ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes the multilevel criminal opportunity theory that is applicable in understanding not only criminal acts, but individual responses to actual or potential criminal acts. It suggests that propositions regarding the moderating effects of aggregate-level opportunity on the relationship between individual-level motivated offender exposure and reactions to crime. Crime risk perception is enhanced by the following individual- and neighborhood-level characteristics, considered simultaneously: safety precautions, access routes to and from one's house, and neighborhood crime. Crime risk perception is diminished, simultaneously, by the following individual- and neighborhood-level characteristics: age, male gender, nonwhite race, neighborhood social integration, and neighborhood-level SES. Just as ambient opportunity can condition the relationships between individual-level opportunity and criminal acts, so too can it condition the relationships between individual-level opportunity and reactions to crime. In contexts with an increased demand for crime due to high concentrations of people or high accessibility, individual-level target suitability matters more and makes one all the more vulnerable.
