Research methods in criminal justice and criminology

Routine Activity Theory

• Select one property crime and one violent crime. Apply routine activity theory to explain examples of each and tell if you are using theory in an inductive or deductive way.

• Routine activity theory is said to be very useful in developing responses to crime and justice policy. Do you agree or disagree?

Routine activity theory is founded upon "the idea that in the absence of effective controls, offenders will prey upon attractive targets. To have a crime, a motivated offender must come to the same place as an attractive target. For property crimes the target is a thing or an object. For personal crimes the target is a person. If an attractive target is never in the same place as a motivate offender, the target will not be taken, damaged, or assaulted. Also, there are controllers whose presence can prevent crime. If the controllers are absent, or present but powerlessness, crime is possible" (A theory of crime problem, 2013, Center For Problem-Oriented Policing). According to the theory, by removing such 'attractive situations' from the eyes of criminals, crime may be reduced.

For example, by educating residents about how to guard their personal belongings like cell phones and increasing the presence of police in crowded areas and at events, the crime of cell phone theft can be theoretically be curtailed. This is based upon the deductive application of the theory that less access to cellphones and less of an ability to be undetected at the scene of the crime leads to less crime. Similarly, given that pedophilia is a crime with high rates of recidivism, barring convicted pedophiles from living near areas populated by children and precluding them from being employed in occupations where they would come into contact with children should reduce crime with similar deductive logic.