Distance matters: a look at crime trip distances in Flanders

Most journey-to-crime studies are flawed in two ways: they predominantly rely on local police data and although a number of studies hint at the presence of substantially longer crime trips than commonly reported, long trips are deliberately removed from further analysis. Consequently, the scope of the conclusions of current journey-to-crime studies is limited to local offending and their empirical design is biased towards finding short trips. This paper substantiates the need for dedicated criminological research into long crime trips and provides an initial insight into journey-to-crime distances in the greater Ghent area, Belgium. By analyzing 5 year public prosecutor data on property crimes from the greater Ghent area, the length of the journey to crime and the number of long crime trips is assessed. Findings demonstrate a substantial amount of long crime trips with 35% of crime trips over 10 km. The criminological implications for future journey-to-crime research are discussed

'Location, Location, Location' : effects of neighborhood and house attributes on Burglars’ target selection

Objectives To empirically test whether offenders consider environmental features at multiple spatial scales when selecting a target and examine the simultaneous effect of neighborhood-level and residence-level attributes on residential burglars' choice of residence to burglarize. Methods We combine data on 679 burglaries by 577 burglars committed between 2005 and 2014 with data on approximately 138,000 residences in 193 residential neighborhoods in Ghent, Belgium. Using a discrete spatial choice approach, we estimate the combined effect of neighborhood-level and residence-level attributes on burglars' target choice in a conditional logit model. Results Burglars prefer burglarizing residences in neighborhoods with lower residential density. Burglars also favor burglarizing detached residences, residences in single-unit buildings, and renter-occupied residences. Furthermore, burglars are more likely to target residences in neighborhoods that they previously and recently targeted for burglary, and residences nearby their home. We find significant cross-level interactions between neighborhood and residence attributes in burglary target selection. Conclusions Both area-level and target-level attributes are found to affect burglars' target choices. Our results offer support for theoretical accounts of burglary target selection that characterize it as being informed both by attributes of individual properties and attributes of the environment as well as combinations thereof. This spatial decision-making model implies that environmental information at multiple and increasingly finer scales of spatial resolution informs crime site selection

Fear of crime in the EU-15 & Hungary: assessing the vulnerability, victimization & incivilities model

This exploratory study looks into the theoretical models and measurement of fear of crime. Using multilevel modeling on data from the European Crime and Safety Survey 2005 the efficacy of vulnerability characteristics, victimization experience and incivilities perception on the prevalence, frequency and intensity measures of fear of crime is assessed while controlling for country-level characteristics. Results show that variables from all three individual-level models are significantly associated with experiencing fear of crime and additionally reveal that the basic argumentations of the victimization and incivilities model can be extended regarding the frequency and intensity of fear of crime. The arguments of the vulnerability model are only limitedly applicable to the frequency and intensity measures. Results show that victimization is a consistent predictor of fear of crime prevalence, frequency and intensity. Future research should continue examining the victimization-fear nexus

Modelling residential burglars' target selection process at the house-level

What residence attributes affect burglars’ target choice and why do some burglars target remote residences? This study taps into rational choice theory to first investigate how burglars select a target by relying on residence attributes to optimize a combination of perceived rewards, efforts and risk, and then tests the hypothesis that higher perceived rewards, lower effort and lower anticipated risk compensate travel effort. Using data on 650 residential burglaries committed by 650 unique burglars during the period 2006-2012 and the approximately 500,000 residences in one Belgian province in a discrete spatial choice framework with the residence as the spatial unit of analysis, we find that burglars rely on effort-related attributes to distinguish between targets. Higher perceived rewards decrease the odds of a residence being burglarized. Risk-related attributes are unimportant for burglars’ target choice in general. With regard to selecting remote targets, the results show that lower risk compensates travel efforts and that burglars aim to make minimal effort, even when they are already confronted with increased travel efforts. No support is found for the hypothesis that higher perceived rewards compensate increased travel efforts

Applying google maps and google street view in environmental criminological research

Online mapping technologies such as Google Maps and Street View have become increasingly accessible. These technologies have many convenient uses in everyday life, but law enforcement agencies have expressed concern that they could be exploited by offenders and might alter existing offending patterns and habits. For environmental criminologists, they have the potential to open up new approaches to conducting research. This paper draws on the results of earlier studies in related fields and a handful of criminological studies to discuss how these online mapping applications can trigger new research questions, and how they could be considered a valuable methodological addition to criminological research

Angst voor criminaliteit in vijf Gentse buurten: het kwetsbaarheids- en incivilitiesmodel en de multidimensionaliteit van angst voor criminaliteit

In dit onderzoek worden de emotionele, cognitieve en gedragsmatige dimensie van 'angst voor criminaliteit' vanuit een theoriegestuurde benadering onderzocht. In het bijzonder wordt nagegaan of en in welke mate het kwetsbaarheids- en incivilitiesmodel een verschillende invloed hebben al naargelang de dimensie van 'angst voor criminaliteit' die wordt gemeten. Daartoe wordt een kwantitatief onderzoeksdesign gehanteerd, waarbij gebruik wordt gemaakt van onderzoeksgegevens die door de Onderzoeksgroep Criminologie en Rechtssociologie (UGent) in de loop van 2007 werden verzameld in het kader van een onderzoek naar criminaliteit, slachtofferschap en onveiligheid bij de bewoners van vijf Gentse buurten. De gehanteerde data (N = 918) is representatief voor de bewoners met Belgische nationaliteit van de buurten Sint-Macharius, Rooigem, Galgenberg, Zuid en Nieuw-Gent. Aan de hand van verschillende bloksgewijze binomiale logistische regressieanalyses wordt per buurt nagegaan of en in welke mate de beide verklaringsmodellen in staat zijn de drie dimensies van 'angst voor criminaliteit' te voorspellen. De toetsen suggereren dat de beide modellen samen relatief goed in staat zijn om de emotionele dimensie te voorspellen, in tegenstelling tot de cognitieve en gedragsmatige dimensie. Ondanks de beperkte operationalisering van de drie dimensies van 'angst voor criminaliteit' toont dit onderzoek aan dat het erkennen en in rekening brengen van de multidimensionaliteit van 'angst voor criminaliteit’ tot andere resultaten leidt in theorietoetsend onderzoek. De resultaten geven aan dat de operationele keuzes die men maakt een impact hebben op de relaties die men terugvindt