Marcus Felson maintains that criminal events or incidents originate in the routines of daily life. Felson's (1994) conceptualization of predatory crime centers around his model of three necessary elements for the committing of predatory crime: a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of capable guardians. Felson refers to "capable guardians" as persons who provide informal social control through watching, warning, sanctioning, etc. This study assesses the potential of these three elements for providing fresh insights into the nature of intimate and domestic violence. Males predominate as predators in domestic crimes, but to date there is no universally accepted explanation for why males are motivated to molest, rape, and abuse women and children. What is required in the discussion of intimate violence is to focus on criminal events rather than offenders. The understanding of domestic and intimate violence will increase by examining the intersection of offender strategy, target/victims, and the absence of capable guardians. Becker and Coleman (1988) find that ages 4 to 9 years are the highest risk years for children in sexually abusive families. During these years children are most naive and vulnerable to adult manipulation. Target or victim suitability is directly linked to the third condition in the routine activity theory of criminal events, i.e., the absence of capable guardians. Becker and Coleman (1988) contend that girls who are sexually molested tend to have mothers who are weak, sexually frigid, and submissive to husbands; moreover, these mothers seek role reversal, encouraging their daughters to act more like wives and mothers in the home. Isolation of the family is another critical variable that reduces external inhibitions against domestic violence. Suggestions for crime control in intimate violence based on routine activities theory are presented. 43 references