Guarding Against Crime

One of the most tested theories in the field of criminology-routine activity theory-purports that in order for a crime event to occur, it requires the convergence of three minimal elements: a likely offender, a suitable target (defined as a person, object or place) and the absence of a capable guardian. In doing so, they draw attention to the capable guardian as the ultimate protector and defender of people and property against criminal violations.This book will develop our theoretical and empirical understanding of the function of the capable guardian as a critical, yet elusive actor in the crime event model.Perhaps the most central issue to be raised by this book is the need for far more clarity and systematization when it comes to the definition, operationalization and measurement of capable guardianship. Of special focus, therefore, will be the extent to which the operationalization of guardianship has deviated from the original concept, and more seriously, from the definition of capable guardianship as it has been conceived within the original framework of routine activity theory. In lieu of utilizing secondary data sources for proxy measures, this book will argue in favour of new, more direct measures of guardianship, employing several direct methods of primary data collection in order to capture the action dimensions of capable guardianship, as well as the various other environmental and contextual factors that affect it.