ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a critical discussion on rational choice and routine activity theories, before exploring situational crime prevention. These three theories, which were all intended to be practical and policy relevant approaches, diverge from much criminological theory by focusing less on the offender and, more on the criminal event and the environment within which crime occurs. The central argument of situational crime prevention is that all offences can be prevented by blocking, reducing or removing the opportunities which make crime more likely. The chapter discusses how a number of Irish scholars have been influenced by this cluster of theories.
