The Trajectories of Crime at Places: Understanding the Patterns of Disaggregated Crime Types

Objectives: Investigate the spatial concentrations and the stability of trajectories for disaggregated crime types on street segments and intersections in Vancouver, Canada. Methods: A longitudinal analysis of 16 years of crime data using street segments and intersections as the units of analysis. We use the k-means non-parametric cluster analysis technique considering eight crime types: assault, burglary, robbery, theft, theft of vehicle, theft from vehicle, other, and total crime. Results: The overall results for the individual crime types versus overall crime are similar: crime is highly concentrated regardless of crime type, most street segment and intersection trajectories are stable over time with the others decreasing, and most decreasing trajectories are in the same general areas. However, there are notable differences across crime types that need to be considered when attempting to understand spatial pattern changes and implement crime prevention initiatives. Conclusions: The law of crime concentration at places holds in Vancouver, Canada for disaggregated crime types in the context of spatial concentrations and their stability over time. However, notable differences exist across crime types that should be accounted for when developing theory or policy.No Full Tex

Place-Based Data, Methods, and Analysis: Past, Present, and Future

Place-based research in criminology considers the micro-place (street segments, for example) as the unit of analysis. Though research considering criminal events, or police calls for service, occurring at the micro-place has a long history, the contemporary “crime and place” literature that considers citywide analyses of criminal events or police calls for service emerged 30 years ago. This research has shown that the micro-place is an important component of understanding the spatial dimension of criminal events, both descriptively and inferentially. In this chapter, we review the crime and place literature, considering place-based data, methods, and forms of analysis. We discuss the significant strides that have been made within the spatial criminology literature using a place-based approach, but conclude that there remains work to be done to move the field forward.No Full Tex