Crimes do not occur randomly or uniformly in time or space or society. Crimes do not occur randomly or uniformly across neighbourhoods, or social groups, or during an individual’s daily activities or during an individual’s lifetime. In fact, arguing for uniformity was once popular but now seems indefensible. There are hotspots and cold spots; there are high repeat offenders and high repeat victims. In fact, the two groups are frequently linked. While the numbers will continue to be debated depending on the definition and the population being tested, a very small proportion of people commit most of the known crimes (Carrington, Matarazzo and de Souza 2005; Farrington, Lambert and West 1998; Wolfgang, Figlio and Sellin 1972) and also account for a large proportion of victimizations (Fattah 1991). The argument for the complete randomness of targets and victims is no longer plausible. Bar fights occur with greater frequency on Friday or Saturday nights than on weekday afternoons; shoplifting occurs during a restricted set of hours in the day and more in some stores than others; and income tax evasions cluster around due dates. Understanding crime requires concepts and models that can be used to account for the patterned non-uniformity and non-randomness that characterizes real criminal events.