Human Ecology

, Volume 8, Issue 4, pp 389–406 | Cite as

Human ecology and crime: A routine activity approach

  • Marcus Felson
  • Lawrence E. Cohen
Article

Abstract

Prior explanations of the distributions of crime have tended to emphasize the criminal intentions of people without considering adequately the circumstances in which criminal acts occur. This paper examines how community structure generates these circumstances and applies Amos Hawley's human ecological theory in treating criminal acts as routine activities which feed upon other routine activities. For example, we consider how married women in the labor force, persons living alone, and lightweight durable goods provide offenders with circumstances favorable for carrying out certain illegal acts. We examine in particular how directcontact predatory violations require the convergence in space and time of offenders, suitable targets,and the absence of effective guardians.Various trends in the social structure can alter crime rates by affecting the likelihood of this convergence, without necessarily requiring changes in the criminal inclinations of individuals.

Keywords

Social Structure Community Structure Labor Force Married Woman Crime Rate 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Plenum Publishing Corporation 1980

Authors and Affiliations

  • Marcus Felson
    • 1
  • Lawrence E. Cohen
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of SociologyUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUrbana
  2. 2.Department of SociologyUniversity of TexasAustin

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