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30 J. Fam. Violence 1 (2015)

handle is hein.journals/jfamv30 and id is 1 raw text is: J Fam Viol (2015) 30:1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10896-014-9650-1 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Guardians Against Spousal Violence? A Case for Considering Motive Maureen Outlaw Published online: 26 November 2014 C Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract The current study examines the applicability of the routine activity factor, of guardianship, to intimate partner violence. In so doing, it expands the range of routine activity theory to better accommodate different types of crime and challenges the original theoretical notion of simply assum- ing motivated offenders (Cohen and Felson, American Sociological Review, 44, 588-604 1979). Findings from the National Violence and Threats of Violence Against Women & Men in the U.S., 1994-1996 (Tjaden and Thoennes 1998) survey indicate routine activity principles such as guardian- ship may be useful in understanding the risk of intimate violence, but that the effects of guardianship depend on the motive for the violence. Implications for research and theory are discussed. Keywords Routine activity theory - Spousal violence Violence against women - Guardianship In recent years, both routine activity theory and intimate violence have received a tremendous amount of attention in the sociological and criminological literatures. Routine activ- ity theory (Cohen and Felson 1979), in its original conception, argued that criminal victimization occurs only when motivat- ed offenders converge in space and time with suitable targets and an absence of capable guardians. Originally conceptual- ized as a macro-level approach to understanding shifting crime rates resulting from social shifts in valuable goods (size and availability) and lifestyle changes (dual-earner house- holds, etc.), the theory's concepts have more recently and commonly been investigated as a way of better understanding M. Outlaw (2W) Department of Sociology, Howley Hall, Providence College, 1 Cunningham Square, Providence, RI 02918, USA e-mail: moutlaw@providence.edu situational context of individual victimization, and even offending. Intimate partner violence has been the subject of a great deal of scholarly work aimed at understanding both the soci- etal and individual factors that put people at risk in their intimate relationships (Dobash et al. 1992; Felson and Messner 2000; Follingstad et al. 1991; Gottman and Jacobson 1998; Holtzworth-Monroe and Stuart 1994; Johnson 1995; Johnson and Ferraro 2000; Moffit et al. 2000; Smith 1990; Stets 1992; Stets 1995a; Stets and Hammond 2002; Straus and Gelles 1990; Sugarman and Hotaling 1989). Emphasis in this work is placed on understanding the dynam- ics and motives of such violence, without much emphasis on the situational risk factors, as is common with examinations of street crimes. This is, perhaps, because it seems it is the intimate relationship itself that puts individuals at risk. Likewise, research investigating situational risk of criminal victimization has, as a matter of course, set aside cases of intimate violence because it is understood as representing a conceptually different phenomenon (Rountree et al. 1994; Miethe et al. 1987; Sampson 1987). More generally, most of the routine activities work on victimization has set aside motive altogether, which is consistent with the theory but difficult to reconcile with typical approaches to intimate part- ner violence. This paper attempts to address this issue by examining the concept of guardianship as it pertains to inti- mate partner violence victimization. Routine Activity Theory Individual-level applications of routine activity theory, broad- ly speaking, can be generally understood as being oriented in one of two ways. The first is an activities-or factors-based approach, in which sample respondents' participation in spe- cific behaviors, activities, or lifestyles are examined with e Springer

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