NCJ Number
147839
Date Published
1994
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This study explored relationships among property crime, street network accessibility, and potential target concentration in British Columbia, Canada; the study hypothesized that the design of street networks influences how people move about within a city and their familiarity with specific areas and that property crimes occur in known places with attractive targets.
Abstract
Using an ex post facto research design in two suburban municipalities, the study compared the relative amount of property crime in each street segment with that segment's relative accessibility, traffic volume, and number of potential targets. Both road network complexity and traffic flow were important variables. Crime was higher in more accessible and highly used areas and lower in less accessible and less used localities. The concentration of potential targets was highly related to accessibility and traffic flow and to overall property crime totals. Study findings clearly point to the importance of the urban background created by cities through zoning and road network development and suggest that traffic barriers and road closures are effective crime prevention techniques in only a limited number of situations. 87 references, 16 notes, 5 tables, and 2 figures