NCJ Number
131686
Journal
Criminology Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1991) Pages: 73-98
Date Published
1991
Length
26 pages
Annotation
Although it is generally recognized in the social sciences that the "situation" is indispensable for understanding behavior, thus far criminologists have not devoted systematic attention to situational analysis.
Abstract
This paper contributes to the development of a situational perspective on crime by defining the concept of situation, developing four hypotheses about the situational characteristics of selected personal contact crimes, and then testing those hypotheses using victimization survey data from the United States and Venezuela. The research shows that coercive crimes are less situationally clustered than noncoercive crimes and that instrumental crimes are more situationally clustered than character crimes. Despite tremendous difference in crime rates for the two countries, substantial similarity is found in situational crime patterns. The implications of the research for criminological theory are discussed. 17 notes, 4 tables, 1 appendix, and 61 references (Publisher's abstract)