ABSTRACT
In the UK, Nick Tolson (2007) has used routine activities theory as the basis of his Clergy Lifestyle Theory which he has used to assess the risk of violence to members of the clergy with the practical purpose of improving their safety and security. Since 1996 there have been a total of five vicars murdered and many others seriously injured. Gabe (2001) found that 12 per cent of clergy suffer from physical violence and that 70 per cent suffer from some form of violence and found these figures to be significantly higher than for other professional groups who work in the community. Moreover, while the majority of assaults inflicted on probation officers and GPs – other professional groups with a high rate of victimisation – had occurred in their main place of work, the majority of assaults on members of the clergy were reported to have taken place in their homes, in the street or on local estates rather than in church buildings. At the same time, most GPs and probation officers knew their assailant while almost half the clergy who had experienced an assault said that they did not know their assailant. Thus, an attack could occur at virtually any time or location in their everyday lives while at the same time any stranger they encountered was potentially an assailant. Tolson (2006) found that 48 per cent of the clergy in his sample had suffered at least one violent incident in the preceding twelve months. Tolson (2007) found that there is much similarity in how the clergy live their lives and almost all are on their own at certain points of the day, they travel, visit and, on occasion, pray on their own, which, in certain situations can mean that they are at very high risk of violence should they encounter the ‘motivated offender’ whoever they might be.
