Criminality of place

Studies of crime at micro places have generally relied on cross-sectional data and reported the distributions of crime statistics over short periods of time. In this paper we use official crime data to examine the distribution of crime at street segments in Seattle, Washington, over a 14-year period. We go beyond prior research in two ways. First, we view crime trends at places over a much longer period than other studies that have examined micro places. Second, we use group-based trajectory analysis to uncover distinctive developmental trends in our data. Our findings support the view that micro places generally have stable concentrations of crime events over time. However, we also find that a relatively small proportion of places belong to groups with steeply rising or declining crime trajectories and that these places are primarily responsible for overall city trends in crime. These findings are particularly important given the more general decline in crime rates observed in Seattle and many other American cities in the 1990s. Our study suggests that the crime drop can be understood not as a general process that occurred across the city landscape but one that was generated in a relatively small group of micro places with strong declining crime trajectories over time.

/pdf/trajectories-of-crime-at-places-a-longitudinal-study-of-slwykvasgz.pdf

Trajectories of crime at places: a longitudinal study of street segments in the city of seattle*

Criminologists and crime prevention practitioners are increasingly aware of the importance of places of crime. A place is a very small area, usually a street corner, address, building, or street segment. A focus on crime places contrasts with a focus on neighborhoods. Neighborhood theories usually highlight the development of offenders. while place level explanations emphasize crime events. Three perspectives suggest the importance of places for understanding crime: rational choice; routine activity theory; and crime pattern theory. Though these perspectives are mutually supportive, routine activity theory and crime pattern theory provide different explanations for crime occurring at different places. Five areas of research help us understand the importance of places: crime concentration about particular facilities (e.g., bars); the high concentration of crime at some addresses and the absence of crime at others; the preventive effects of various place features; the mobility of offenders; and studies of how offenders select targets. Concern has been expressed that efforts to prevent crime at specific locations will only move it to other, unprotected locations. Recent research suggests that these fears may be exaggerated, and that under some circumstances the opposite effect occurs: instead of crime displacing, the benefits of the prevention efforts diffuse to unprotected locations. This paper concludes with a review of the 14 original articles in this volume.

Crime Places in Crime Theory

The environmental range of serial rapists

Recent studies have shown that crime is concentrated at micro level units of geography defined as hot spots. Despite this growing evidence of the concentration of crime at place, studies to date have dealt primarily with adult crime or have failed to distinguish between adult and juvenile offenses. In this paper, we identify crime incidents in which a juvenile was arrested at street segments in Seattle, Washington, over a 14-year period, to assess the extent to which officially recorded juvenile crime is concentrated at hot spots. Using group-based trajectory analysis, we also assess the stability and variability of crime at street segments over the period of the study. Our findings suggest that officially recorded juvenile crime is strongly concentrated. Indeed, just 86 street segments in Seattle include one-third of crime incidents in which a juvenile was arrested during the study period. While we do observe variability over time in trajectories identified in the study, we also find that high rate juvenile crime street segments remain relatively stable across the 14 years examined. Finally, confirming the importance of routine activity theory in understanding the concentration of juvenile crime in hot spots, we find a strong connection between high rate trajectory groups and places likely to be a part of juvenile activity spaces. Though place-based crime prevention has not been a major focus of delinquency prevention, our work suggests that it may be an area with great promise.

/pdf/hot-spots-of-juvenile-crime-a-longitudinal-study-of-arrest-4p58utojtx.pdf

Hot Spots of Juvenile Crime: A Longitudinal Study of Arrest Incidents at Street Segments in Seattle, Washington

Technique known as centrography are presented in order to demonstrate their utility for describing and measuring the salient features of a spatial distribution and for facilitating temporal and comparative analyses in discerning trends and contrasting spatial distributions of crime. Centrographic techniques are applied to a 5-year data set of lone-assailant rapes classified by type of offender. The results indicate that different classes of offenders have relatively distinctive spatial distributions. Moreover, changes in the spatial distributions of offender classes, through time, are not uniform.

The Methods and Measures of Centrography and the Spatial Dynamics of Rape

Cohen and Felson's routine activity theory asserts that crime occurs when motivated offenders converge in time and space with targets lacking capable guardianship. Crime is a product of our normal everyday routines. This research examines how Hurricane Hugo altered routine activities during the period 22nd September - 2nd October 1989, in Charlotte, North Carolina. The impacts of this natural disaster are reflected by changes in the quantity, nature, and timing of calls for police service. A modified routine activity framework is employed to explain the conceptual linkages among routine activities, time, calls to the police, and weather. Furthermore, different time periods are defined as being primarily for the pursuit of either obligatory or discretionary routine activities. The calls-for-service data for this research emanate from the computer-aided dispatch files of the Charlotte Police Department. The results indicate that Hurricane Hugo seriously impeded the circulation of the city and disrupted routine activities. Calls for service increased greatly during the day of Hugo's arrival, and remained high for over a week. The inability of the population to pursue their normal routine activity patterns meant that time periods ordinarily used for the pursuit of obligatory activities changed to discretionary time periods. Moreover, while the police still fulfilled their law enforcement function, the nature and volume of the calls indicated a greater emphasis on order maintenance and service functions. Finally, during Hugo's arrival day and the following three days of recovery burglary reports were much higher than normal, as were reports of a man with a gun; the former implies that the hurricane increased vulnerable targets, while the latter implies defensive gun use may have been used as a method of enhancing guardianship.

The Impact of a Hurricane on Routine Activities and on Calls for Police Service: Charlotte, North Carolina, and Hurricane Hugo

Proceeding on the assumptions that the day of the week is the best predictor of the levels of calls for police service, that calls for police service emanate from the pursuit of routine activities, and that weather influences routine activities, this paper examines how the expected change in the level of calls for service for a particular day of the week in Chicago is altered with the arrival and passage of weather fronts. Fronts taking 1 day to pass Chicago have a broader effect on the changes in calls across the days of the week than fronts taking 2 days in passage. On the whole, the 2-day fronts significantly alter calls for service during the weekdays but not on the weekend, while 1-day fronts significantly alter calls on both weekdays and weekends. In general, cold fronts decrease calls for service, and warm fronts increase calls for service.

James L. LeBeau

Papers

The Methods and Measures of Centrography and the Spatial Dynamics of Rape

The Impact of a Hurricane on Routine Activities and on Calls for Police Service: Charlotte, North Carolina, and Hurricane Hugo

Changes in calls for police service with changes in routine activities and the arrival and passage of weather fronts

Changes in Calls for Police Service with Changes in Routine Activities and the Arrival and Passage of

The oscillation of police calls to domestic disputes with time and the temperature humidity index