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This paper focuses on the Routine Activity Theory of 1979, proposed by Lawrence
E.Cohen and Marcus Felson. Being a subset of the crime opportunity theory, the routine
prominence is a result of the theory's distinct approach that integrates the environment or the
ecological process with the crime. That said, the routine activity theory is different from all
the crime theories that consolidate the psychological and biological factors related to the
criminals and instead emphasizes the need to examine the ecological nature in relation with
space and time of the event and the associated implications (Miró, 2014). Cohen and Felson
adopted this theory to empower macro-level investigation into the crime scenes and explain
Routine activity theory facilitates the solutions to alter the very nature of the crimes
by rendering a concrete frame of reference for crime analysis rather than aligning aspects
towards the motives of the offender (Cohen & Felson, 1979). The routine activity stemmed
from the fact that crimes persisted in an era when they ideally shouldn't have. In other words,
researchers claimed that the predominant causes for the increase in criminal activities are
the late 60s, when the crimes were soaring, all the preceding issues were at a record low,
thus, contradicting the assertion pertaining to the causation of crimes. Therefore, Cohen and
Felson formulated a theory, which could observe the trends and be dynamic in its approach to
identify the crimes, the patterns of the society and thus, influence the essential elements that
The most significant assumption of the routine activity theory formulated by Felson
and Cohen was associated with the surveys depicting the growth in victimization when an
individual is away from home or beyond the reach of guardians. The theory is, thus,
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empirically evaluated to confirm that the possibility of becoming a target increases as one
moves away from the familiar surroundings (Miró, 2014). Furthermore, the theory outlines
the three essential elements that contribute to a crime—the offender, the victim and the
absence of a guardian (Miró, 2014). The theory is further evaluated using the attributes,
which are essential to comprehend while investigating the scenario. These attributes are
value, inertia, visibility and access and are often referred to using the acronym VIVA (Cohen
The notion of VIVA was widely acclaimed, and it was the first instance where the
focus was laid on the space and time of the crime. What followed was Clarke's "CRAVED," a
product that outlines the goods or services most frequently stolen, concealed or enjoyed by
the offenders (Clarke & Webb, 1999). By analyzing CRAVED, crimes can be effectively
prevented. All-in-all, the routine activity theory consolidates the preventions as well as the
explanations of crime. The proposition of crime is based on the offenders, targets and the
guardians. This is what makes a crime triangle, one that integrates the environmental or
impacting elements. It is noteworthy that there is a clear distinction between routine activity
theory's ecological elements and the elements that have the potential to hinder the crime (Eck,
1996).
Routine Activity theory has been widely used from the time of its inception,
scenario, something that can be explained concerning the attributes detailed by routine
activity theory. In addition to this, the cyberspace with both intrinsic and extrinsic
characteristics renders an entirely distinct environment for the offenders to operate. For this
exact reason, routine activity theory's dynamic approach to analyze and alter the trends make
This paper will apply the routine activity theory to Cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a
modern term coined for defining harassment activities carried out on digital platforms.
intentionally or unintentionally distribute the copies of their private media online and
therefore, render, otherwise, unrestricted access to the offenders. There are various
consequences of cyberbullying, including mental stress, depression, anxiety, and physical and
psychological trauma. In addition to this, some victims also assert that they feel embarrassed
going to schools, experience the lowering of self-esteem, have family problems and witness a
platforms provide access to reach a significant number of users and therefore, leaked IDs or
media can spread like fire. The cyberbullies often hide their identities such as email address
and phone numbers and shift to persuasion to intervene in the privacy of the targets. Such
methods can have devastating effects because they can be carried out from a remote location.
The tremendous growth in cyberbullying across the world depicts that adults have remained
oblivious to this crime. Some might not even recognize it as a crime even in the modern-day.
adolescents who are active online. A whopping stats suggests that more than 95% of the
adolescents in the United States have an online presence out of which 74% have access to the
Internet (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010). Thus, there's a need to assess the problems associated
with cyberbullying, and one method is to apply routine activity theory to them.
Various researches have been carried out in the past that apply routine activity theory
to the cybercrime. In 2016, Xiao et al. published a study that analyzed the factors, which lead
the people towards carrying out cyberbullying. The article used the routine activity theory to
students (Xiao, Chan, Cheung & Wong 2016). As a result, the proposed model entirely rested
on the routine activity parameters of a likely offender, a suitable target and an absence of
guardianship. All these factors were aligned with the digital conventions such as proactive
and reactive aggression, negative attitude towards the victim and online disinhibition. The
authors hypothesized that all the preceding factors are positively in association with
cyberbullying caused in the universities. For converting them into solutions, they conducted a
related to behaviour towards cyberbullying and detected potential response bias. Moreover,
the strategy was set according to the routine activity theory's implications pertaining to online
victimization. They further engaged in the collection of data from the active SNS users on the
university's campus. However, the study is limited to the number of attributes taken into
account. For instance, there can be situations where students aren't involved much in social
In 2012, Jordana N. Navarro and Jana L. Jasinski carried out a study on 935 teenagers
to predict cyberbullying using routine activity theory. The authors collected the data for the
same from the Pew Internet and American Life Project's web site. The motive was to predict
and examine the cyberbullying activities by utilizing the online suitability and availability
factors garnered by the routine activity theory. The suitability outlined the range of activities
that adolescents engaged in while traversing through social networking sites. Availability
corresponded to the time and frequency of online activities. For guiding the study towards
credible evaluation, the authors included three guardianship techniques namely "checking
browser history, using a Web site filter, and software that records Internet activity" (Navarro
& Jasinski, 2012). The results after applying mathematical computations were interesting for
they showcased that cyberbullying was related to gender with adolescent females more likely
to become prey to cyberbullying than their counterparts. Other results indicated the difference
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in the number of victims as per their activity and usage of online media. Altogether, the study
Nevertheless, the study was unable to relate the findings appropriately to the perception of
cyberbullying as the students were not asked to report whether they were "cyberbullied" or
not. The assumptions of potential victims were based on the conventional definitions
and the Anti-Sociality of Social Media by Micheal Arntfield of Western University further
brings to light the application of routine activity theory in defining the indicators of
victimization. Arntfield believes that victims play a significant role in online offending and
their routine activities lead to the growth in cyberbullying, something that has been regularly
overlooked. Besides, the article sheds light on the relationship of social media and "Dark
cyberbullying-psychopathy. Arntfield writes that social media bridges the gap between the
victims and the online offenders. Therefore, it becomes essential to administer the routine
activities of the victims and analyze the utilization of specific platforms, which victims
usually prefer. The study further magnifies the impact of social media by talking about the
Nonetheless, the study fails to underline an empirical evaluation of the same. The author does
not resort to the insightful method of sample collection but lays out the views based on
previous literature. Undoubtedly, the study is enriching, although it does not present a
Routine activity theory is regularly consolidated in the studies for investigating the
concentrate on the attributes or variables outlined for analyzing the samples. For instance,
some studies show that visibility, an attribute from VIVA (Cohen & Felson, 1979; Felson &
Moreover, the literature demonstrates online prevention and hindering methods; however,
there's a lack of study based on the off-line world. In other words, future research should
consider the off-line motives, surroundings of the victims and that of the offenders. A look
into the social life of offenders will provide a comprehensive insight into their behaviour and
what leads them to bully online. Last but not t, future researchers should analyze the
preventive and investigative methods present online and how the Internet can contribute to
References
Clarke, R. V. G., & Webb, B. (1999). Hot Products: Understanding, anticipating and
reducing demand for stolen goods (Vol. 112). London: Home Office, Policing and
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity
Eck, J. E. (1996). Drug markets and drug places: A case-control study of the spatial structure
Felson, M., & Cohen, L. E. (1980). Human ecology and crime: A routine activity
Felson, M., & Clarke, R. V. (1998). Opportunity makes the thief. Police research series,
Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2010). Cyberbullying: identification, prevention, and response.
Leukfeldt, E. R., & Yar, M. (2016). Applying routine activity theory to cybercrime: A
Miró, F. (2014). Routine activity theory. The encyclopedia of theoretical criminology, 1-7.
Xiao, B. S., Chan, T. K., Cheung, C. M., & Wong, R. Y. (2016, June). An Investigation into