Routine Activities Theory Of Situational Crime Prevention (SCP)

Situational crime prevention (SCP) is “a framework for some practical and commonsense thinking about how to deal with crime” (Clarke 1995, cited in Verbruggen 2016). Crime prevention theories assert that there’s components in the environment that can be changed which lessens and manipulates opportunities for offenders to commit crimes. The rational choice theory (Cornish and Clarke 2006, cited in Newburn 2012) argues people are free to choose as reasoning individuals; weighs up means and ends; costs and benefits and makes a rational choice. Routine activities theory argues that the supply of motivated offenders, presence of suitable targets and absence of capable guardians causes crime. The principal way of controlling behaviour is through fear, of pain or punishment (Felson and Cohen 1979, cited in Newburn 2012).
This is the concept that the effects of such approaches are geographically restricted. It means that the crimes that happen will now take place in a different environment. SCP is criticised because it’s argued that they don’t stop offences but ‘displace’ from one location to another (Newburn, 2012). There are different types of displacement (Hakim and Rengert 1981, cited in Newburn 2012). Temporal - carrying out the deliberate offence at a different time of the day. Spatial - carrying out the deliberate offence in a different location. Target - manipulating the offence focus to a different target. Tactical - carrying out the deliberate offence by using a dissimilar method. Functional - carrying out a different kind of offence from the original kind (Newburn, 2012). For example, putting in place steering locks for new cars displaced car theft to less well-protected vehicles, like bikes (Mayhew et al. 1977, cited in Newburn