NCJ Number: 182543
Title: Spatial Analysis of Crime: What Social Scientists Have Learned (From Analyzing Crime Patterns: Frontiers of Practice, P 33-46,
2000, Victor Goldsmith, Philip G. McGuire, John H. Mollenkopf,
and Timothy A. Ross, eds. -- See NCJ-182542)
Author(s): Charles Swartz
Date Published: 2000
Page Count: 14
Sponsoring Agency: Sage Publications, Inc
Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
Type: Report (Study/Research)
Format: Book (Softbound)
Language: English
Country: United States of America
Annotation: This chapter reviews macrolevel and microlevel spatial research
concerning social and physical environments and discusses the
applicability of this research to actual police activity.
Abstract: The central issue addressed is the nature of the information
provided by each type of spatial research and how this
information can be used to reduce crime. The review of macrolevel
research highlights the major findings of ecological researchers
and provides a glimpse of the size of the task facing ecological
researchers in the future. Researchers must identify relevant
variables from a large list of possible candidates and better
specify the relationship of ecological research to
individual-level research. Ecological research, however, provides
important guidance to law enforcement officials and policymakers
regarding the deployment of personnel and resources where future
criminal activity might increase. In addition, city planners
should take note of the impact of structural density and
concentrated poverty. Effective policing can mitigate the harmful
effects of these conditions. Macrolevel research on the
relationship between the physical environment and crime differs
methodologically from most ecological research in one important
way: the research includes environmental variables, not just
socioeconomic and demographic variables, in the spatial analysis.
Both macrolevel and microlevel studies discussed in this chapter
provide researchers and police officials with valuable
information on the spatial distribution of criminal activity.
Individuals interested in using this research, however, must be
aware of the positive and negative aspects of the different
levels of analysis. 31 references
Main Term(s): Police crime analysis training
Index Term(s): Automated crime analysis; Crime analysis; Geographic distribution of crime; Police management
To cite this abstract, use the following link: http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=182543
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