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Environmental Criminology

NCJ Number
87681
Editor(s)
P J Brantingham, P L Brantingham
Date Published
1981
Length
257 pages
Annotation
These 11 papers focus on the physical and social characteristics of crime sites, the movements that bring the offender and target together at the crime site, and the perceptual processes that lead to the choice of crime sites.
Abstract
They also focus on spatial distributions of targets and offenders in a variety of settings and the way in which the location of a crime interacts with other dimensions to produce a criminal event. An examination of people's interactions with urban spatial structure produces predictions regarding the effects of such factors as the location of transportation arteries and shifting of work areas out of core areas and into fringe areas of a city. A model which builds on Oscar Newman's theory of defensible space focuses on the types of environmental and behavioral information which burglars seek to make decisions regarding the territorial nature of an area. A discussion of deviance defines a deviant act as a spatial concept. A discussion of crime in black urban ghettos emphasizes the needs to recognize the ethnic diversity present in these areas and to use a social ecological framework for analyzing ghetto crime. An analysis of crime's effect on property values focuses on the role of perceptions and fears which may not necessarily be based on reality. A discussion of surveillance argues that efforts to increase surveillance opportunities by employees of businesses or other organizations can be beneficial, whereas improving surveillance by the public will probably have little effect on crime rates. Other studies focus on the relationship between policing policies and crime rates, the possibilities of using variables other than total population as a base for determining rates of specific crimes, and factors affecting an offender's propensity to travel to commit a crime. Case studies testing some of the empirical models, data tables, figures, chapter notes, and a bibliography listing 380 references are included.