find genetic or biological factors that make a person more prone to become a criminal but require certain environmental factors for the person in reality to become a criminal.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Routine Activities Theory Or Criminological Perspective
    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page

    Routine Activities Theory Or Criminological Perspective

    Routine activities theory or criminological perspective, which incorporates the well-known crime triangle of a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of a capable guardian (Hoover, 2014).Routine activities theory suggests that the organization of routine activities in society create opportunities for crime (routine activities, 2017).…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    4.1 Explain The Importance Of Building Physical Activity Into Everyday Routines
    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages

    4.1 Explain The Importance Of Building Physical Activity Into Everyday Routines

    By helping promote these we are setting a routine and helping build hand eye coordination. If we make activities fun children will want to participate and not see them as tasks. It can also help teach the children numeracy and sequencing by matching colures and counting. By helping teach children some simple skills we are helping them build their life skills.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Examining Theory Paper
    • 1235 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Examining Theory Paper

    Social process theory, also known as interactionist perspectives, suggest that everyone has the potential to violate the law. Social process theory holds that criminal behavior is learned through interactions with others and the socialization process occurring as the result of group membership is seen as the primary route through which learning is occur. Some of these groups can involve family, peers, work groups, and reference groups. Social process theorist suggest that individuals who have weak stakes in conformity are more likely to be influenced by the social processes and conditional experiences that lead to criminal acts. This specific theory looks at the interactions an individual makes within a group. Social process theory can be incorporated with a juvenile in a broken home, a first time offender serving year plus, or someone simply trying to fit in at school. More so in the pre-adult years, just about every interaction we have with anyone or group can be chalked up to a new learning experience. Some of the different types of social process theory are social…

    • 1235 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pelican Bay State Prison
    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Pelican Bay State Prison

    At Pelican Bay State Prison applying the social process theory (or interactionsit perspectives) would best be applied; as this theory depends on the process of interaction between individuals and society for their explanatory power. Social process theories of crime causation assume that everyone has the potential to violate the law and that criminality is not an innate human characteristic; instead, criminal behavior is learned in interaction with others, and the socialization process occurring as the result of group membership (such as gang affiliations within Pelican Bay and outside of it) is seen as the primary route…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Control Theory in Today's Society
    • 1404 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Control Theory in Today's Society

    Gottfredson and Hirschi asked the question, “What is Crime?” and thus began to research the theories associated with crime and what drives people to commit criminal acts. Nearly all crimes, they concluded, are mundane, simple, trivial, easy acts aimed at satisfying desires of the moment. (Schmalleger, 2009) For example, a young child steals a candy bar from the local convenience store, simply because he wants the candy bar; this is not a violent or large- scale criminal act, but is still a violation of the law. The general theory of crime asserts that the operation of a single mechanism low self- control, accounts for “all crime, at all times”; including acts ranging from vandalism to homicide, from rape to white- collar crime. A person’s likelihood to engage in criminal activity or not can supposedly be explained through low self-control, the same way high self-control explains an individual 's tendencies of conforming to social norms and laws. (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990) Thus, some people have a lasting tendency to ignore the long term consequences of their behavior. These people tend to be impulsive, reckless, and self- centered. Crime is the end result of their tendencies.(Schmalleger, 2009)…

    • 1404 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Predictive Policing Research Paper
    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Predictive Policing Research Paper

    5. Boetig, Parsi, B. (2006, June 01). The Routine Activity Theory: A Model for Addressing Specific Crime Issues. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, (6), 12, Retrieved from:…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Activity
    • 1594 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Activity

    Source: “An ocean steamer passing the Statue of Liberty: Scene on the Steerage Deck,” from Frank…

    • 1594 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Criminal Justice Policy
    • 1427 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Criminal Justice Policy

    The previous Labour government had set out many reforms to attempt to split the link between drugs and crime through many crime reduction strategies. The Labour party were very passionate about victim support and neighbourhood policing and watches, also focusing a lot on antisocial behaviour. The Coalitions drug strategies are quite different, they aimed to ban legal highs and explore alternative solutions to prevent drug misuse, many of which are found in the reoffending and rehabilitation policy (Duke 2012). This can be linked into routine activity theory. Relating back to the conservative parties views and beliefs on crime they stated that in order to prevent and deter crime we need to strengthen families and communities. This links into routine activity theory spoken about by sociologists Cohen and Felson, they talk about how poverty, unemployment and inequality can play a big part in acts of crime and deviance. The theory mentions that it takes more than just an individual that wants to commit a crime to make crime happen, they also need an opportunity. This could be in communities with a high risk of crime and gang related incidents. These communities can also be referred to as “broken windows”, the idea that if a community is already prone to crime then more crime will follow. The conservative government therefore proposes that we remove the opportunity for…

    • 1427 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Criminal Justice
    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Criminal Justice

    One theory would be classical theory, it suggests that crime is committed with individual will. For example; each individual has the will to say they are not going to rob that store or steal that truck. There is a theory that seconds guesses the classical theory and that is the social theory. The social process theory relates to crime being made because those individuals had failure in self direction. For example; if a boy grew up in a home where gang relations were present, that is a failure of self direction because it is leading him to commit the same acts of crime. These…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Criminological Theory And The Wire
    • 2478 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Criminological Theory And The Wire

    Crime has existed for as long as human beings have been able to differentiate between actions that are good and actions that are bad. Whether or not an action that is considered bad is a crime is determined by laws set forth by local, state, or federal governments and the severity of the crime is determined by those whose job it is to interpret the laws, such as a police officer or a judge. While differentiating between what is and is not a crime can be as easy as determining whether or not a law had been broken, figuring out the offender’s motivation for committing a crime is a more complex task. Criminology is a multidisciplinary social science that studies the causes, types, and reactions to criminal behavior. Criminologists attempt to explain a person or group of people’s reasons or motivations behind why a crime was committed using criminological theories. One reason this is done is to aid in the creation of policies within the criminal justice system to better understand why crime is committed and find ways to prevent future crimes from occurring.…

    • 2478 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Crime Thoeries
    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Crime Thoeries

    Decker, Scott H. and Barlow, Hugh D. (2010). Criminology and Public Policy: Putting Theory to…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Critically Evaluate Feminist Explanations of Female Criminal Behaviour.
    • 2514 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Critically Evaluate Feminist Explanations of Female Criminal Behaviour.

    Marsh, I., Melville G., Norris G., Morgan K., Walkington, Z. (2006). Theories of Crime. London: Taylor & Francis Ltd. P125.…

    • 2514 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More

Related Topics