General Opportunity Victimization Theories
- LAST REVIEWED: 29 November 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 29 November 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0229
- LAST REVIEWED: 29 November 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 29 November 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0229
Introduction
Since the latter part of the 1970s, the field of victimology has focused much theoretical attention and empirical study on identifying risk factors for victimization. Risk factors are variables that are associated with some outcome—in this case, criminal victimization. Theories in victimology and criminology, then, have been developed to explain victimization in terms of victimization risk. The leading explanation for victimization risk that has emerged over the last four decades is the opportunity perspective, which attributes risk to opportunities for victimization. Early opportunity research hypothesized that opportunities for victimization are created through varied processes, including large-scale social forces (i.e., macrolevel) and individual behaviors (i.e., microlevel). Empirical studies of the relationship between macrolevel opportunities and crime rates and microlevel opportunities and victimization supported these hypothesizes and prompted further development of the opportunity perspective. Subsequent theoretical refinements explained that victimization opportunities are created through multilevel processes. Acknowledging this, researchers also have explored different sized units of analysis (e.g., cities, neighborhoods, micro-places) within which opportunities are created and concentrate. Recent additions to the opportunity perspective include integrated, gendered, and age-graded refinements, which present more complex and nuanced arguments involving the circumstances under which victimization opportunities are created and acted upon by offenders. Overall, the expansive body of research that has tested the opportunity perspective has largely supported its utility in explaining a variety of types of victimization, including personal and property victimizations. Propositions from the opportunity perspective have also been adopted and applied in various capacities by researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to prevent and/or reduce victimization opportunities.
General Overviews
Opportunity theories of victimization have flourished over the years, in terms of both theoretical development and empirical testing. For the most part, general information on the opportunity perspective can be categorized in one of two ways: (1) literature reviews of the current state of theory and research, or (2) influential pieces that moved the field forward. Among the former, Felson and Clarke 1998 is perhaps the best starting point in providing a primer on opportunity theory. Here, the authors review the principles of opportunity and explain its relationship with crime. Early articles such as Gottfredson 1981 and Meier and Miethe 1993 also review the principles of opportunity theory, but do so specifically within the context of criminal victimization. It is important to note, however, that research of this era often referenced “lifestyle” or “routine activity” theories without pointing out the implicit link between these behaviors and opportunities for victimization. Conversely, more recent overviews of opportunity theories of victimization make this argument explicit. Books like Andresen 2014, Felson and Eckert 2016, and Fisher, et al. 2015 each provide reviews of opportunity, but with different emphases in terms of its function. These texts address the role of opportunity in environmental criminology, crime prevention, and victimology, respectively. Within the latter category, Cook 1986, Miethe and Meier 1994, and Wilcox, et al. 2003 each provide theoretical refinements or advancements to the opportunity perspective. Cook 1986 views opportunity in terms of aggregate supplies of opportunities produced by victims and demands for opportunities sought by offenders, introducing some of the early arguments for a multilevel opportunity perspective. Miethe and Meier 1994 utilizes opportunity as one of the two important concepts in the structural choice theory of crime, which considers criminal motivation and victimization opportunity as the key ingredients in criminal events. Finally, Wilcox, et al. 2003 introduces a fully articulated multilevel opportunity theory. In all three cases, the authors also provide a general overview of the concept of criminal opportunity.
Andresen, M. A. 2014. Environmental criminology: Evolution, theory, and practice. New York: Routledge.
Includes a comprehensive overview of environmental criminology, tracing its origins, explaining its theoretical foundations, and reviewing its practical application. Since much of environmental criminology is focused upon the role of opportunity in causing crime or how opportunity reduction can aid in crime prevention, this book provides a useful summary of its main points. Part 2, covering theories in environmental criminology, is particularly relevant to understanding general opportunity victimization theories.
Cook, P. J. 1986. The demand and supply of criminal opportunities. In Crime and justice: A review of research. Vol. 7. Edited by M. Tonry and N. Morris, 1–27. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
In this theoretical piece, Cook explains the relationship between criminal opportunities and victim protective behaviors. This relationship is compared to the supply and demand of products in an economic market. According to this thesis, high crime rates result in individuals taking greater protections against crime (i.e., reducing opportunities). Over time, as the crime rate declines, individuals relax their prevention behaviors, creating more crime opportunities to be acted upon by offenders.
Felson, M., and R. V. Clarke. 1998. Opportunity makes the thief: Practical theory for crime prevention. Police Research Series, Paper 98. London: Home Office, Research Development and Statistics Directorate.
This theoretical appraisal of the opportunity perspective provides a general overview of the three main opportunity theories from criminology: the routine activity approach, crime pattern theory, and the rational choice perspective. It also includes an explanation of ten principles that govern the relationship between opportunity and crime. This report offers a good introduction to opportunity as an explanation for criminal victimization and crime events.
Felson, M., and M. Eckert. 2016. Crime and everyday life. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Reviews the ways in which routine activities of daily life are related to criminal opportunities and victimization. As part of this review, the authors explain foundational opportunity concepts and discuss the importance of opportunity in understanding a number of distinct types of crime, including teenage crime, gang crime, technology crimes, and white-collar crime, among others. Generally considered to be an approachable introduction to opportunity concepts for students.
Fisher, B. S., B. R. Reyns, and J. J. Sloan III. 2015. Introduction to victimology: Contemporary theory, research, and practice. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Provides an overview of the opportunity perspective and explains how opportunities affect victimization risk. The text also highlights findings from empirical research into the role of opportunity in criminal victimization. Chapters 2 and 3, which review opportunity theories of victimization and contemporary theories of victimization, respectively, are of particular interest.
Gottfredson, M. R. 1981. On the etiology of criminal victimization. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 72:714–726.
DOI: 10.2307/1143011
Reviews the state of criminal victimization research, with a discussion of the genesis of victimization opportunity and a specific focus on the issue of exposure to victimization risk through lifestyle. The paper highlights the difference between absolute and probabilistic exposure, and discusses how to predict probabilistic exposure, before closing with some ideas for theoretical development in the victimization literature.
Meier, R. F., and T. D. Miethe. 1993. Understanding theories of criminal victimization. Crime and Justice 17:459–499.
DOI: 10.1086/449218
A comprehensive literature review of the opportunity theories of criminal victimization (lifestyle-exposure theory and routine activity theory) and their major theoretical concepts (i.e., proximity to crime, exposure to crime, target attractiveness, capable guardianship). The article also reviews some problems with evaluating the theories, followed by an argument for integrating victimization and crime theories in the mold of structural choice theory.
Miethe, T. D., and R. F. Meier. 1994. Crime and its social context: Toward an integrated theory of offenders, victims, and situations. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press.
This book builds upon prior research and presents an integrated theory of criminal events. The theory combines leading arguments from criminology and victimology to explain that criminal events are a function of offender motivation, victimization opportunity, and the social context in which victims and offenders meet. Also included are a comprehensive review of the opportunity theories of victimization and an empirical test of Miethe and Meier’s structural choice theory.
Wilcox, P., K. C. Land, and S. A. Hunt. 2003. Criminal circumstance: A dynamic, multicontextual criminal opportunity theory. New York: Walter de Gruyter.
The primary contribution of Criminal Circumstance is the introduction of multilevel opportunity theory. This theory integrates arguments from the general opportunity research base and the communities and crime research literature to explain that crime opportunities are generated by individual and environmental factors, and that these factors are also interactive. Interactions between these micro- and macrolevel factors produce dynamic criminal opportunities.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Active Offender Research
- Actus Reus
- Adler, Freda
- Adversarial System of Justice
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Aging Prison Population, The
- Airport and Airline Security
- Alcohol and Drug Prohibition
- Alcohol Use, Policy and Crime
- Alt-Right Gangs and White Power Youth Groups
- Animals, Crimes Against
- Anomie
- Arson
- Art Crime
- Back-End Sentencing and Parole Revocation
- Bail and Pretrial Detention
- Batterer Intervention Programs
- Bentham, Jeremy
- Big Data and Communities and Crime
- Biosocial Criminology
- Blackmail
- Black's Theory of Law and Social Control
- Blumstein, Alfred
- Boot Camps and Shock Incarceration Programs
- Burglary, Residential
- Bystander Intervention
- Capital Punishment
- Chambliss, William
- Chicago School of Criminology, The
- Child Maltreatment
- Chinese Triad Society
- Civil Protection Orders
- Collateral Consequences of Felony Conviction and Imprisonm...
- Collective Efficacy
- Commercial and Bank Robbery
- Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
- Communicating Scientific Findings in the Courtroom
- Community Change and Crime
- Community Corrections
- Community Disadvantage and Crime
- Community-Based Justice Systems
- Community-Based Substance Use Prevention
- Comparative Criminal Justice Systems
- CompStat Models of Police Performance Management
- Confessions, False and Coerced
- Conservation Criminology
- Consumer Fraud
- Contextual Analysis of Crime
- Control Balance Theory
- Convict Criminology
- Co-Offending and the Role of Accomplices
- Corporate Crime
- Costs of Crime and Justice
- Courts, Drug
- Courts, Juvenile
- Courts, Mental Health
- Courts, Problem-Solving
- Crime and Justice in Latin America
- Crime, Campus
- Crime Control Policy
- Crime Control, Politics of
- Crime, (In)Security, and Islam
- Crime Prevention, Delinquency and
- Crime Prevention, Situational
- Crime Prevention, Voluntary Organizations and
- Crime Trends
- Crime Victims' Rights Movement
- Criminal Career Research
- Criminal Decision Making, Emotions in
- Criminal Justice Data Sources
- Criminal Justice Ethics
- Criminal Justice Fines and Fees
- Criminal Justice Reform, Politics of
- Criminal Justice System, Discretion in the
- Criminal Records
- Criminal Retaliation
- Criminal Talk
- Criminology and Political Science
- Criminology of Genocide, The
- Critical Criminology
- Cross-National Crime
- Cross-Sectional Research Designs in Criminology and Crimin...
- Cultural Criminology
- Cultural Theories
- Cybercrime
- Cybercrime Investigations and Prosecutions
- Cycle of Violence
- Day Fines
- Deadly Force
- Defense Counsel
- Defining "Success" in Corrections and Reentry
- Desistance
- Deterrence
- Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
- Digital Piracy
- Driving and Traffic Offenses
- Drug Control
- Drug Trafficking, International
- Drugs and Crime
- Elder Abuse
- Electronically Monitored Home Confinement
- Employee Theft
- Environmental Crime and Justice
- Experimental Criminology
- Extortion
- Family Violence
- Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk
- Felon Disenfranchisement
- Femicide
- Feminist Theories
- Feminist Victimization Theories
- Fencing and Stolen Goods Markets
- Firearms and Violence
- Forensic Science
- For-Profit Private Prisons and the Criminal Justice–Indust...
- Fraud
- Gambling
- Gangs, Peers, and Co-offending
- Gender and Crime
- Gendered Crime Pathways
- General Opportunity Victimization Theories
- Genetics, Environment, and Crime
- Green Criminology
- Halfway Houses
- Harm Reduction and Risky Behaviors
- Hate Crime
- Hate Crime Legislation
- Healthcare Fraud
- Hirschi, Travis
- History of Crime in the United Kingdom
- History of Criminology
- Homelessness and Crime
- Homicide
- Homicide Victimization
- Honor Cultures and Violence
- Hot Spots Policing
- Human Rights
- Human Trafficking
- Identity Theft
- Immigration, Crime, and Justice
- Incarceration, Mass
- Incarceration, Public Health Effects of
- Income Tax Evasion
- Indigenous Criminology
- Institutional Anomie Theory
- Integrated Theory
- Intermediate Sanctions
- Interpersonal Violence, Historical Patterns of
- Interrogation
- Intimate Partner Violence, Criminological Perspectives on
- Intimate Partner Violence, Police Responses to
- Investigation, Criminal
- Juvenile Delinquency
- Juvenile Justice System, The
- Juvenile Waivers
- Kidnapping
- Kornhauser, Ruth Rosner
- Labeling Theory
- Labor Markets and Crime
- Land Use and Crime
- Lead and Crime
- Legitimacy
- LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence
- LGBTQ People in Prison
- Life Without Parole Sentencing
- Local Institutions and Neighborhood Crime
- Lombroso, Cesare
- Longitudinal Research in Criminology
- Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
- Mapping and Spatial Analysis of Crime, The
- Mass Media, Crime, and Justice
- Measuring Crime
- Mediation and Dispute Resolution Programs
- Mental Health and Crime
- Merton, Robert K.
- Meta-analysis in Criminology
- Middle-Class Crime and Criminality
- Migrant Detention and Incarceration
- Mixed Methods Research in Criminology
- Money Laundering
- Motor Vehicle Theft
- Multi-Level Marketing Scams
- Murder, Serial
- Narrative Criminology
- National Deviancy Symposia, The
- Nature Versus Nurture
- Neighborhood Disorder
- Neutralization Theory
- New Penology, The
- Offender Decision-Making and Motivation
- Offense Specialization/Expertise
- Organized Crime
- Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs
- Panel Methods in Criminology
- Peacemaking Criminology
- Peer Networks and Delinquency
- Perceptions of Youth, Juvenile Justice Professionals'
- Performance Measurement and Accountability Systems
- Personality and Trait Theories of Crime
- Persons with a Mental Illness, Police Encounters with
- Phenomenological Theories of Crime
- Plea Bargaining
- Poaching
- Police Administration
- Police Cooperation, International
- Police Discretion
- Police Effectiveness
- Police History
- Police Militarization
- Police Misconduct
- Police, Race and the
- Police Use of Force
- Police, Violence against the
- Policing and Law Enforcement
- Policing, Body-Worn Cameras and
- Policing, Broken Windows
- Policing, Community and Problem-Oriented
- Policing Cybercrime
- Policing, Evidence-Based
- Policing, Intelligence-Led
- Policing, Privatization of
- Policing, Proactive
- Policing, School
- Policing, Stop-and-Frisk
- Policing, Third Party
- Polyvictimization
- Positivist Criminology
- Pretrial Detention, Alternatives to
- Pretrial Diversion
- Prison Administration
- Prison Classification
- Prison, Disciplinary Segregation in
- Prison Education Exchange Programs
- Prison Gangs and Subculture
- Prison History
- Prison Labor
- Prison Visitation
- Prisoner Reentry
- Prisons and Jails
- Prisons, HIV in
- Private Security
- Probation Revocation
- Procedural Justice
- Property Crime
- Prosecution and Courts
- Prostitution
- Psychiatry, Psychology, and Crime: Historical and Current ...
- Psychology and Crime
- Public Criminology
- Public Opinion, Crime and Justice
- Public Order Crimes
- Public Social Control and Neighborhood Crime
- Punishment Justification and Goals
- Qualitative Methods in Criminology
- Queer Criminology
- Race and Sentencing Research Advancements
- Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice
- Racial Threat Hypothesis
- Racial Profiling
- Rape and Sexual Assault
- Rape, Fear of
- Rational Choice Theories
- Rehabilitation
- Religion and Crime
- Restorative Justice
- Risk Assessment
- Routine Activity Theories
- School Bullying
- School Crime and Violence
- School Safety, Security, and Discipline
- Search Warrants
- Seasonality and Crime
- Self-Control, The General Theory:
- Self-Report Crime Surveys
- Sentencing Enhancements
- Sentencing, Evidence-Based
- Sentencing Guidelines
- Sentencing Policy
- Sex Crimes
- Sex Offender Policies and Legislation
- Sex Trafficking
- Sexual Revictimization
- Situational Action Theory
- Snitching and Use of Criminal Informants
- Social and Intellectual Context of Criminology, The
- Social Construction of Crime, The
- Social Control of Tobacco Use
- Social Control Theory
- Social Disorganization
- Social Ecology of Crime
- Social Learning Theory
- Social Networks
- Social Threat and Social Control
- Solitary Confinement
- South Africa, Crime and Justice in
- Sport Mega-Events Security
- Stalking and Harassment
- State Crime
- State Dependence and Population Heterogeneity in Theories ...
- Strain Theories
- Street Code
- Street Robbery
- Substance Use and Abuse
- Surveillance, Public and Private
- Sutherland, Edwin H.
- Technology and the Criminal Justice System
- Technology, Criminal Use of
- Terrorism
- Terrorism and Hate Crime
- Terrorism, Criminological Explanations for
- Testimony, Eyewitness
- Therapeutic Jurisprudence
- Trajectory Methods in Criminology
- Transnational Crime
- Truth-In-Sentencing
- Urban Politics and Crime
- US War on Terrorism, Legal Perspectives on the
- Victim Impact Statements
- Victimization, Adolescent
- Victimization, Biosocial Theories of
- Victimization Patterns and Trends
- Victimization, Repeat
- Victimization, Vicarious and Related Forms of Secondary Tr...
- Victimless Crime
- Victim-Offender Overlap, The
- Violence Against Women
- Violence, Youth
- Violent Crime
- White-Collar Crime
- White-Collar Crime, The Global Financial Crisis and
- White-Collar Crime, Women and
- Wilson, James Q.
- Wolfgang, Marvin
- Women, Girls, and Reentry
- Wrongful Conviction