Working from Home Reduces Property Offending

• In Event: Place, Time, and Crime

Abstract

Work within routine activities theory (Cohen & Felson, 1979) has been used to explain why attending a business district (e.g., shopping mall, movie theater, even a job) increases the probability of exposure to motivated offenders (e.g., Mallesen & Andresen, 2016). Additionally, other work shows that time spent online raises the probability of being exposed to a motivated offender online (Pratt et al., 2010). Here, we offer a re-thinking of this area of research, noting the ignored possibilities that: (1) computers, especially internet connected computers, are socially, emotionally and recreationally absorbing and can therefore serve as sources of criminogenic sublimation/redirection and (2) working from home is a form of “cocooning” of/from motivated offenders who might be roaming the public sphere (Griffiths & Sutton, 2015; McCaffree & Proctor 2017). We then use Current Population Survey (US Census) data to show that each percentage point increase in the proportion of people using a computer at home for work significantly reduces the presence of offline property crimes.

Authors

• Kevin McCaffree, Indiana University-Purdue University

• K. Ryan Proctor, Avila University