Scholars in Residence

Marcus Felson is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Texas State University and has served as Professor at the Uni­ver­sity of Illinois, Uni­ver­sity of Southern California and Rutgers Uni­ver­sity. He originated and developed the routine activity approach to crime analysis. He authored or co-authored Crime and Everyday Life, Crime and Nature, and Opportunity Makes the Thief. He was trained at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. He resides in Austin, Texas. Marcus is interested in measuring and theorizing about crime that occurs outdoors and about policing public places. He emphasizes growing evidence that middle-class residential areas export a good deal of crime outside their own neighborhoods and that entertainment districts import a good deal of crime from suburban areas.

During his stay at the Criminology Department, Professor Felson continues to work on everyday routines affecting crime levels, crime effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the importance of outdoor crime. He will give several talks, impart his wisdom, and give solicited and unsolicited advice to MPI researchers.