Routine Activities Theory As Proposed By Cohen And Felson

Routine activities theory, as proposed by Cohen and Felson, states that crime depends on the presence of a motivated offender and a suitable target that lacks proper guardianship (Winfree & Abadinsky, 2009). When both elements are present, it is more likely that an individual will either commit a crime or be victimized. Cohen and Felson defined motivated offenders as individuals in need or who desire the benefits they can obtain from committing a crime (Winfree & Abadinsky, 2009). Suitable targets (people or objects that motivated offenders deem satisfactory as targets of their crimes) are assessed along four dimensions: exposure, the accessibility of the target; guardianship, the presence of preventative measures that protect the target;

First, SCP involves changing one’s routine activities to decrease the likelihood of victimization. For example, when an individual chooses to install a security camera or lock their car, they actively incorporate security into their daily routine where they had not in the past. Another example may be providing shelters and group homes for women, youths, or unhoused people may also keep individuals off the streets after dark when they had been left to their own devices in the past. Potential targets must reevaluate their behaviors and what may make them more likely to be victimized. Changing their daily activities can make them or their belongings less suitable and desirable targets. While routine activities theory itself does not provide direct recommendations or much elaboration on decreasing the number of motivated offenders (Winfree & Abadsinky, 2009), SCP does appeal to the rationality aspect of the theory. By working to make a target more difficult to reach, riskier to pursue, or simply less appealing, the assumption is that a rational motivated offender will decide it is not worth going after that particular target (Brooks, 2020; Frelich & Newman, 2017). SCP interventions that work to decrease the impulses that may lead an individual to offend, such as discouraging imitation through censoring the specifics of certain crimes or repairing the effects of vandalism, or alerting individuals to the consequences of crimes, are also in line with this rationality portion as it displays the risks of crime being legitimate while the benefits are short-lived (Brooks, 2020; Frelich & Newman, 2017). Now, both routine activities theory and SCP fail to account for the potential of crimes committed that are not rationally considered, such as so-called crimes of passion, where interventions and techniques may not be effective in preventing victimization. Nevertheless, SCP does align