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Results for geographic distribution of crime

7 results found

Author: Broidy, Lisa M.

Title: Travel to Violence

Summary: This study uses incident-level data from the Albuquerque Police Department along with data from the U.S. Census to explore the characteristics of offenders, incidents, and neighborhoods in Albuquerque, New Mexico to determine what influences travel distances for non-domestic assaults, robberies, and burglaries. Knowledge concerning the geo-spatial distribution of offenders, victims, and incidents is essential to the development of data-driven policing practices. Aspects of community policing, quality-of-life enforcement strategies, and the use of civil injunctions in addressing problematic areas hold implicit assumptions concerning the concentration of criminal participants and incidents. Information concerning the distances that potential offenders travel to crime, as well the characteristics of participants and incidents that influence these distances can inform these strategies and help agencies decide how to best utilize resources.

Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center, Institute for Social Research, University of New Mexico, 2007. 30p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 21, 2010 at: http://www.jrsa.org/ibrrc/background-status/New_Mexico/Travel_to_Violence.pdf

Year: 2007

Country: United States

URL: http://www.jrsa.org/ibrrc/background-status/New_Mexico/Travel_to_Violence.pdf

Shelf Number: 109255

Keywords:
Assaults
Burglaries
Crime Analysis
Distance to Crime
Geographic Distribution of Crime
Geographic Studies
Robberies

Author: LaFree, Gary

Title: Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970 to 2008

Summary: While efforts are increasingly aimed at understanding and identifying “hot spots” of ordinary crime, little is known about the geographic concentration of terrorist attacks. What areas are most prone to terrorism? Does the geographic concentration of attacks change over time? Do specific ideologies motivate and concentrate terrorist attacks? Moreover, what factors increase the risk that an attack will occur in a particular area? Using recently released data from the Global Terrorism Database, we address these gaps in our knowledge by examining county-level trends in terrorist attacks in the United States from 1970 through 2008. This research was motivated by issues related to three research areas: geographic concentration of terrorist attacks, terrorism and ordinary crime, and predicting geographic concentrations of terrorist attacks. Like ordinary crime, terrorism hot spots are predominately located in large, metropolitan areas. While some locales remain targets of terrorist attacks, to a large extent hot spots of terrorist attacks demonstrate a significant amount of variability over time. Moreover, we find significant variability in the ideologies motivating terrorist attacks across decades. Terrorism and ordinary crime occur in many of the same areas. We find that while some traditional predictors of ordinary crime also predict terrorist attacks, many robust correlates of ordinary crime do not. These data were limited in some respects; much more work in this area is needed to fully understand the linkages between terrorism and ordinary crime.

Details: College Park, MD: START, 2012. 36p.

Source: Final Report to Human Factors/Behavioral Science Division, Science and Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Internet Resource: Accessed February 4, 2012 at http://start.umd.edu/start/publications/research_briefs/LaFree_Bersani_HotSpotsOfUSTerrorism.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://start.umd.edu/start/publications/research_briefs/LaFree_Bersani_HotSpotsOfUSTerrorism.pdf

Shelf Number: 123973

Keywords:
Crime Data
Crime Statistics
Geographic Distribution of Crime
Geographic Studies
Hot Spots
Terrorism
Uniform Crime Reports

Author: Des Forges, Michaela

Title: Marking Space and Making Place: Geographies and Graffiti in Wellington, New Zealand

Summary: Contemporary graffiti dates from the 1960s when hip-hop style graffiti grew in popularity amongst youth in Philadelphia and New York. It has since spread throughout the world and its various forms and styles are considered both art and vandalism. In Aotearoa New Zealand, graffiti is seen in most urban areas and is regarded as a major problem for local authorities. Despite this, research concerning graffiti in New Zealand is sparse. This research contributes to emerging work on graffiti in Wellington and New Zealand. It aims to provide an insight into the geographies of graffiti in Wellington by exploring the visual, spatial, and temporal aspects of graffiti, as well as the social dynamics informing its production and distribution. Using this information I investigate parallels between what is happening locally and what has been documented in international research. To carry out the research aims, I employed qualitative observations of selected sites around the city over time and used photographs to interpret and document graffiti. I also carried out semi-structured interviews with some graffitists, in addition to people involved in city safety and efforts to stop graffiti. In framing the research I specifically draw from critical geography writing on discourse, power, resistance, place, and space which are particularly salient in regards to graffiti. The research documents similarities with international research in regards to the motivations, rules, and visual, temporal, and spatial aspects. However, Wellington graffitists interact with, and utilise, the city’s space in unique and multifaceted ways which reflect and exhibit localised differences worthy of consideration internationally. For instance, graffitists use, view, and read the urban environment in ways that result in them having an intimacy with the urban environment. Additionally, graffitists think about where they place their graffiti with regards to property, location, intended audiences, and observance to subculture rules.

Details: Wellington, New Zealand: School of Geography, Environment & Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, 2011. 139p.

Source: Masters Thesis: Internet Resource: Accessed September 16, 2012 at http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10063/2021/thesis.pdf?sequence=2

Year: 2011

Country: New Zealand

URL: http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10063/2021/thesis.pdf?sequence=2

Shelf Number: 126349

Keywords:
Crime Analysis
Geographic Distribution of Crime
Geographic Studies
Graffiti (New Zealand)

Author: Levinthal, Jodi

Title: The Community Context of Animal and Human Maltreatment: Is there a Relationship between Animal Maltreatment and Human Maltreatment: Does Neighborhood Context Matter?

Summary: The purpose of the study is to explore the influence of demographic and neighborhood factors on the phenomenon of animal maltreatment in an urban setting as well as the association of animal maltreatment with human maltreatment. Using a unique dataset of animal maltreatment from the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the distribution and prevalence of animal neglect, abuse, and dog fighting in Philadelphia were mapped with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Statistical analysis was employed to examine the relationship between animal maltreatment and neighborhood factors, domestic violence, and child maltreatment. The low correlation between animal abuse and neighborhood factors in this study suggests that animal abuse may be better explained as an individual phenomenon than a behavior that is a function of neighborhoods. However, animal neglect does correlate with demographic, cultural, and structural aspects of block groups, suggesting social disorganization may lead to animal neglect. This study also suggests that dog fighting is a crime of opportunity, as dog fighting correlates with indicators of abandoned properties. Finally, this study is unable to demonstrate a community link between animal maltreatment and child maltreatment, which does not preclude the link among individuals. The findings suggest caution in policies and advocacy campaigns that link human and animal violence in all arenas.

Details: Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, 2010. 115p.

Source: Publicly accessible Penn Dissertations, Paper 274: Internet Resource: Accessed September 20, 2012 at http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/274/

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/274/

Shelf Number: 126375

Keywords:
Crime Analysis
Cruelty to Animals
Geographic Distribution of Crime
Geographic Studies
Neighborhoods and Crime
Violence

Author: Ritterbusch, Amy E.

Title: A Youth Vision of the City: The Socio-Spatial Lives and Exclusion of Street Girls in Bogota, Colombia

Summary: This dissertation documents the everyday lives and spaces of a population of youth typically constructed as out of place, and the broader urban context in which they are rendered as such. Thirty-three female and transgender street youth participated in the development of this youth-based participatory action research (YPAR) project utilizing geo-ethnographic methods, auto-photography, and archival research throughout a six-phase, eighteen-month research process in Bogotá, Colombia. This dissertation details the participatory writing process that enabled the YPAR research team to destabilize dominant representations of both street girls and urban space and the participatory mapping process that enabled the development of a youth vision of the city through cartographic images. The maps display individual and aggregate spatial data indicating trends within and making comparisons between three subgroups of the research population according to nine spatial variables. These spatial data, coupled with photographic and ethnographic data, substantiate that street girls’ mobilities and activity spaces intersect with and are altered by state-sponsored urban renewal projects and paramilitary-led social cleansing killings, both efforts to clean up Bogotá by purging the city center of deviant populations and places. Advancing an ethical approach to conducting research with excluded populations, this dissertation argues for the enactment of critical field praxis and care ethics within a YPAR framework to incorporate young people as principal research actors rather than merely voices represented in adultist academic discourse. Interjection of considerations of space, gender, and participation into the study of street youth produce new ways of envisioning the city and the role of young people in research. Instead of seeing the city from a panoptic view, Bogotá is revealed through the eyes of street youth who participated in the construction and feminist visualization of a new cartography and counter-map of the city grounded in embodied, situated praxis. This dissertation presents a socially responsible approach to conducting action-research with high-risk youth by documenting how street girls reclaim their right to the city on paper and in practice; through maps of their everyday exclusion in Bogotá followed by activism to fight against it.

Details: Miami, FL: Florida International University, 2011. 242p.

Source: FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, Paper 432: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2012 at http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/432

Year: 2011

Country: Colombia

URL: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/432

Shelf Number: 126765

Keywords:
Crime Analysis
Geographic Distribution of Crime
Geographic Studies
Street Children, Girls (Colombia)

Author: Wyckoff, Laura Ann

Title: Moving Social Disorder Around Which Corner? A Case Study of Spatial Displacement and Diffusion of Benefits

Summary: Prior research seeking to understand the spatial displacement of crime and diffusion of intervention benefits has suggested that place-based opportunities - levels and types of guardianship, offenders, and targets - explain spatial intervention effects to places proximate to a targeted intervention area. However, there has been no systematic test of this relationship. This dissertation uses observational and interview data to examine the relationship, in two street-level markets, between place-based opportunities and spatial displacement and diffusion of social disorder. The street segment is the unit of analysis for this study, since research shows crime clusters at this level and it is a unit small enough to accurately represent the context for street-level crime opportunities. The study begins by investigating if catchment area (an area proximate to an intervention area) segments with similar opportunities to the target area segments differentially experienced parallel intervention effects as compared to segments with dissimilar opportunity factors. These analyses resulted in null findings. The second set of analyses examined if place-based opportunities predicted the segments which fall into a high diffusion group or a displacement group, as compared to a low/moderate group. These analyses resulted in primarily null findings, except for the measures of public flow and the average level of place manager responsibility which positively predicted the segments in the high diffusion group, as compared to the low/moderate diffusion group. A third set of analyses was also performed where the outcome measure was the odds of the occurrence of a social disorder incident in a measured situation period in the segment during the intervention. These analyses revealed that the situations within segments which had a greater number of possible targets and offenders with a lack of guardianship were more likely to experience incidents of social disorder, reinforcing past findings about the relationship between social disorder and opportunities at place. Place-based opportunity factors are likely important factors in understanding parallel spatial intervention effects, but the null findings suggest additional research is needed to better understand these effects.

Details: College Park, MD: University of Maryland, 2011. 253p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed December 4, 2012 at: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/11929/1/Wyckoff_umd_0117E_12485.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/11929/1/Wyckoff_umd_0117E_12485.pdf

Shelf Number: 127126

Keywords:
Crime and Place
Crime Displacement of Crime
Diffusion of Benefits
Geographic Distribution of Crime
Police Interventions
Routine Activities Theory

Author: Harris, Philip

Title: Investigating the Simultaneous Effects of Individual, Program and Neighborhood Attributes On Juvenile Recidivism Using GIS and Spatial Data Mining

Summary: The primary goal of this project was to develop, apply, and evaluate improved techniques to investigate the simultaneous effects of neighborhood and program forces in preventing juvenile recidivism. For many years, program evaluation researchers have presented the question, “What works to prevent delinquency for whom under what circumstances?” In community settings, answering this question presents a unique challenge, since “circumstances” includes the home neighborhoods of youths participating in correctional programs. Understanding how programs and neighborhoods jointly shape youth behavior and identifying conditions under which rehabilitative programs are successful are fundamental to planning programs that facilitate positive trajectories for physical, social, cognitive, and affective youth development. We investigated the simultaneous effects of neighborhood, program, and individual characteristics (including family) on juvenile recidivism using linear modeling, geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial data mining. GIS provides the technology to integrate diverse spatial data sets, quantify spatial relationships, and visualize the results of spatial analysis. In the context of juvenile recidivism, this approach will facilitate the investigation of how, and why, recidivism rates vary from place to place, through different programs, and among individuals. The project applies spatial data mining to the analysis of adjudicated juvenile delinquents assigned to court‐ordered programs by the Family Court of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This population encompasses all adjudicated delinquents committed to programs by the court during the years 1996 to 2002 – more than 26,000 cases. The proposed study makes use of three levels of data: individual, program and neighborhood. In addition to data on individual youths and their families, we will employ a database of designs of the programs that they attended and two or more spatial data sets, including the crime data from Philadelphia Police Department and the U. S. Census. This study includes a vast methodological departure from current practices and can greatly improve the chances of learning more about the dynamics of juvenile recidivism, leading to more effective prevention policies and programs.

Details: Philadelphia: Temple University, Department of Criminal Justice, 2012. 254p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 24, 2013 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/237986.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/237986.pdf

Shelf Number: 127373

Keywords:
Crime Analysis
Delinquency Prevention
Geographic Distribution of Crime
Juvenile Recidivism
Neighborhoods and Crime
Peer Influence
Rehabilitation, Juvenile Offenders
Treatment Programs