Crime and Everyday Life

Book excerpt: Crime and Everyday Life, Fourth Edition, provides an illuminating glimpse into the roots of criminal behavior, explaining how crime can touch us all in both small and large ways. This innovative text shows how opportunity is a necessary condition for crime to occur, while exploring realistic ways to reduce or eliminate crime and criminal behavior by removing the opportunity to complete the act. Encouraging students to take a closer look at the true nature of crime and its effects on their lives, author Marcus Felson and new coauthor Rachel L. Boba (an expert on crime prevention, crime analysis and mapping, and school safety) maintain the book's engaging, readable, and informative style, while incorporating the most current research on criminal behavior and routine activity theory. The authors emphasize that routine daily activities set the stage for illegal acts, thus challenging conventional wisdom and offering students a fresh perspective, novel solutions for reducing crime...and renewed hope. New and Proven Features The book includes new coverage of gangs, bar problems, and barhopping; new discussion of the dynamic crime triang and expanded coverage of technology, Internet fraud, identity theft, and other Internet pitfalls The now-famous "fallacies about crime" are reduced to nine and are organized and explained even more clearly than in past editions The authors offer updated research on crime as well as new examples of practical application of theory, with the most current crime and victimization statistics throughout The text features POP (Problem-Oriented Policing) Center guidelines and citations, including Closing Streets and Alleys to Reduce Crime, Speeding in Residential Areas, Robbery of Convenience Stores, and use of the Situational Crime Prevention Evaluation Database Updated "Projects and Challenges" appear at the end of each chapter Intended Audience This supplemental text adds a colorful perspective and enriches classroom discussion for courses in Criminological Theory, Introduction to Criminal Justice, and Introductory Criminology. Book jacket.