The foraging perspective in criminology: A review of research literature

Christophe Vandeviver; Elias Neirynck; Wim Bernasco

doi:10.1177/14773708211025864

The foraging perspective in criminology: A review of research literature

Christophe Vandeviver^*, Elias Neirynck, Wim Bernasco

^*Corresponding author for this work

Spatial Economics

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Abstract

In order to explain how crimes are carried out, and why at a particular place and time and against a specific target, crime studies increasingly harness theory from behavioural ecology, in particular Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT). However, an overview of their main findings does not exist. Given the growing focus on OFT as a behavioural framework for structuring crime research, in this article we review the extant OFT-inspired empirical crime research. Systematic search in Google Scholar and Web of Science yielded 32 crime studies, which were grouped into four categories according to their research topic. Empirical results largely support predictions made by OFT. However, there remains much potential for future OFT applications to crime research, in particular regarding the theoretical foundation of OFT in criminology, and through the application of contemporary extensions to OFT using specific tools developed for the study of animal foraging decisions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	626-652
Number of pages	27
Journal	European Journal of Criminology
Volume	20
Issue number	2
Early online date	23 Jun 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/14773708211025864
Publication status	Published - Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Christophe Vandeviver’s contribution to this work was supported in part by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) Postdoctoral Fellowship funding scheme [12C0616N and 12C0619N to C.V.]. Elias Neirynck’s contribution to this work was supported by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) PhD Fellowship Fundamental Research funding scheme [1171517N to E.N.].

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Christophe Vandeviver’s contribution to this work was supported in part by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) Postdoctoral Fellowship funding scheme [12C0616N and 12C0619N to C.V.]. Elias Neirynck’s contribution to this work was supported by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) PhD Fellowship Fundamental Research funding scheme [1171517N to E.N.].

Keywords

Behavioural ecology
environmental criminology
offender-forager
Optimal Foraging Theory
systematic search and review

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vandeviver-et-al-2021-the-foraging-perspective-in-criminology-a-review-of-research-literatureFinal published version, 248 KBLicence: Article 25fa Dutch Copyright Act

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title = "The foraging perspective in criminology: A review of research literature",

abstract = "In order to explain how crimes are carried out, and why at a particular place and time and against a specific target, crime studies increasingly harness theory from behavioural ecology, in particular Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT). However, an overview of their main findings does not exist. Given the growing focus on OFT as a behavioural framework for structuring crime research, in this article we review the extant OFT-inspired empirical crime research. Systematic search in Google Scholar and Web of Science yielded 32 crime studies, which were grouped into four categories according to their research topic. Empirical results largely support predictions made by OFT. However, there remains much potential for future OFT applications to crime research, in particular regarding the theoretical foundation of OFT in criminology, and through the application of contemporary extensions to OFT using specific tools developed for the study of animal foraging decisions.",

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The foraging perspective in criminology: A review of research literature

Abstract

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Keywords

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