Book Review: Criminal Circumstance: A Dynamic, Multicontextual Criminal Opportunity Theory

• Published date: 01 September 2006
• Author: Kaan Boke
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016806292927
• Date: 01 September 2006
• Subject Matter: Articles

With Client Violence in Social Work Practice, Newhill elevates our understanding of

workplace violence for social workers and others in the helping professions far beyond

what it was before. In doing so, she elevates herself as a significant contributor to the field.

Mark S. Davis

Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence

Kent State University, OH

Wilcox, P., Land, K. C., & Hunt, S. A. (2003). Criminal Circumstance: A Dynamic,

Multicontextual Criminal Opportunity Theory. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

DOI: 10.1177/0734016806292927

This book presents a review of theories of crime and proposes a new alternative crimi-

nal opportunity theory based on social disorganization and routine activities explanations.

The authors emphasize the importance of considering the ecology of crime in a full

explanatory model. They suggest that in addition to the single influences, the interaction

between individual and environmental influences also needs to be taken into consideration.

More specifically, they assert that crime must be understood in terms of the coming

together of motivated offenders and crime-conducive social and physical environments,

including disorganized communities. The coming together is central to explanation.

Much prior literature has identified characteristics of the offender as the most important

influence on crime, and opportunity frequently receives less attention. According to

Wilcox, Land, and Hunt, without opportunity, no one can commit crime. Put more simply,

if there is no bank, there can be no robbery. This book addresses the effects of opportunity

in great detail and thus makes its contribution to criminal opportunity theory. Numerous

examples are provided of how components of criminal opportunity explain criminal behav-

ior. Additionally, the authors consider fear of and public reactions to crime. They depict a

dynamic cause and effect process, in which, for example, individual-level opportunity

influences whether a person experiences a crime, which in turn influences the victim’s rou-

tine activities and subsequent risks.

Throughout the book, the authors try to elaborate on existing routine activities theory

and build an improved explanation for why people break the law. They first discuss the rou-

tine activities, social control, and disorganization theories, and they identify their basic

assumptions, concepts, and propositions. Then, they outline their multicontextual criminal

opportunity theory and suggest that there are many dimensions of criminal opportunity.

They developed a draft conceptual scheme and operationalized a multilevel criminal oppor-

tunity model. The model considers individuals in bounded locales (i.e., specific places).

Finally, the authors provide a theoretical framework for exploring the person-environment

interaction, and they discuss whether opportunity has any effect on crime across the life

course. They recommend a variety of methods to test their theory, with hierarchical regres-

sion modeling, large samples, and designs that collect data from people nested in neigh-

borhoods being the ideal; however, they also see value in cross-sectional surveys and

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