3
Routine Activity Theory in Crime
Investigation
D. Kim Rossmo and Lucia Summers
Introduction
Routine activity theory emphasizes the relevance of regular and routine
behaviours for an understanding of crime patterns (Clarke & Felson,
1993). While the approach is most commonly used to explain aggre-
gate trends and behaviours in society, it can also be employed to analyse
individual-level behaviour in a crime investigation. By treating the time
and place of a crime as clues and using what is known about the
offence and victim, the routine activity crime equation may sometimes
be manipulated to provide information about the offender.
In this chapter, we outline the basics of Routine Activity Theory, the
importance of temporal rhythms and cycles, and the theory’s relevance
to repeat victimization and crime linkage. We then discuss how some
criminal predators hunt for potential targets using knowledge of their
victims’ routines. By placing the routine activities crime equation in a
dynamic context, detectives can better understand the spatial-temporal
patterns of a particular crime. We propose an analytic framework based
on offender, victim, and environment factors and suggest a number
of investigative questions that emerge from this framework. Through-
out the chapter, we provide illustrations of the use of Routine Activity
Theory in crime investigation.
Routine Activity Theory
For a direct-contact predatory crime to occur, an offender and victim
must intersect in time and space within an environment conducive to
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M. A. Andresen et al. (eds.), The Criminal Act
© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited 2015
20 Routine Activity Theory in Crime Investigation
offending (Felson, 1987, 2002). Routine Activity Theory studies the pat-
terns associated with these requirements and how crime depends upon
regular, noncriminal activities. “Structural changes in routine activity
patterns can influence crime rates by affecting the convergence in space
and time of the three minimal elements of direct-contact predatory vio-
lation: 1) motivated offenders, 2) suitable targets, and 3) the absence of
capable guardians against a violation” (Cohen & Felson, 1979, p.589).
The opportunity structure for crime – the crime equation – can therefore
be summarized as follows:
crime = (offender + target − guardian) (place + time)
A potential criminal must be motivated at the time of the encounter.
The target needs to be seen as suitable or desirable from the offender’s
perspective. Capable guardians may include police, security, and ordi-
nary citizens going about their daily activities. Later inclusion of
offender handlers (parents, colleagues, and others who control potential
criminals) and place managers (shopkeepers, building superintendents,
and others who supervise locations) expanded Routine Activity Theory
into the crime triangle (Felson, 1986; Eck & Weisburd, 1995).
To study a crime’s “chemistry,” one must first find who and what
must be present and who or what must be absent for the crime to occur
(Felson & Clarke, 1998). This chemistry is crime specific; for instance,
the requirements for pickpocketing are quite different than those for
auto theft. The setting – time and place – in which these conditions are
likely to occur and offenders’ access to and escape from these locations
help explain the spatial and temporal patterns of crime.
Crime Pattern Theory, which outlines the geographic relationship
between an offender’s residence and his crime locations, is integrally
connected to Routine Activity Theory (Brantingham & Brantingham,
1984, 1993, 2008). Most crime is not random; rather, it is spatially
structured, occurring where the awareness space of the offender inter-
sects with perceived suitable targets (desirable targets with an acceptable
risk level attached to them). The awareness spaces of offenders, in
turn, are shaped by their routine activities. “Very few criminals appear
to blaze trails into new, unknown territories or situations in search
of criminal opportunities” (Brantingham & Brantingham, 1998, p.4).
Crime Pattern Theory combines routine activities, rational choice, and
environmental principles to explain the geometry of crime. It is the
basis of the investigative technique known as “geographic profiling”
(see below).
