Offender Searches and Crime Events

This article explores how several prominent theories explain how and where crime events occur. In particular, rational choice, lifestyle-routine activities, crime pattern, and multilevel opportunity theories are applied to offender searches for targets. Examples from qualitative and quantitative works are used to illustrate these theoretical concepts as applied to offenders’ target selection and journey to crime. While both of these types of studies help to shed light on these topics, the ethnographic works have been particularly instrumental in understanding offenders’ searches for targets. Finally, new directions or suggestions for future research are discussed, mainly the application to school shootings (or other mass murders) and online crimes.