Crime opportunity theory: the state of the art

The 1976 monograph Crime as Opportunity initiated a paradigm for how crime and criminality should be understood and controlled. Here we define a crime opportunity as any situation in which the benefits of committing crime outweigh the costs, and group crime opportunity-related theories and concepts under the banner of crime opportunity theory. The study details how reducing crime opportunities has proven successful locally for many different crime types, and how reducing crime opportunities has emerged as the leading explanation for the international crime drop. It concludes that crime opportunity theory should be the principal reference point for explaining and preventing crime and criminality.