Environment, Routine, and Situation: Toward a Pattern Theory of Crime

From Brantingham, P.L., and Brantingham, P.J. (1993). Environment, routine and situation: Toward a pattern theory of crime. Advances in Criminological ἀ eory, 5, 259-294.As a discipline, criminology tries to understand and explain crime and criminal behavior. This poses fascinating and long-standing questions: Why do some people commit crimes while others do not? Why are some people frequently victimized while others suffer only rarely? Why do some places experience a lot of crime while other places experience almost none? The answers to these questions seem, to us, to reside in understanding the patterns formed by the rich complexities of criminal events. Each criminal event is an opportune cross-product of law, offender motivation, and target characteristic arrayed on an environmental backcloth at a particular point in space-time. Each element in the criminal event has some historical trajectory shaped by past experience and future intention, by the routine activities and16.1 Introduction 365 16.2 Pattern Theory 37116.2.1 Event Process 373 16.2.2 Template/Activity Backcloth 374 16.2.3 Readiness/Willingness 37916.3 Application of Pattern Theory 382 16.3.1 Pilfering of Office Supplies 383 16.3.2 Household Burglary 384 16.3.3 Serial Rape 38716.4 Conclusions 388rhythms of life, and by the constraints of the environment.* Patterns within these complexities, considered over many criminal events, should point us toward understandings of crime as a whole.