The concepts associated with rational choice, and which can be applied to the analysis of crime as a calculating behavior in the context of conflict, include limited rationality, opportunity, routine activities, and choice structuring properties. The first section of the chapter defines three components of a criminal event -- the search, the precriminal situation, and the criminal tactics. These elements are then used to explain the proliferation of mundane predatory crime over the last 40 years. The author discusses characteristics of contemporary crime, the evolution of target protection, and the emergence of modern policing to describe current crime patterns. 1 note and 31 references