Routine Activities and Crime: An Analysis of Victimization in Canada

• NCJ Number: 124040
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1990) Pages: 137-152
• Author(s): L W Kennedy; D R Forde
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Chicago, November 1988.

Annotation

Miethe et al. (1987) have suggested that there are strong interaction effects between demographic characteristics of victims and certain routine activities that occur at night and away from home, but only for victims of property crime. This same pattern does not appear for victims of violent crime, they maintain, because unlike property crime, violent crime often involves interpersonal conflict and disagreement and is therefore spontaneous.

Abstract

Using data from the Canadian Urban Victimization Survey, which contains detailed measures of routine activities not available in Miethe et al.'s U.S. study, this study finds contrary evidence that suggests that personal crime is contingent on the exposure that comes from following certain life-styles. This is particularly true for certain demographic groups, particularly young males. The findings are considered in the light of the literature focusing on the interaction between situation and personality and the importance of the resulting conflict styles in promoting or reducing the opportunity for crime in certain settings and under certain conditions. 8 tables, 23 references. (Author abstract)