Leisure Activities and Rates of Crime

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes the relationship between routine leisure activities and crime. It discusses the activities theory approach and attempts to explain the relationship between macro-level indicators of leisure activities and the rates of serious crime. It also discusses how the way people usually conduct their activities can indicate how likely they are to be victims of crime.

From the Paper:

"All in all, it would seem that Messner and Blau (1979) satisfactorily proved their hypothesis. In doing so, they also validated the routine activities theory and Hawley's (1950) human ecology theory. It may also be noted that Cohen and Felson (1979) made a similar hypothesis, using the opportunities for crime aspect of the routine activity theory to predict that crime rates would become higher with greater dispersion of activities away from households and families."
"We can conclude from the above that there is compelling evidence to suggest that the incidence of crime increases in proportion to the amount of time that is spent away from the household."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brantingham, Patricia and Paul J. Brantingham. (1993). Nodes, paths and edges: considerations on the complexity of crime and the physical environment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 13: 3-38.
• Cartwright, Barry. (2006). Introduction to Criminology. Study Guide.
• Cohen, Lawrence E. and Marcus Felson. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: a routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44: 588-608.
• Messner, Steven F. and Judith R. Blau. (1987). Routine leisure activities and rates of crime: a macro-level analysis. Social Forces, 65(4): 1035-1052.
• Sacco, V.F. and Kennedy, L.W. (2002). The Criminal Event: An Introduction to Criminology in Canada. (3rd ed.) Toronto: Thomson Nelson.

More papers on Leisure Activities and Rates of Crime:

• Analytical Essay # 130784 : "Routine Leisure Activities and Rates of Crime"
• Analytical Essay # 141720 : "Messner and Blau's Theory of Crime"

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