Civil Remedies Discouragement

ABTRACT

This discussion develops an updated version of routine activities theory and assesses its potential for explaining the impact of civil remedies on crime discoura gement. A reformulated routine activities theory is constructed by marrying its original precepts with other theories of crime. The updated approach provides a promising theoretical framework for understanding how nuisance abatement, juvenile curfews, and server liability laws impact on crime.

INTRODUCTION

Since its introduction two decades ago (Cohen and Felson 1979), routine activities theory has emerged as a leading approach for explaining crime . During its brief history, the theory has weathered debates over its conceptualization as a micro or macro-level theory (Capowich 1999), criticisms of its assumptions (Jeffery 1993), and disquieting research findings (Massey, Krohn, and Bonati 1989). Still, the volume of research that acknowledges an intellectual debt to the routine activities approach continues to expand. This is due, in part, to recent attempts to marry routine activities with other theories of crime such as...