Recently, Gottfredson and Hirschi proposed a general theory of crime. Central to the theory is the assumption that most criminal behavior is impulsive and reflects a lack of self-control. Thus criminals are seen as risk takers who are less restrained than noncriminals from illegal activities. In a secondary analysis of data from a roadside traffic survey, this study attempts to test Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory by examining the relationship between self-control and driving under the influence of alcohol. Using several indicators of self-control, the results support the existence of a relationship for both men and women between low self-control and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Although fear of crime is a topic that has received considerable research interest, less attention has been paid to the behavioral consequences of fear. Conducting secondary data analysis on a national survey of Canadian women, this article examines whether women would frequent certain environments more often, that they currently perceive as unsafe, if they felt safer. The article concludes that fear may be limiting women's movement around their environment, and by reducing fear, lifestyle options should increase.

Cet article fait appel aux concepts et aux techniques de l'épidémiologie pour examiner la capacité de la théorie des activités routinières à expliquer le risque de victimisation criminelle. En allant au‐delà de l'identification des facteurs de risque de victimisation, les auteurs se demandent comment les changements des facteurs de causalité pourraient influer sur ce risque dans la population générale. lis trouvent que les prédicteurs établis avec des méthodes plus traditionnelles expliquent la plus grande partie du risque, mais que certains sont moins importants pour la compréhension du risque de la population dans l'ensemble en raison du petit nombre de personnes qui leur est associé, tandis que d'autres sont plus utiles parce qu'ils s'appliquent à un plus grand nombre de personnes. This paper draws upon concepts and techniques from epidemiology to examine the ability of routine activities theory to account for the risk of criminal victimization. Moving beyond the identification of risk factors for victimization, we ask how changes to causal factors might affect the risk of victimization in the general population. We find that predictors identified with more traditional methods account for the bulk of the risk, but that some are less important for understanding overall population risk because of the small numbers of people associated with them, while others are more helpful because they apply to larger numbers.

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Although environmental determinists have bemoaned the loss of community with increasing urbanization, other urban scholars have optimistically argued that urban characteristics provide increased opportunities for social interaction. Little research, however, has examined the relationship between urban characteristics and specific forms of community life, such as social support. Secondary data analyses were conducted on a sample of 442 public housing residents. This article suggests that socioenvironmental factors act to both push and pull individuals into different types of social interaction in different locales.