Drogue et crime : l’impact du commerce de drogues sur le tissu urbain

The problem addressed in this analysis is whether « routine activities » of drug dependent criminals are associated with the spatial concentration of crime committed by these criminals. This problem is tested in a series of analyses including an investigation of the spatial pattern of the residential burglaries committed by drug dependent burglars using W.A.V. Clark's spatial choice housing search models. While Clark used the home and work place as nodes in the housing search, we use the home and drug market place as nodes in the criminal search of drug addicts. If the addict supports his or her habit with property crime, these nodes are expected to be a focal point for criminal activity in a distance minimizing scenario. The data indicate that the spatial concentration of property crime about drug market places means that a « crime containment » policy practiced by many police agencies is doomed to failure. Property criminals will continue to probe outward from a containment area which encompasses a drug market place. In fact, drug dependent property criminals may act as a vanguard for spatially expanding drug markets. Drug sellers and drug dependent property criminals seem to operate in a symbiotic relationship

Studying deterrence with active residential burglars

Research designed to test deterrence/rational choice theory has contributed much to the knowledge of sanction threats, and the extent to which they are used in individuals' decision-making processes. The accumulation of knowledge about such perceptions among active and incarcerated offenders has surfaced only in recent years. We identified and interviewed active residential burglars to examine how they take into consideration the perceptions of risks and rewards before committing a burglary. Employing a series of estimation techniques which have not yet been used to study this research question, we find that offenders are influenced by the perceptions of both risk and rewards, though the latter are a stronger predictor of the decision to engage in a residential burglary. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed

articles: Target search of burglars: A revised economic model

This article investigates home attributes that attract residential burglars in choosing a target. These attributes are the location of the home, its physical appearance, demographic characteristics of the residents, and the security precautions present. The theoretical foundation of the empirical model is the criminal utility maximization behavior that considers costs and benefits as formulated by Becker. However, this article introduces to the model the spatial dimension of the burglar's search for a target. The incidence of burglary is the dependent variable and is measured in a dichotomy scale. The empirical analysis utilizes a survey database of burgled and non-burgled homes that was conducted by the researchers. A logit model is used for the investigation, and the effects of the explanatory variables are calculated as probabilities. The database is unique in the wealth of attributes of individual homes that are relevant to burglars' decision process.Residential burglary, utility maximization, rational choice, logit model

Burglar alarms and the choice behavior of burglars: A suburban phenomenon

ABSTRACT Employing observation and deduction, the present study addressed the question of why some homes in a community are more likely targets for burglary . The period of observation spanned two-and-ahalf years, in three Philadelphia suburbs . The townships differ in population density, distance from the city, and affluence . The deduced burglary model entails four decision points for the burglar : choice of neighborhood, choice of street, choice of property, and choice of point of entry . The neighborhood is chosen for its proximity to thoroughfares that are familiar to the burglar . Cal de sacs abutted by a wooded area or an abandoned railroad right-of-way, which offer opportunities for concealment, were targeted more frequently than other streets by burglars . Homes with high value and few target hardening attributes were more likely targets than other homes . Most burglars entered the targeted home through a frst floor doorway . All other things equal, the presence of an alarm reduces the victimization rate . The alarm reduces the victimization rate to a greater degree as home value increases