Routine activities and rational choice in the offending process of sexual aggressors

Abstract

Most of the empirical studies of the offending process of sexual offenders have used theoretical frameworks that originate in psychology, namely the Relapse Prevention Model (RPM) and the Self-Regulation Model (SRM). In criminology, the study of sex offenders has long been neglected, and theorization has been rudimentary. However, the routine activities theory and rational choice theory, developed to describe and explain the crime-commission processes of violent and property crimes, appear to be promising theoretical frameworks for the analysis of the offending process of sexual offenders. This chapter discusses the interaction between offenders’ lifestyles and routine activities, on the one hand, and decision making during sexual crimes, on the other, as well as the integration of all these components into sexual-crime scripts. The script approach is not intended to replace current models (i.e., RPM, SRM) of the offending process of sexual offenders, but to enhance them.