Crime and Everyday Life

by Marcus Felson

Previous editions of Crime and Everyday Life have been popular with students and instructors for Felson′s clear, concise writing style and his unique approach to crime causation. The Third Edition has been thoroughly revised and updated throughout, and includes, among other changes, new chapters on white-collar crime and the use of technology in crime control. By emphasizing that routine everyday activities set the stage for illegal activities (i.e. stolen goods sold in a legal business setting), Felson challenges the conventional wisdom and offers a unique perspective and novel solutions for reducing crime. Students in introductory criminology and criminal justice courses will discover that simple and inexpensive changes in the physical environment and patterns of everyday activity can often produce substantial decreases in crime rates. Insightful, yet fun to read, this new edition of Crime and Everyday Life is sure to provoke students to look at the causes and control of crime with a fresh perspective…and renewed hope.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Samara 1234 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me as a beginner friendly text on criminology. I’d have to say that chapters 1 (Fallacies and Truths About Crime), 5 (Adolescence, Home Life, and Social Control), and 6 (Large Schools for Adolescence) were particularly interesting to me as they challenged what I thought I knew about crime and helped contextualize the work that I do (i.e. working with high school youths with school disciplinary referrals).

I’d recommend all civilians to read chapter 1 which pretty much discredits what I believed (and I think a lot of other people would too) crime to be: an overgrowing boogeyman constantly lurking behind us; and that as a society we stray further and further from God’s light lol. In reality, crime rates have decreased since the 90s, which just so happens to be when this book was published (1994). In that, the author describes most crimes as “ordinary” and “undramatic”, as well as “involving little ingenuity, draw(ing) offenders and victims who are much younger than is commonly believed, and are far less tied to the police and criminal justice system than is commonly stated” (pg. 20 and 21).

Bigger schools have lesser social control and this can explain why these larger physical spaces may produce more crime. Towards the end of the book, the author mentions the concept of natural crime prevention and lists different examples of its being “introduced incrementally into many parts of our society” by basically “imitating activity patterns of everyday life as already observed in nature”. Isn’t that such a beautiful way to put it ?!

More and more, I am drawn to the simplistic nature of doing and being. Let’s go back to the basics, man.

[Victoria Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

had to read this for a critique in my criminology class, both authors invite you to look past emotions and motivations and look at how opportunities contribute to crime. really interesting book and i definitely recommend it to those in the criminal justice world!

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my dissertation next year, Chapter 6 will be most useful: When Crime Feeds Crime. Probably wise to invest in this book when it's possible.