U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Traveling to Violence: The Case for a Mobility-Based Spatial Typology of Homicide

NCJ Number
210745
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 42 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2005 Pages: 275-308
Author(s)
George Tita; Elizabeth Griffiths
Date Published
August 2005
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Drawing on routine activities theory, this study examined whether victim and offender mobility in relation to crime incident location is a function of individual or event characteristics.
Abstract
According to routine activities theory, it is the interaction between victims and offenders in both time and space that results in crime. While previous research has examined this theoretical assertion, few studies have focused on whether the victim and/or the offender were local to the area of the crime incident or whether they were drawn to the area of the crime through their routine activities. Drawing on individual case file data of the 420 homicides that occurred in Pittsburgh, PA between 1987 and 1995, the current analysis develops a spatial typology of 5 combinations of victim and offender mobility to homicide incident locations: internal, predatory, intrusion, offense mobility, and total mobility. Variables under analysis included demographic information, primary homicide motive, and victim and offender mobility to incident scene. Results of logistic regression analyses indicated at least some victim and/or offender mobility to the homicide scene. The findings also indicate that mobility to the homicide location is most related to event characteristics rather than the individual characteristics of the victim or offender, revealing that much lethal violence in neighborhoods is influenced by the interaction of nonlocal participants. Future research using routine activities theory should focus on how the demographic and routine activities of neighborhoods attract spatial types of homicide. Tables, appendix, notes, references

Downloads

No download available

Availability