what is crime mapping essay

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Crime mapping.

Crime mapping is the process through which crime analysts and researchers use location information about crime events to detect spatial patterns in criminal activity. Early crime mapping efforts typically involved placing physical markers, such as pins, on maps to designate the locations where crimes occurred. Patterns of criminal activity were determined primarily through visual inspection of these maps. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

I. Introduction

Ii. a brief history of crime mapping, iii. theoretical perspectives in crime mapping research, iv. spatial crime research and planning interventions, v. future directions and challenges in crime mapping, vi. conclusion.

Crime is not a random event. Criminological research suggests that certain psychological, social, or economic characteristics are associated with higher levels of criminal involvement. Furthermore, particular lifestyles and patterns of activity place individuals at a heightened risk for victimization. Crime fluctuates temporally as well: More crimes occur in the evening as opposed to the morning, on weekends as opposed to weekdays, and in summer months as opposed to winter months. It comes as no surprise that spatial patterns of crime exist as well. For example, Sherman and colleagues (Sherman, Gartin, & Buerger, 1989) found that approximately 50% of calls for service came from approximately 3% of addresses in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Crime mapping is the process through which crime analysts and researchers use location information about crime events to detect spatial patterns in criminal activity. Early crime mapping efforts typically involved placing physical markers, such as pins, on maps to designate the locations where crimes occurred. Patterns of criminal activity were determined primarily through visual inspection of these maps. With the advances in computing, geographic information system (GIS) software, such as MapInfo and ArcGIS, enables researchers to convert geographic information (addresses or global positioning system [GPS] coordinates) into coordinates used with virtual maps. Researchers and crime analysts can then use a number of analytic software packages to examine and detect patterns of criminal activity from these virtual maps.

This research paper is designed to offer an overview of the field of crime mapping. First, the history of crime mapping is briefly discussed. After this, a brief overview of several theoretical perspectives that have been used to understand the spatial patterns of crime is provided. Following this, some of the major findings in spatial crime analyses are discussed, particularly in regard to the relevance of implementation strategies designed to combat crime. The research paper concludes with recommendations for future directions in crime mapping research.

Interestingly, the earliest efforts at crime mapping can be traced to the roots of the discipline of criminology itself. In the early 19th century, a number of studies examined the distribution of crime in France and England. Brantingham and Brantingham (1991a) provided an overview of some of the findings of the main studies from this era. Guerry and Quetelet mapped crimes in France at the department level and found that crimes were not distributed evenly across departments. They also found that there was stability over time in both areas with high crime and areas with low crime over time. These findings were echoed in England with studies by Plint, Glyde, and Mayhew.

In the United States, Shaw and McKay’s (1942) seminal study of juvenile delinquency in Chicago made extensive use of crime maps. Shaw and McKay borrowed Park and Burgess’s (1924) ecological model and divided the city into five different zones. They found that the zone adjacent to the central business district, the zone of transition, perpetually suffered from the highest rates of juvenile delinquency and other social problems regardless of the specific ethnic group occupying the zone at the time. This research was instrumental in popularizing social disorganization theory and inspired a number of similar mapping projects in Chicago; Philadelphia; Richmond, Virginia; Cleveland, Ohio; Birmingham, Alabama; Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; and other cities.

Accompanying these early efforts in crime mapping were developments in the profession of policing that provided additional opportunities for crime mapping. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the professionalization movement in policing encouraged police organizations to compile statistics documenting the extent of crime in their jurisdictions. In fact, one of the main justifications for the creation of Federal Bureau of Investigation was for the explicit purpose of documenting the extent of crime in the United States through the Uniform Crime Reporting program (Mosher, Miethe, & Phillips, 2002). During this time, many agencies began compiling crime statistics and conducting analyses of crime data. Crime mapping was primarily done using pin maps, which were very time-consuming and provided only a basic visualization of crime patterns.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were critical for the development of crime mapping. In 1966, the Harvard Lab for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis developed SYMAP (Synagraphic Mapping System), one of the first widely distributed computerized mapping software programs. The Environmental Science and Research Institute was founded in 1969 and in the subsequent decades emerged as one of the top distributors of GIS software, including the current ArcView and ArcGIS software packages. Also around this time, the U.S. Census Bureau began the ambitious GBF-DIME (Geographic Base Files and Dual Independent Map Encoding) project, which was used to create digitized street maps for all cities in the United States during the 1970 census (Mark, Chrisman, Frank, McHaffie, & Pickles, 1997). These advances were necessary for the development of GIS programs used in crime mapping.

The use of GIS programs for mapping has been the most important advance in the field of crime mapping. There are several important advantages in using virtual maps instead of physical maps. First, computers have dramatically reduced the time and effort required to produce crime maps. Given the relatively low cost and user-friendliness of many of these software programs, it no longer requires a substantial investment for agencies that wish to engage in crime mapping. Second, these GIS programs reduce the amount of error associated with assigning geographic coordinates to crime events. Third, virtual maps are much more flexible than physical maps, allowing researchers and crime analysts to compare the geographic distribution of crimes against other characteristics of the area under investigation (e.g., census bureau information, city planning and zoning maps, and maps produced by other agencies). Finally, GIS and other spatial analysis software provide powerful statistical tools for analyzing and detecting patterns of criminal activity that cannot be detected through simple visual inspection.

In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, a crisis of confidence in traditional police practices emerged following the results of studies, such as the Kansas City Preventative Patrol experiment, that suggested that the police were not effective in combating crime (Weisburd & Lum, 2005). Goldstein’s (1979) problem-oriented policing emerged as a response to this crisis and emphasized that policing should involve identifying emerging crime and disorder problems and working to address the underlying causes of these problems. Academic interests in the field of criminology also began to shift during this time. While many criminologists were concerned with causes of crime that were outside the sphere of influence of police agencies (e.g., economic depravation, differential association, and social bonds), a number of researchers, such as Jeffery (1971), Newman (1972), and Cohen and Felson (1979), began discussing factors that contribute to the occurrence of crime that were more amenable to intervention. The combination of the shift in theoretical focus in criminology and the shift in the philosophy of policing yielded new opportunities for crime mapping and initiated a resurgence of research on both the geography of crime as well as crime prevention strategies involving crime mapping.

Although the first instances of computerized crime mapping occurred in the mid-1960s in St. Louis, Missouri, the adoption of computerized crime mapping across the United States remained relatively slow. Although a number of agencies, in particular in larger jurisdictions, became early adopters of computerized crime mapping technology, the large period of growth in computerized crime mapping did not begin until the late 1980s and early 1990s (Weisburd & Lum, 2005). The rate of adoption of crime mapping among departments greatly increased as desktop computers became cheaper and more powerful and GIS software became easier to use and more powerful. The Compstat program, which started in 1994 in New York City, emphasized crime mapping as a central component to strategic police planning and helped popularize crime mapping among police agencies. With assistance from the Office of Community Oriented Police Services and the National Institute of Justice, a large number of departments adopted computerized crime mapping practices. By 1997, approximately 35% of departments with more than 100 officers reported using crime mapping (Weisburd & Lum, 2005).

As previously noted, the development of tools and techniques of crime mapping have been accompanied by an expanding body of criminological theory oriented toward explaining the geographic patterns of crime. It is important, when discussing theories about the spatial distribution of crime, to distinguish between theories that explain criminality and theories that explain criminal events. Traditional criminological approaches tend to emphasize individual-level social and psychological characteristics as the main factors that lead to criminality, that is, the propensity toward committing criminal acts. These theories focus predominately on explaining why offenders engage and persist in criminal lifestyles. Alternatively, theories that discuss the spatial distribution of crime focus on explaining the patterns seen in criminal events, that is, the occurrences of crime. These theories focus less attention on the motivations of offenders and more attention on factors of the environment that promote crime.

A. Social Disorganization Theory

Although a number of theories have been proposed to explain why particular neighborhoods experience high crime rates, social disorganization theory has been the most influential. Social disorganization theory, as first proposed by Shaw and McKay (1942), can be seen as the first attempt to construct a criminological theory of place. The concept of social disorganization refers to “the inability of local communities to realize the common values of their residents or solve commonly experienced problems” (Bursik, 1988, p. 521). As such, disorganized communities suffer from diminished capacities to exercise social control and are unable to regulate the behavior of community members (see Bursik & Grasmick, 1993). As the capacity of a community to regulate the behavior of its members decreases, the potential for illegal activity increases.

A central tenet of social disorganization theory is that structural conditions within a neighborhood attenuate the social ties that promote social cohesion and enable community members to exercise social control. Economic depravation creates undesirable living conditions that promote residential instability and population heterogeneity. Because social ties require time to form, high residential instability in neighborhoods prevents the development of social ties as residents frequently relocate (Bursik & Grasmick, 1993). In neighborhoods with high levels of population heterogeneity the extensiveness of friendship and acquaintance networks through which social control is exercised is limited because of social and cultural barriers between residents (Bursik & Grasmick, 1993). Structural factors such as these compromise the social integration of neighborhood residents and undermine perceptions of collective efficacy, that is, the collective sense of trust, social cohesion, and willingness to intervene on behalf of the public good (Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997). Neighborhoods that have low collective efficacy are likely to experience high levels of crime.

B. Routine Activities Theory

Cohen and Felson’s (1979) routine activities theory has been applied extensively to research on spatial patterns of crime. To Cohen and Felson, crime is a predatory activity and, as such, can subsist only near patterns of legitimate activity. Therefore, to understand crime patterns it is necessary to understand the patterns of conventional routine activities around which crime is organized. Criminal victimization occurs where routine activities produce a convergence in space and time of the three necessary conditions for crime to occur: (1) a suitable target, (2) a motivated offender, and (3) the absence of capable guardians (Cohen & Felson, 1979). Felson (1998) explained that suitable targets have value to the offender, are visible to the offender, are easily moved or removed, and are accessible by the offender. The concept of guardianship has also been extended and includes intimate handlers, who are responsible for monitoring the behavior of offenders; guardians, who are responsible for protecting targets; and place managers, who are responsible for monitoring and controlling access to particular spaces (see Eck, 2001). In applications of this theory to spatial crime analysis, structural features of the city, patterns of land use, and the routine activities associated with particular locations can concentrate motivated offenders and suitable targets into areas with limited guardianship. This, in turn, fosters opportunities for criminal victimization.

C. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and Defensible Space Theories

A couple of important theories have been proposed to explain why criminal events occur more frequently at particular sites. Jeffery (1971) was one of the first criminologists to suggest that immediate features of the environment affected crime, with his Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) approach. This approach emphasizes target hardening and surveillance. Contemporaneously, Newman (1972) also emphasized the role of the environment in creating crime with his defensible space theory. Newman argued, in regard to public housing, that it is possible to design the use of space to enhance territorial functioning and to improve the natural surveillance in these environments. Crowe (2000) expanded on both Jefferey’s and Newman’s initial theories. In the current formulation of CPTED, Crowe discussed three strategies that are used to prevent crime: (1) access control to prevent contact between the offender and the target, (2) surveillance to monitor areas and discourage offenders, and (3) territorial reinforcement to promote feelings of ownership among users of the space. CPTED is usually employed along with situational crime prevention (discussed in the next section) to formulate practical strategies for reducing crime.

D. Rational Choice Perspective and Situational Crime Prevention

The rational choice perspective (Cornish & Clarke, 1986) is primarily concerned with understanding offender decision making. This approach assumes that offenders possess limited rationality, meaning that they make rational calculations of the costs and benefits associated with crime but are constrained in their decision making by time, information, context, ability, and prior experiences. This perspective seeks to understand the series of decisions made by the offender that result in a criminal event. Interestingly, unlike many other theories of offending, the rational choice perspective emphasizes that different decisions are involved in the production of different types of crime. Rational choice explanations of criminal offending differ by crime type, instead of ignoring these differences in favor of a general motivation toward engaging in crime, as is common in many other criminological theories. Spatial applications of the rational choice perspective emphasize offender movement, search patterns, and target selection processes that determine the spatial patterns observed in crime.

Situational crime prevention (Clarke, 1997) refers to the application of the rational choice perspective toward developing policy recommendations to reduce crime. Situational crime prevention emphasizes situational-level interventions toward increasing the efforts associated with committing a crime, increasing the perceived risks for engaging in crime, reducing the anticipated rewards from crime, and removing the excuses associated with crime (Clarke, 1997). As with the CPTED and defensible space theories, the policy applications of situational crime prevention focus on practical strategies that are customized to specific settings. Although the successes of this approach are well documented, rarely do the methods used in these studies permit broad conclusions regarding the effectiveness of this approach at reducing crime (see Clarke, 1997, for a discussion).

E. Crime Pattern Theory

Brantingham and Brantingham (1991b, 1993) developed a perspective referred to as crime pattern theory that incorporates elements of the rational choice, routine activities, and other spatial perspectives on crime. According to this perspective, individuals create a cognitive map of their spatial environment with which they are familiar through their routine activities. The action space of an individual consists of (a) nodes, the destinations of travel, such as work, home, and entertainment locations, and (b) paths, the travel routes that individuals take to move from one node to another. Through repeated movement along paths to various nodes, individuals develop an awareness space consisting of the areas in a city with which they are familiar. According to this theory, offenders search for suitable targets primarily within this awareness space by comparing potential targets against templates, or mental conceptualizations of the characteristics of appropriate targets. The likelihood of a particular target being selected by an offender dramatically decreases as an offender moves away from his or her awareness space, a process often referred to as distance decay (see Rengert, Piquero, & Jones, 1999). One interesting application of this theory is geographic profiling, which attempts to narrow the scope of police investigations by using information on repeated crimes to identify the awareness space of a repeat criminal (Rossmo, 2000).

A. Hot Spots

As previously indicated, a large number of studies have demonstrated that criminal events are spatially concentrated. Although the extent of concentration differs between studies, all empirical evidence suggests that a small number of places account for the majority of crime within any given city. Sherman and colleagues (1989) popularized the term hot spot to describe these areas where crime is concentrated. The detection and explanation of these hot spots is a major concern of research in crime mapping. Hot-spot analysis is currently very popular among police agencies because it provides a method to coordinate interventions in emerging problem areas.

A number of studies have demonstrated the benefits of hot-spot analysis to help coordinate police responses to crime. For example, in a randomized experiment in Minneapolis, Sherman and Weisburd (1995) found that concentrated patrol efforts in hot-spot areas produced a significant decline in calls for service. Police responses to crime are not limited to enhanced patrol. In another randomized experiment in Jersey City, New Jersey, Weisburd and Green (1995) found that after identifying drug market hot spots using crime mapping, a coordinated policy of engaging business owners and community members coupled with police crackdowns yielded substantial decreases in disorder calls for service. In fact, a recently conducted meta-analysis on street-level drug enforcement indicated that approaches that focus on community–police partnerships in drug market hot spots were more effective than enforcement-only approaches (Mazerolle, Soole, & Rombouts, 2006). This suggests that the best approach is a coordinated strategy between police officers and community members toward reducing crime in identified hot spots.

B. Community-Level Factors Affecting Crime

When designing strategies to address crime in hot-spot areas, it is important to consider the community context that contributes to emergence and maintenance of hot spots. Neighborhood-level research on spatial crime patterns helps illuminate the factors associated with heightened levels of crime. As previously mentioned, economic depravation, residential mobility, and population heterogeneity all contribute to higher levels of crime in a neighborhood by impeding the development of social ties between residents (Bursik & Grasmick, 1993). Family dissolution and inadequate supervision of adolescents also contribute to increased levels of crime. In fact, the presence of unsupervised adolescents in a community is an important predictor of violent crime in a neighborhood (Veysey & Messner, 1999). Rose and Clear (1998) suggested that prior crime policies that result in mass incarceration may also impair community functioning, because in some communities this represents a substantial loss in the social and human capital on which informal social control depends.

Although many of the structural factors contributing to social disorganization remain outside the control of police agencies, such as concentrated disadvantage and high residential mobility, it remains possible to design interventions to increase social integration and improve collective efficacy. Community policing emphasizes community involvement in responding to crime problems through the creation of police–community partnerships, which should both increase community access to public social control and foster improved trust between community members and police officers. Furthermore, programs designed to increase community integration through increasing resident involvement in local agencies should be helpful in fostering the development of social ties and increasing perceptions of collective efficacy. Finally, if Rose and Clear (1998) are correct, community corrections and offender reintegration efforts should alleviate some of the impact of the mass incarceration policies that have removed offenders from the community. Bursik and Grasmick (1993) provided an extensive discussion on various community-based interventions and provided suggestions for how to improve these programs.

In addition to the previously discussed factors, a fair amount of research has examined the effects of incivilities on crime and the fear of crime within a community. Incivilities, such as poorly tended residences, the accumulation of refuse, graffiti, and public loitering and drunkenness, are signs of disorder. A number of studies have demonstrated that the presence of incivilities in a neighborhood is associated with increased levels of serious crime and with heightened fear of crime among community residents (see Skogan, 1990). Sampson and colleagues (1997), however, suggested that this relationship is spurious and that crime and incivilities result from the same underlying causal process, namely, a lack of collective efficacy. Although the causal role of incivilities in producing crime is in doubt, they may still function as leading indicators of potential crime problems, meaning that mapping incivilities may provide information on communities where hot spots may be emerging.

C. City Features and Crime Locations

In truly comprehensive strategies for addressing crime in hot-spot areas, it is important not only to examine neighborhood-level factors that contribute to the emergence of a crime hot spot but also to consider microlevel place characteristics that promote crime. As Sherman and colleagues (1989) noted, even within high-crime neighborhoods there is substantial variability in the levels of crime. Some places within these neighborhoods experience very low levels of crime, whereas other places are responsible for a substantial amount of the crime.

A number of studies have demonstrated that hot spots of crime tend to emerge around particular features of the urban environment, such as bars and taverns (Roncek & Maier, 1993), fast food restaurants (Brantingham & Brantingham, 1982), schools (Roncek & Faggiani, 1985), public housing (Roncek, Bell, & Francik, 1981), vacant buildings (Spelman, 1993), and public transportation (Block & Davis, 1996). These locations may promote crime by juxtaposing motivated offenders and suitable targets in the absence of capable guardians. Furthermore, the pattern and timing of criminal events in these areas follow the rhythm of legitimate social activity in these areas. For example, crime around bars is more common during evenings and weekends, because more legitimate patrons visit bars during this time. Crime is more common around schools during the school year and after school, because many students interact at this time near school grounds without teacher or parental supervision. Understanding the relationship between the pattern of legitimate social activity and criminal activity around these areas allows researchers and policymakers to design suitable crime prevention strategies.

In addition to identifying the location and timing of criminal events at particular sites, it is important to discern the mechanism through which these areas produce criminal opportunities. Brantingham and Brantingham (1993) discussed the differences between crime generators and crime attractors. Crime generators, such as transit stations, foster criminal activity by bringing both victims and offenders into a location. On the other hand, crime attractors, such as bars and taverns, tend to bring higher proportions of offenders into an area because these locations are tied to patterns of illicit activity. It is important to discern whether a given location functions as a crime generator or a crime attractor, because the appropriateness and effectiveness of intervention strategies may differ by type of location.

There is no shortage of practical policy recommendations for reducing or eliminating criminal opportunities around hot-spot areas. Clarke’s (1997) situational crime prevention model offers a set of 16 different opportunity-reducing strategies. Among those most applicable to location-based interventions are controlling access and entry/exit screening; improving surveillance by officers, civilians, and citizens; deflecting offenders by disrupting routines that promote crime; and facilitating compliance with rules. Use of these strategies to control opportunities for crime may help reduce the risks of victimization in hot-spot areas.

D. Crime Displacement

Unanticipated consequences are always a concern when designing an intervention. For interventions in crime hot spots, crime displacement is of particular importance. After the intervention is implemented and crime opportunities are reduced, it is possible that offenders simply relocate their activities to areas outside the intervention site. For example, if a police crackdown on drug trafficking is initiated at a particular intersection that is a hot spot for drug dealing, it is possible that offenders will simply move to a nearby intersection, and drug sales will continue. Other types of crime displacement, such as offenders committing crime during different times, offenders selecting different targets, or even offenders committing different types of crimes, also are possible. Given the wide ranges of different responses that might constitute crime displacement, it is difficult to conclusively demonstrate that crime displacement did not occur during a particular study. For this reason, any researchers or policymakers implementing place-based intervention strategies should be keen to the possibility of crime displacement. Fortunately, the empirical literature on crime displacement is decidedly mixed, and it appears that many interventions do not lead to appreciable crime displacement effects (Clarke, 1997).

On the basis of the current research on the spatial patterns of crime, a number of avenues of research in crime mapping are worth exploring. Obviously, a major focus for future research in this area will be further development and refinement of the tools needed in crime mapping studies. Although not discussed in this research paper, there are substantial methodological and analytic difficulties that remain in crime mapping research. Beyond this, however, there are a number of substantive research avenues in crime mapping that are worth pursuing.

A first avenue of research is the further development and integration of theories of the spatial distribution of crime. Although there have been some efforts at integrating social disorganization and routine activities theories (see Miethe & Meier, 1994), additional work remains. These theories share considerable conceptual overlap, and linking the two should provide a more comprehensive framework for understanding the relationship between crime at the macroand microlevels. Furthermore, the criminal events perspective (Meier, Kennedy, & Sacco, 2001; Sacco & Kennedy, 2002) provides a mechanism to link other theories of criminality with theories of criminal events. To date, the implications of other theories of criminality for understanding the spatial distribution of crime remains unexplored and may provide useful insights into offender search patterns and the selection of targets and locations.

A second area of research that would be very helpful in regard to policymakers is expanding crime mapping to include additional justice agencies. The vast majority of research in crime mapping has used calls for service and crime report data, and most applications of crime mapping have been applied to police decision making. Researchers should consider broadening the scope of crime mapping efforts to incorporate data from other justice agencies. In a practical sense, mapping efforts involving other agencies can provide assistance with managing caseloads and coordinating the distribution of services. For example, mapping the residences of parolees and probationers can help agencies optimize caseloads and improve the process of referring ex-offenders to nearby treatment facilities. In addition, novel data can provide new measures of concepts that are commonly used in geographic research, raise interesting research questions, and possibly introduce new avenues of research.

A third potentially fruitful area of research would involve increased attention to the differences between types of city features and the production of criminal events. As previously discussed, it is well established that certain city features tend to concentrate criminal events in adjacent areas. What remains to be seen, however, is how other spatial and community features contribute to differential spatial patterns of crime. For example, it is not entirely clear why some bars suffer from high levels of crime problems and others do not. Obviously, design features of the location itself should account for some of the differences, but other features, such as the level of community organization, adjacent land usage, and the level of concentration of other crime generators or attractors, may also be important for differentiating between problematic and nonproblematic bars.

A final recommendation for future research on spatial patterns in crime is to further examine the stability of crime in small areas. Specifically, as Weisburd, Bushway, Lum, and Yang (2004) recognized, few studies have examined the degree to which crime in microlevel areas is stable over time. In their study, conducted in Seattle over a 14-year period, Weisburd et al. found that there was a substantial amount of stability in the level of crime on street segments. Despite the high degree of stability in many places, some street segments exhibited either downward or upward crime trajectories. Obviously, additional research is needed to determine whether this pattern holds generally or is specific to the city of Seattle. This type of research will be very helpful in describing the factors that lead to the development, maintenance, and decline of crime in problematic areas.

The purpose of this research paper was to review some of the current research on crime mapping, the process through which crime analysts and researchers use location information about crime to detect spatial patterns in criminal activity. Although the history of crime mapping can be traced to the beginnings of the field of criminology, it is only recently that researchers and crime analysts have been able to engage in extensive mapping efforts, primarily due to the development of the desktop computer and GIS software. The emergence of the problem-oriented policing model, along with advances in the theory of criminal events, created a niche for crime mapping in police agencies. The popularization of computerized crime mapping through the Compstat program in New York led to a period of rapid adoption of crime mapping that continues today.

Several theories that are widely used in crime mapping research were also discussed in this research paper. Social disorganization theory argues that structural factors can compromise the social networks needed for social integration, which in turn reduces the capacity of communities to regulate the behavior of its members. Routine activities theory states that crime can be understood through the convergence in time and space of suitable targets, motivated offenders, and the absence of capable guardians. Defensible space and CPTED focuses on how the design of a physical space can prevent crime through increasing territorial functioning and enhancing surveillance capabilities. The rational choice and crime pattern theories of crime focus primarily on explaining how patterns of offender routine activities and target-searching strategies can increase the level of crime in particular areas. Taken together, these theories provide the conceptual backdrop for understanding the spatial distribution of crime and designing strategies to combat crime in high-crime areas.

Finally, this research paper aimed to elaborate on some of the major findings in crime mapping and spatial crime research, with particular attention to designing strategies to combat crime problems. It was argued that the best strategy for eliminating crime hot spots requires consideration of causal factors operating at both the neighborhood and site levels. This research paper concluded with a number of suggestions for future researchers examining spatial crime patterns through crime mapping. In particular, crime mapping research may benefit from efforts at theoretical integration, using crime mapping with additional agencies, further examining the source of differences in the production of criminal opportunities between city features, and examining the stability of crime areas over time.

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• Veysey, B. M., & Messner, S. F. (1999). Further testing of social disorganization theory: An elaboration of Sampson and Grove’s “community structure and crime.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 36, 156–174.
• Weisburd, D., Bushway, S., Lum, C., & Yang, S. (2004). Trajectories of crime at places:A longitudinal study of street segments in the city of Seattle. Criminology, 42, 283–321.
• Weisburd, D., & Green, L. (1995). Policing drug hot spots: The Jersey City Drug Market Experiment. Justice Quarterly, 12, 711–736.
• Weisburd, D., & Lum, C. (2005). The diffusion of computerized crime mapping in policing: Linking research and practice. Police Practice and Research, 6, 419–434.

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From Crime Mapping to Crime Forecasting: The Evolution of Place-Based Policing

Mapping law enforcement report data can be an effective way to analyze where crime occurs. The resulting visual display can be combined with other geographic data (such as the locations of schools, parks, and industrial complexes) and used to analyze and investigate patterns of crime and help inform responses.

The past decade, in particular, has seen advances in analytical capabilities within the criminal justice community, making it possible to add more geographic and social dimensions to statistical analyses to forecast where crimes are likely to occur.

NIJ has been a long-time investor in research on mapping and analysis. Over the years, the Institute has funded projects that explore, evaluate, and seed analytical techniques and technology to support law enforcement agencies that use place-based policing practices and strategies to help answer the question, “How do we best reduce crime and improve public safety?”

This article follows the field’s evolution — from crime mapping to crime forecasting (and, in some cases, crime prediction) — and discusses NIJ’s investments in research and future directions.

A Brief History

In 1829, Adriano Balbi and André Michel Guerry produced maps showing the relationships between educational level and violent and property crime in France. This is often cited as the first instance of crime mapping. [1] Following this work, Joseph Fletcher, in 1849, and Henry Mayhew, in 1861, produced maps that showed rates of male incarceration and county crime, respectively. [2]

In the early 20th century, Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay mapped thousands of incidents of juvenile delinquency and analyzed the relationships between delinquency and various social conditions. [3]

In the 1950s, Jane Jacobs examined the built (urban) environment and the needs of city dwellers. [4] In her work, she introduced constructs that are still used in today’s place-based research, such as “eyes on the street” and “social capital.” Although Jacobs did not attempt to forecast crime, her work led to later research positing that crime has spatial patterns and thus should be able to be forecast. [5]

In the 1970s, criminologists began to emphasize the importance of place. Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson’s routine activities theory (RAT) described how routine activities affect crime. [6] According to RAT, for a crime to occur, three things must coincide at the same place and time: a person motivated to commit a crime, a suitable target, and a lack of capable guardianship. Due to the consistency in our routines, Cohen and Felson argued, we should be able to forecast crime: “The spatial and temporal structure of routine legal activities [7] should play an important role in determining the location, type and quantity of illegal acts occurring in a given community or society.” [8]

Similarly, Paul and Patricia Brantingham put forward the environmental criminology theory, positing that crime is a complex event in which four things intersect at one time: a law, a person motivated to commit a crime, a target, and a place. [9] They defined this fourth dimension — place — as a discrete location where the other three dimensions intersect and provided seven propositions describing how, where, and why people decide to commit crimes. [10] These propositions provide a framework to argue that crimes may spatially cluster because either a criminal has already spent time and energy staking out a neighborhood (a form of “capital”) or the learned behavior may result in a peripatetic cycle. The propositions lead to the idea that place — not people — is the key element in crime. As such, the Brantinghams believe that “it should be possible to predict the spatial distribution of crime and explain some of the variation in volume of crime between urban areas and between cities.” [11]

In 1979, Herman Goldstein proposed a problem-oriented policing approach. [12] This approach advocated for law enforcement officers to follow a scanning, analysis, response, and assessment process (now known as the SARA approach) to identify, analyze, and solve problems. [13] In the 1990s, [14] Compstat emerged as an alternative policing practice to reduce crime. [15] Made famous by then-Chief Bill Bratton while at the New York City Police Department, Compstat is a truly data-driven approach to creating accountability for the police department. Although these practices and strategies did not necessarily rely on criminological theory, they used statistical analysis to solve problems associated with crime, indicating that they relied on either spatial or temporal patterns.

As these place-based theories and policing approaches continued to take shape, researchers began to test them. For example, Lawrence Sherman, Patrick Gartin, and Michael Buerger — with support from NIJ — examined 323,979 calls to the Minneapolis Police Department between December 15, 1985, and December 15, 1986, to test the spatial premise behind RAT. [16] Using actual addresses and intersections, the research team found that 50% of all calls originated from only 3% of all possible locations. Sherman also found a greater concentration of crime around microplaces than around individuals, [17] which led to the question, “Why aren’t we thinking more about wheredunit, rather than just whodunit?” [18] These results marked the beginning of hot spots policing. [19]

From 1989 to 2007, researchers examined crime-specific responses, the effects of foot patrols, and trajectories of crime. Researchers also tested problem-oriented policing in Madison, Wisconsin; Baltimore, Maryland; and Newport News, Virginia, in the 1980s [20] and began testing Compstat and community-oriented policing in the 1990s and early 2000s. Today, we still have problem-oriented policing, Compstat, community-oriented policing, and hot spots policing, along with intelligence-led policing, community problem-oriented policing, and many other variations and combinations.

NIJ’s Critical Role

During the 1980s, NIJ funded evaluations of place-based policing strategies, including the research by Sherman and colleagues as well as similar research in Chicago. NIJ also began funding the development of technologies that were later incorporated into crime-mapping software. [21]

In 1997, NIJ established the Crime Mapping Research Center, which surveyed law enforcement departments to determine how they used analytic mapping. The center began developing training programs to enhance departments’ capability to use spatial maps and data sets. From 1997 to 2014, NIJ funded the development of CrimeStat software to help practitioners and academics conduct spatial analyses. [22]

In the early 2000s, NIJ started to expand from evaluating place-based policing practices and strategies (e.g., hot spots policing) to exploring the statistical techniques used to forecast and predict crime and how that affects the effectiveness and efficiency of place-based policing practices and strategies. In 2008, Bratton — who by then was chief of the Los Angeles Police Department — began working with the acting directors of NIJ and the Bureau of Justice Assistance on a new approach called “predictive policing.” [23] As a result, in 2009 NIJ funded seven agencies to create predictive policing models in their jurisdictions. In 2011, NIJ invited these agencies to propose implementation plans for the models, which would then be evaluated. NIJ funded models developed by the Chicago Police Department and the Shreveport (Louisiana) Police Department and also funded the RAND Corporation to provide technical assistance and evaluate the two models.

RAND’s evaluation of the Shreveport predictive policing model showed three key successes. [24] First, the model improved community relations, which increased the community’s willingness to interact with the police and led to better tips. Second, the Shreveport Police Department found that the predictions were actionable, even though they were not truly predictive. Finally, the model improved actionable intelligence — it led to better skills among analysts, which led to better pattern recognition and more relevant and timely data. [25]

As these awards were coming to a close, NIJ began releasing solicitations for research to test geospatial policing strategies and explore their relationship to criminological theories. For instance, NIJ funded an evaluation of risk terrain modeling in six cities. [26] The evaluation found that conjunctive analysis (an enhanced version of risk terrain modeling) could forecast areas that were at greater risk of a range of future crimes across five cities. The models also identified environmental factors that played a role in these areas, thus allowing law enforcement to develop strategies to address them.

NIJ-funded evaluations of near-repeat (NR) residential burglaries found that departments are likely to overestimate the number of NR burglaries and thus need to temper their expectations. The evaluations also found that providing notifications to people within likely NR regions leads to little or no reduction in NR burglaries; however, communities within the jurisdictions still favored being notified. [27]

NIJ also funded an operationally realistic evaluation of the predictive policing model. This evaluation was NIJ’s first place-based, randomized controlled trial to explore the effect of varying police patrol strategies on the rates of violent crime and property crime. Examining the strategies of marked patrols, unmarked patrols, and an awareness patrol (having knowledge of high-crime areas but no dedicated patrol there), the researchers found that a marked unit may have a modest effect on property crime, but they found no other effects for property crime or violent crime. [28]

See “Predictive Policing: The Role of Crime Forecasting in Law Enforcement Operations”

In 2013, NIJ supported research that compared the effectiveness of different crime forecasting software. The most effective software was then used to conduct a randomized controlled trial in Denver, Colorado, that tested the effects of a hot spots policing approach in forecast areas. [29] The research is ongoing.

In 2015, NIJ directed its attention to exploring the value of data to law enforcement. That year, NIJ funded research to create a flexible tool for departments to better understand the value of the data they collect. A major preliminary finding in this ongoing research is that the perceived value of data can vary widely within an office, even more than variations within and between entire police departments.

In 2016, NIJ released the Real-Time Crime Forecasting Challenge, which asked competitors to forecast where crime was likely to cluster in the future within the jurisdiction of the Portland (Oregon) Police Bureau. Competitors submitted forecasts for all calls for service, burglaries, street crimes, and motor vehicle thefts for the next week, two weeks, one month, two months, and three months. Initial analysis of the results seems to indicate that even the naïve model can compete when there is enough crime to forecast. When crime is rare, however, even the more sophisticated models were unable to effectively or efficiently forecast crime. Additional analysis of the results is forthcoming. [30]

Future Directions

So, what has changed in place-based policing over the years? The short answer is everything — and nothing.

Technology has played a critical role in advancing the field and has become so affordable that most, if not all, law enforcement departments can now afford electronic records and some version of mapping software. Technology has also provided the computational power needed to run data analyses and has enhanced the education of analysts. All of this has allowed departments and outside researchers to conduct more research.

But we are still trying to answer the original question: How do we best reduce crime? We have learned that crime does cluster in hot spots. We have learned that there is stability in these hot spots over longer periods of time, but far less stability when looking at short periods. We also know that the public is leery and that we know very little about how these strategies affect individuals, their neighborhoods, and the larger community.

To help address the research gaps, NIJ recently changed direction in its funding of place-based — and to an extent, person-based — policing research. In 2017, NIJ asked research applicants to look beyond administrative data (e.g., crime rates, calls for service, and arrests) and instead develop and use metrics that consider the potential impacts of police practices and strategies on individuals, neighborhoods, communities writ large, and policing organizations (including individual officers) to determine their success or failure.

In 2018, grant applicants were asked to propose research exploring and evaluating the effects of police practices and strategies on officer safety, investigation outputs, and prosecution outcomes while still measuring the effects on crime rates. Additionally, NIJ wanted applicants to consider the effects of focused deterrence, persistence of hot spots, and intervening variables (e.g., neighborhood and police department characteristics). The goal is to provide a more holistic understanding of the impacts of place-based policing practices and strategies.

Sidebar: Predictive Policing — The Role of Crime Forecasting in Law Enforcement Operations

Smart, effective, and proactive policing is clearly preferable to simply reacting to criminal acts. Although there are many methods to help law enforcement respond to crime and conduct investigations more effectively, predicting where and when a crime is likely to occur — and who is likely responsible for previous crimes — has gained considerable currency. Law enforcement agencies across the United States are employing a range of predictive policing approaches.

With support from NIJ, the RAND Corporation developed a reference guide for law enforcement agencies interested in predictive policing. Predictive Policing: The Role of Crime Forecasting in Law Enforcement Operations offers a focused examination of the predictive techniques currently in use, identifies the techniques that show promise if adopted in conjunction with other policing methods, and shares findings and recommendations to inform future research and clarify the policy implications of predictive policing.

Back to text .

About This Article

This article was published in NIJ Journal issue no. 281 , July 2019.

[note 1] Borden D. Dent, “Brief History of Crime Mapping,” in Atlas of Crime: Mapping the Criminal Landscape, ed. Linda S. Turnbull, Elaine Hallisey Hendrix, and Borden D. Dent (Phoenix, AZ: Oryz Press, 2000), 4-21.

[note 2] Sharon Chamard, “The History of Crime Mapping and its Use by American Police Departments,” Alaska Justice Forum 23 no. 3 (Fall 2006): 1, 4-8.

[note 3] Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay, Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas: A Study of Rates of Delinquents in Relation to Differential Characteristics of Local Communities in American Cities (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1942); and Clifford R. Shaw, Frederick M. Zorbaugh, Henry D. McKay, and Leonard S. Cottrell, Delinquency Areas: A Study of the Geographical Distribution of School Truants, Juvenile Delinquents, and Adult Offenders in Chicago (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1929).

[note 4] Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (New York: Random House, 1961).

[note 5] See Chamard’s (2006) abridged history of Dent’s (2000) chapter, “Brief History of Crime Mapping,” for a more thorough pre-1970 history.

[note 6] Lawrence E. Cohen and Marcus Felson, “Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activities Approach,” American Sociological Review 44 no. 4 (1979): 588-608.

[note 7] In macro-time, when and how we go to work, when and where we eat, and when and where we go for entertainment tend to be routines.

[note 8] Cohen and Felson, “Social Change and Crime Rate Trends,” 590.

[note 9] Paul J. Brantingham and Patricia L. Brantingham, Environmental Criminology (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1981).

[note 10] Paul J. Brantingham and Patricia L. Brantingham, “Environmental Criminology,” in Classics of Criminology, ed. Joseph E. Jacoby, Theresa A. Severance, and Alan S. Bruce (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc., 2004), 61-70.

[note 11] Brantingham and Brantingham, “Environmental Criminology,” 69.

[note 12] Although Goldstein originally proposed this in 1979, his 1990 book provides a stronger fundamental framework for problem-oriented policing (POP). Herman Goldstein, “Improving Policing: A Problem-Oriented Approach,” Crime and Delinquency 25 no. 2 (April 1, 1979): 236-258.

[note 13] Herman Goldstein, Problem-Oriented Policing (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990).

[note 14] Other practices and strategies began to emerge as well, such as community-oriented policing (COP). However, COP is predicated on community involvement in, at minimum, identifying the problem. Unlike POP and Compstat, identification of the problem may be driven more by community perceptions than by actual crime patterns. Community-Oriented Policing Services, “ About the COPS Office .”

[note 15] Jerry Ratcliffe, Intelligence-Led Policing (Portland, OR: Willan Publishing, 2008).

[note 16] Lawrence W. Sherman, Patrick R. Gartin, and Michael E. Buerger, “Hot Spots of Predatory Crime: Routine Activities and the Criminology of Place,” Criminology 27 no. 1 (1989): 27-56.

[note 17] Lawrence W. Sherman, “Hot Spots of Crime and Criminal Careers of Places,” in Crime and Place, ed. John E. Eck and David Weisburd (Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press, 1995), 35-52. Weisburd similarly found that police in Seattle would have to target four times as many people as places to account for half of the crime incidents between 1989 and 2002. David Weisburd, “Place-Based Policing,” Ideas in American Policing 9 (January 2008), Police Foundation Lecture Series.

[note 18] Sherman, “Hot Spots of Crime,” 36-37.

[note 19] Spring and Block first used the term “hot spots” while identifying high-crime areas. James V. Spring and Carolyn R. Block, “Finding Crime Hot Spots: Experiments in the Identification of High Crime Areas,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society, Minneapolis, MN, October 1988.

[note 20] Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, “Mission and History of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing,” 2017.

[note 21] More recent NIJ-funded geospatial tools — resulting from NIJ grant number 2009-SQ-B9-K101 — have been incorporated into ArcGIS software, perhaps the crime mapping software most widely used by law enforcement agencies.

[note 22] CrimeStat IV (version 4.02) is the most recent version of CrimeStat, a spatial statistics program for the analysis of crime incident locations. CrimeStat was developed by Ned Levine & Associates of Houston, Texas, under the direction of Ned Levine, Ph.D., and funded by grants from NIJ (grants 1997-IJ-CX-0040, 1999-IJ-CX-0044, 2002-IJ-CX-0007, and 2005-IJ-CX-K037).

[note 23] Walter L. Perry, Brian McInnis, Carter C. Price, Susan C. Smith, and John S. Hollywood, Predictive Policing: The Role of Crime Forecasting in Law Enforcement Operations (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2013).

[note 24] Priscillia Hunt, Jessica M. Saunders, and John S. Hollywood, Evaluation of the Shreveport Predictive Policing Experiment (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2014).

[note 25] During this award, only an evaluation of the Shreveport experiment was produced.

[note 26] However, it was fully evaluated in only five cities.

[note 27] Elizabeth R. Groff and Travis A. Taniguchi, Micro-Level Policing for Preventing Near Repeat Residential Burglary (Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 2018); and Police Foundation, “Translating ‘Near Repeat’ Theory into a Geospatial Policing Strategy.”

[note 28] Jerry Ratcliffe, “ Philadelphia Predictive Policing Experiment .”

[note 29] This research was originally going to be conducted in Columbia, South Carolina.

[note 30] See the results of the Challenge .

About the author

Joel Hunt is a computer scientist in NIJ’s Office of Science and Technology.

Cite this Article

Read more about:, related publications.

• NIJ Journal Issue No. 281

Introduction: Crime Mapping and Crime Prevention

23 Pages Posted: 13 Jul 2015

David L. Weisburd

Hebrew University of Jerusalem; George Mason University - The Department of Criminology, Law & Society; Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Faculty of Law

Institute for Law and Justice

Date Written: July 12, 2015

Crime maps have only recently begun to emerge as a significant tool in crime and justice. Until a decade ago, few criminal justice agencies had any capability for creating crime maps, and few investigators had the resources or patience to examine the spatial distribution of crime. Today, however, crime mapping is experiencing what might be termed an explosion of interest among both scholars and practitioners. This introduction begins by examining some early examples of mapping of crime, focusing in particular on factors that inhibited the widespread integration of mapping into crime prevention research and practice in the past. It then turns to innovations in mapping technologies and crime prevention theory that have recently brought crime mapping to the center of trends in crime prevention. The final section introduces the contributions that follow and discusses how they illustrate the many uses of mapping in crime prevention. It examines the pitfalls and problems that researchers and practitioners are likely to encounter in developing and analyzing maps, and the potential advances in crime mapping we might expect in coming decades.

Keywords: crime maps, criminal justice, mapping, analyzing, crime

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

David L. Weisburd (Contact Author)

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The Mapping and Spatial Analysis of Crime by Shannon E. Reid , George Tita , Matthew Valasik LAST REVIEWED: 15 January 2019 LAST MODIFIED: 15 January 2019 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0123

The mapping and spatial analysis of crime covers a broad range of techniques and has been used to explore a variety of topics. In its most basic form, crime mapping is the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) to visualize and organize spatial data for more formal statistical analysis. Spatial analysis can be employed in both an exploratory and well as a more confirmatory manner with the primary purpose of identifying how certain community or ecological factors (such as population characteristics or the built environment) influence the spatial patterns of crime. Two topics of particular interest include examining for evidence of the diffusion of crime and in evaluating the effectiveness of geographically targeted crime reduction strategies. Crime mapping can also be used to visualize and analyze the movement or target selection patterns of criminals. Mapping software allows for the creation of electronic pin-maps and by spatially organizing the data, GIS increases the analytical value of these maps. Crime mapping allows researchers and practitioners to explore crime patterns, offender mobility, and serial offenses over time and space. Within the context of local policing, crime mapping provides the visualization of crime clusters by types of crimes, thereby validating the street knowledge of patrol officers. Crime mapping can be used for allocating resources (patrol, specialized enforcement) and also to inform how the concerns of local citizens are being addressed. The citations listed below highlight the interdisciplinary nature of both the study of crime and the development of the methods used in spatial analysis. They exemplify the growing prominence that spatial analysis has in understanding where crime occurs.

There are many texts that present the techniques and methods needed to map and analyze spatial data. Though we have avoided texts on the statistical and mathematical theory underlying methods of analysis, the texts listed in this section focus primarily on crime-specific analyses but vary on the level of methodological rigor (ranging from introductory texts with empirical examples to texts that assume general familiarity with common methods). Anselin and Rey 2009 provides an overview of the methodological issues encountered when performing spatial analysis of both point patterns as well as more aggregate-level studies. This work is presented at a fairly sophisticated level, but it in includes many applications and examples that make it much more accessible to a general audience. Leitner 2013 is an edited volume with eighteen chapters of innovative studies on geospatial research centered around a variety of crime-related topics. Chainey and Ratcliffe 2005 offers a comprehensive overview of data processing, theoretical foundations, and basic and advanced spatial analysis. This book is also supplemented with numerous case studies to demonstrate the application of GIS and crime mapping. Many of the examples are drawn from the field of environmental criminology. Hart and Lersch 2015 provides an introductory text to the theory, concepts, and methods related to the spatiotemporal analysis of crime. Though only the basic methods of mapping and analyzing crime are presented, the strength of the collection is tying the methods back to criminological schools of thoughts on the types of individuals that commit crime and where crime occurs. Boba-Santos 2017 is a core text in crime analytics that presents evidence-based approaches to conduct crime analysis with crime mapping. Additionally, Boba-Santos 2017 incorporates the updated definitions used by the International Association of Crime Analysts to make sure readers are presented with material recognized by the profession. Maltz, et al. 2000 focuses on the application of mapping software and spatial analysis for use in the local community. They argue that crime mapping and analysis of crime within the criminal justice system should be used primarily to explore crime patterns and generate hypotheses rather than to conduct statistical tests. They demonstrate how crime mapping can be used to allocate policing resources and share information with local residents. They also provide a number of important ways in which crime mapping, as a tool, can be improved. Radil 2016 provides a general guide to the expansive field of spatial analysis for criminology that emphasizes the overall foundation concepts to crime analytic techniques. Walker and Dwarve 2018 presents a theoretical and methodological introduction to crime mapping that is accessible, connecting the foundations of environmental criminology and crime mapping with modern statistical methods. Gorr, et al. 2018 is a GIS workbook for students of crime mapping and crime analysis to learn and apply advanced methods to analyze crime patterns in Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop (Version 10.6.1) (cited under GIS Software ), the most commonly used GIS software.

Anselin, Luc, and Sergio J. Rey, eds. 2009. Perspectives on spatial data analysis . Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

This text uses both a retrospective and prospective approach to the field of spatial analysis. Combines previously published classic articles with current writings by the foremost experts on the use of spatial data analysis in the social sciences. Four principle aspects to spatial analysis are emphasized, employing spatial analysis, pattern analysis, local statistics, and illustrative empirical analysis.

Boba-Santos, Rachel. 2017. Crime analysis with crime mapping . 4th ed. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.

Provides a foundational understanding of conceptual and practical applications of crime analysis and crime mapping to both academic and practitioner audiences. Is the principal introductory text for crime analysis, providing an in-depth description for the field, along with guidelines and techniques for conducting evidence-based crime analysis. Provides a good balance of theory, research methods, and statistics to readers.

Chainey, Spencer, and Jerry H. Ratcliffe. 2005. GIS and crime mapping . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

DOI: 10.1002/9781118685181

Serves as a reference for either practitioners or researchers by providing information and reference material to support the development and implementation of crime mapping. Case studies are utilized to highlight key concepts and applications of crime mapping at varying levels to support operational policing, tactical crime mapping, and detection of crime. The text is an amalgamation of theory, analytical techniques, solutions to data processing, problem-solving approaches, organizational structure, and map design principles.

Gorr, Wilpen L., Kristen S. Kurland, and Zan M. Dodson. 2018. GIS tutorial for crime analysis . 2d ed. Redlands, CA: Esri.

This workbook presents state-of-the-art methods to map and analyze crime data using Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop (Version 10.6.1) (cited under GIS Software ), one of the most ubiquitous GIS software packages in use. The techniques provided in the text will allow individuals the ability to build, maintain, and examine crime data for use in a professional law enforcement organization. Step-by-step tutorials focus on data preparations and updating, building map templates, utilizing map queries for analysis, automation of maps, and predictive modeling skills.

Hart, Timothy C., and Kim M. Lersch. 2015. Space, time, and crime . 4th ed. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic.

Focuses on a wide range of theoretical explanations, policies, and investigative tools that can be used to identify high crime places, spaces, and times. A highly readable text that provides an in-depth discussion on the geography of crime, using both real-world examples and illustrations from empirical research. After discussing the historical roots and modern applications of theories used to explain crime concentrations, the practical applications are then addressed. The text concludes with a Marxist-based critique of the theories, policies, and tools presented for the reader to reflect upon.

Leitner, Michael, ed. 2013. Crime modeling and mapping using geospatial technologies . New York: Springer.

This edited volume examines a variety of topics related to fundamental spatial problems, crime analysis, crime mapping, and the application and implementation of geospatial technology to enhance public safety. This book highlights innovative geospatial research across a variety of research sites including urban areas in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, and Mexico. Some topics include the residential mobility of sex offenders, journey to crime analysis, spatial vulnerability to crime, spatial configurations of homicide, and spatial contagion of drug offending.

Maltz, M. D., A. C. Gordon, and W. Friedman. 2000. Mapping crime in its community setting: Event geography analysis . New York: Springer-Verlag.

Demonstrates how local communities can utilize crime mapping to combat neighborhood crime problems and enhance cooperation with the police. This text highlights the implementation of a computerized crime mapping system in the Chicago area to better understand how data is utilized and also better approaches to collecting and handling data. A significant contribution is made by this text, arguing for a more efficient and intelligent use of crime data to aid local communities.

Radil, Steven M. 2016. Spatial analysis of crime. In The handbook of measurement issues in criminology and criminal justice . Edited by Beth M. Huebner and Timothy S. Bynum, 535–554. New York: John Wiley.

DOI: 10.1002/9781118868799.ch24

This chapter provides a general guide to the expansive field of spatial analysis for criminology. Careful attention is paid to the importing of techniques outside of the field of criminology to be adapted and used in criminological research. An emphasis is placed on the overall foundation concepts to crime analytic techniques. Distinctions are made for both areal and point-based analyses, including the prevalent techniques employed. The choice of scale, measuring distance between spatial units, and the employment of spatial autocorrelations are also discussed.

Walker, Jeffery T., and Grant R. Dwarve. 2018. Foundations of crime analysis: Data, analyses, and mapping . New York: Routledge.

DOI: 10.4324/9781315716442

Provides a practical understanding of crime analysis that is accessible to a general audience. Walker and Dwarve deliver a comprehensive overview of techniques utilized by crime analysts. The text is an excellent resource for both academics and practitioners that are involved in analyzing crime. Balances the discussion of crime analysis, crime mapping, crime prevention, and environmental criminology topics.

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Crime Mapping and Analysis

Law Enforcement Agencies Look to Maps and Geographic Technologies

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Geography is a field that is ever-changing and ever-growing. One of its newer sub-disciplines is crime mapping, which uses geographic technologies in order to aid in crime analysis. In an interview with Steven R. Hick , a leading geographer in the field of crime mapping, he gave a thorough overview of the state of the field and what’s to come.

What Is Crime Mapping?

Crime mapping identifies not only where the actual crime took place, but also looks at where the perpetrator “lives, works, and plays” as well as where the victim “lives, works, and plays.” Crime analysis has identified that the majority of criminals tend to commit crimes within their comfort zones, and crime mapping is what allows police and investigators to see where that comfort zone might be.

Predictive Policing Through Crime Mapping

The use of predictive policing is a much more cost-effective approach to policing than past policies. This is because predictive policing not only looks at where a crime is likely to occur but also when the crime is likely to occur. These patterns can help police identify what time of day it is necessary to flood an area with officers, rather than flooding the area twenty-four hours a day.

Types of Crime Analysis

Tactical Crime Analysis: This type of crime analysis looks at the short-term in order to stop what is currently taking place, for example, a crime spree. It is used to identify one perpetrator with many targets or one target with many perpetrators and provide an immediate response.

Strategic Crime Analysis: This type of crime analysis looks at the long-term and on-going issues. Its focus is often on identifying areas with high crime rates and problem-solving ways to decrease the overall crime rates.

Administrative Crime Analysis This type of crime analysis looks at the administration and deployment of police and resources and asks the question, “Are there enough police officers at the right time and place?” and then works to make the answer, “Yes.”

Crime Data Sources

Crime mapping software, crime prevention through environmental design, careers in crime mapping.

There are classes available in crime mapping; Hick is one professional who has been teaching these classes for several years. There are also conferences available for both professionals and beginners in the field.

Additional Resources on Crime Mapping

International Association of Crime Analysts

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is a research agency of the United States Department of Justice that works to develop innovative solutions to crime.

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Understanding Crime Analysis with Crime Mapping in Modern Policing

What is the significance of crime analysis with crime mapping, accurate identification of crime hot spots, proactive evidence-based and intelligence-led policing, optimal resource allocation, inclusive community engagement, effective evaluation of crime control measures, the evolution of crime mapping in law enforcement, manual pin mapping, computer mapping, geographic information systems (gis), how can excel contribute to crime analysis with crime mapping, data organization and cleaning, data analysis, data visualization, data summarization and trend highlights, accessibility and user-friendly nature, what is the significance of identifying crime hotspots in law enforcement, get the best crime analysis certification online, what are the major uses of gis crime mapping in law enforcement, how do maps assist in identifying patterns in data, why do crime mapping and predictive programs that anticipate where crime rates will soon rise work better in large urban areas.

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Crime Mapping and Analysis

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• Ronald E. Wilson 3 &
• Katie M. Filbert 3  

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Spatial analysis of crime; Spatial aspects of crime; Statistical techniques; Geographical analysis; Environmental criminology; First law of geography; Rational choice; Route activity; Social disorganization

The term “crime mapping” is inaccurate as it is overly simplistic. Crime mapping is often associated with the simple display and querying of crime data using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Instead, it is a general term that encompasses the technical aspects of visualization and statistical techniques, as well as practical aspects of geographic principles and criminological theories.

From a technical standpoint, the term is a combination of visualization and statistical techniques manifested as software. This combination of techniques is shared between mapping, spatial analysis and spatial data analysis. Mapping is simply a visualization tool that is used to display raw geographic data and output from analysis, which is done through a GIS. Spatial analysis...

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Wilson, R., Filbert, K. (2008). Crime Mapping and Analysis. In: Shekhar, S., Xiong, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of GIS. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35973-1_226

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Introduction: Crime Mapping and Crime Prevention

• D. Weisburd , T. McEwen
• Published 12 July 2015
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Crime Mapping Applications and Society

Crime mapping applications have become increasingly integrated and sophisticated. The use of geographical information system (GIS) has become the hallmark of the modern era. It is expected that the next generation will witness more integration of technologies that were once separate such as digital photography, orthophotography, digital videography, global positioning systems and other local databases with critical information into one cutting edge technology (Harries, n. d). This paper will give a general overview of crime mapping in order to draw a clear understanding of the application in crime prevention.

Crime Mapping Crime mapping is an important intervention that helps the police to reduce crime and ensure a safe society to live in. Crime mapping tools allow the representation of crimes visually on a map or the grid of a particular locality normally done by the security personnel of that particular region. Persons from law enforcement unit analyze crimes in a manner that they are able to identify the areas of apprehension and the information that can be helpful in combating crime. The law enforcement personnel use crime mapping in various ways and in several localities (Harries, n. d).

Criminalists often apply crime analysis and mapping techniques in helping the law enforcement personnel in making perfect choices and in formulation of policies for instance in forecasting of crime. Mapping of crime helps arresting serial criminals who may cause unrest in the society (Harries, n. d). This is done by the national crime and operations through profiling of geographic locations to help identify the most probable residential localities of serial criminals. Mapping of crime has also helped in identification of crime hotspots and further helped in setting up crime reduction responses that suit the locality (Harries, n. d).

This has significantly reduced crime in most parts of the world where crime mapping is applied. The main obligation of mapping crime is to help reduce and prevent crime. This implies that there is need for people to create an understanding as to why some locations are crime prone areas than others. This understanding will help them fight crimes and ensure a safer society. Crime mapping can be useful in identifying why crimes happen and help in deploying law enforcement personnel on such localities (Harries, n. d). Mapping of crime also creates an understanding of patterns of criminal behavior and confinement and aids in crime prevention.

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Best Crime Essay Examples

Crime mapping.

608 words | 3 page(s)

Crime mapping has proven itself to be one of the most important innovations in criminal justice over the last couple of decades. It is a process by which departments can predict criminal activity by using technology and by pinpointing where past crimes have taken place. While this does offer many possibilities moving forward, ti also presents several critical challenges that must be addressed in order for mapping to have long-term effectiveness.

One of the ways in which crime mapping can be used positively by police is in allowing departments to route their patrols properly. Departments have to make choices with their somewhat limited resources. They simply cannot patrol every single area of a given place at every time. With this in mind, they must choose the right places, and crime mapping provides a picture of where crimes have taken place.

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In addition, crime mapping provides insights that can allow departments to send the right kinds of police officers to the right places. Police departments are made up of varied groups of officers with different skills. Some officers are more effective on the drug beat, while others are better at dealing with violent crime. With crime mapping, departments can ensure that the rights units are in the right places, thus increasing the quality of policing and prevention in a given place.

In addition, crime mapping allows departments the unique ability to apprehend suspects of past crime. In many instances, the people who commit crimes do so near the places where they live. They tend to stay in their neighborhoods, and one of the keys of crime mapping is that it allows police to dedicate more resources to apprehending people who are dangerous in those neighborhoods. This is especially important in large areas, where people can hide out from police for extended periods of time unless the area is chopped in some meaningful way.

One of the primary challenges associated with this data is what might be deemed the self-scouting effect. One of the best things that police have going for them in trying to stop crime is that they know where they are going to be, while would-be criminals do not know where the police is going to be. However, historical crime data is readily available. Even if people are not able to access the precise data that the police have, they can develop a good idea of where the majority of crime is taking place. With this information in hand, these individuals can then decide to take their criminal activity elsewhere. The data is suggestive, and it can be predictive, but it is not dispositive. Because of the game theory involved in using this data, police could influence where crime takes place, and give individuals the ability to commit crimes out of the sight of police in areas that were previously safe. This assumes a rational, logical criminal, of course, and that impulse may not be true, but this is one of the primary challenges that afflicts departments today.

Crime mapping as a technological solution might benefit society by making policing more transparent. One of the issues right now with policing is that people have little faith in what police are doing, and many are unaware of how police go about their jobs. Crime mapping could bring about a new reality where people are more involved with police. People have more of an understanding of what police do and how they do it. This could bring about more faith in police, which could, in turn, help to heal some of the broken communities around the country that have been afflicted by a lack of trust in modern policing.

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5 Tips for Writing a College Essay

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The Common App to apply to PLU is officially open for the Class of 2025—so it’s time to start thinking about your college essay. Your essay is your moment to show colleges what makes you unique. Ready to get started? Here are five tips to help you write a standout college essay that truly reflects who you are. Let’s dive in!

Be Yourself

Colleges want to know you , not just your grades. Share your story in a way that’s authentic and true to who you are. Whether it’s a unique hobby or a personal challenge, let your personality shine through.

Show, Don’t Tell

Instead of saying “I’m a hard worker,” share a story that shows how you’ve worked hard. Use specific examples and details to paint a picture of your experiences. Even if you’re writing about a tough experience, focus on how you’ve grown or what you’ve learned. End on a high note—show how you’ve turned challenges into opportunities.

Don’t write what you think admissions officers want to hear. Write what matters to you. Authenticity is way more impressive than trying to fit a mold. Don’t feel like one prompt is better than another. Choose the writing prompt that you connect with. FYI, some essay topics are overdone (like sports victories or mission trips). If you choose one of these, make sure you bring a fresh perspective or unique angle.

Revise, Revise, Revise

Your first draft isn’t your final draft. After writing, step away from your essay for a bit, then come back with fresh eyes. Edit for clarity, grammar, and impact. Get feedback from someone you trust. Also, typos happen, but too many can distract from your message. Proofread carefully, but don’t obsess over perfection. Your voice and story are what matter most.

Be Proud of Your Work

Once you’ve put in the effort, be proud of what you’ve created. Your essay is a reflection of you—own it with confidence!

With these tips, you’ll be ready to craft an essay that truly represents who you are. Good luck, and remember, you’ve got this!

Watch CBS News

Details emerge after doctor raped and murdered in India as thousands protest

August 15, 2024 / 6:32 AM EDT / CBS/AFP

Thousands took to the streets of Kolkata early Thursday to condemn the rape and murder of a local doctor , demanding justice for the victim and an end to the chronic issue of violence against women in Indian society.

The discovery of the 31-year-old's brutalized body last week at a state-run hospital has sparked nationwide protests, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding swift punishment for those who commit "monstrous" deeds against women.

Large crowds marched through the streets of Kolkata in West Bengal to condemn the killing, with a candlelight rally at midnight coinciding with the start of India's independence day celebrations on Thursday.

The protesters in Kolkata, who marched under the slogan "reclaim the night", called for a wider tackling of violence against women and held up handwritten signs demanding action.

"We want justice," read one sign at the rally. "Hang the rapist, save the women," read another.

"The atrocities against women do not stop," midnight marcher Monalisa Guha told Kolkata's The Telegraph newspaper.

"We face harassment almost on a daily basis," another marcher, Sangeeta Halder, told the daily. "But not stepping out because of fear is not the solution."

"Monstrous behavior against women"

Modi, speaking in New Delhi on Thursday morning at independence day celebrations, did not specifically reference the Kolkata murder, but expressed his "pain" at violence against women.

"There is anger for atrocities committed against our mothers and sisters, there is anger in the nation about that," he said.

"Crimes against women should be quickly investigated; monstrous behavior against women should be severely and quickly punished," he added. "That is essential for creating deterrence and confidence in the society."

Doctors are also demanding swift justice and better workplace security in the wake of the killing, with those in government hospitals across several states on Monday halting elective services "indefinitely" in protest.

Protests have since occurred in several other hospitals across the country, including in the capital.

"Doctors nationwide are questioning what is so difficult about enacting a law for our security," Dhruv Chauhan, from the Indian Medical Association's Junior Doctors' Network, told the Press Trust of India news agency. "The strike will continue until all demands are formally met."

The Telegraph on Thursday praised the "spirited public protests" across India.

"Hearteningly, doctors and medical organizations are not the only ones involved," it said in an editorial. "The ranks of the protesters have been swelled by people from all walks of life."

Police accused of mishandling case

Indian media have reported the murdered doctor was found in the teaching hospital's seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a brief rest during a long shift.

An autopsy has confirmed sexual assault, and in a petition to the court, the victim's parents have said that they suspected their daughter was gang-raped, according to Indian broadcaster NDTV.  

Though police have detained a man who worked at the hospital helping people navigate busy queues, officers have been accused of mishandling the case.

Kolkata's High Court on Tuesday transferred the case to the elite Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to "inspire public confidence."

In the early hours of Thursday, a mob of some 40 people angry at authorities' handling of the case stormed the grounds of the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, the site of the murder.

The men smashed property and hurled stones at police, who fired tear gas in response, authorities said.

West Bengal lawmaker Abhishek Banerjee, from the Trinamool Congress party, condemned the "hooliganism and vandalism," but said "the demands of the protesting doctors are fair and justified."

History of sexual violence in India

Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India. An average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in India in 2022, according to  data  from the National Crime Records Bureau.

That year, police  arrested 11 people  after the alleged brutal gang rape and torture of a young woman that included her being paraded through the streets of Dehli. Also in 2022, a police officer in India was arrested after being  accused of raping  a 13-year-old girl who went to his station to report she had been gang-raped.

In March 2024, multiple Indian men were arrested after the  gang rape of a Spanish tourist  on a motorbike trip with her husband.

For many, the gruesome nature of the attack has invoked comparisons with the horrific 2012 gang rape and murder  of a young woman on a Delhi bus.

The woman became a symbol of the socially conservative country's failure to tackle sexual violence against women.

Her death sparked huge, and at times violent, demonstrations in Delhi and elsewhere.

Under pressure, the government introduced harsher penalties for rapists, and the death penalty for repeat offenders.

Several new sexual offences were also introduced, including stalking and jail sentences for officials who failed to register rape complaints.

• Sexual Violence

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‘My Descent Into the True Crime Rabbit Hole’: The Week 8 Winner of Our Summer Reading Contest

Hayne Kim, 16, writes about how an essay in the Times Opinion section made her rethink her binge-watch habits.

By The Learning Network

For 15 years, our Summer Reading Contest has been inviting teenagers around the world to tell us what New York Times pieces get their attention and why. This year, for the first time, students can submit either written comments or 90-second video responses.

In the eighth week of our 10-week challenge, we received 1,095 entries, and we list the finalists below. Scroll down to read the work of our winner, Hayne Kim , and to take a look at the variety of topics that caught these students’ eyes, including the Olympics, giant pandas, “brain rot,” JD Vance, flip phones, “Ballerina Farm,” Billy Joel and toxic beauty standards.

You can read the work of all of our winners since 2017 in this column , and you can participate in the contest any or every week this summer until Aug. 16. Just check the top of this page , where we post updates, to find the right place to submit your response.

Hayne Kim, 16, from Tokyo, reacts to a Guest Essay from the Opinion section, “ My Sister Was Murdered 30 Years Ago. True Crime Repackages Our Pain as Entertainment. ” She writes:

My descent into the true crime rabbit hole was thanks to YouTuber Stephanie Soo. On far too many lazy Sunday afternoons than I would like to admit, I sat slouched in front of my laptop with my eyes fixed on the flashy fluorescent screen, an unhealthily huge bowl of Takis at hand. Video after video, I clung on to Stephanie’s every last syllable as she fed me one tragic tale after another through spoonfuls of uncanny suspense. I continued to devour Stephanie’s stories just as quickly as I licked the MSG off my sticky red fingers. Until I read this article. At the ripe age of six, Annie Nichol lost her older sister Polly at the hands of a murderer. Subsequent to Polly’s murder, Annie was continually met with floods of faceless reporters, writers, producers — strangers — all with an unquenchable thirst for details and an eager desire to dramatize. This constant bombardment of the gates that protected her private, sacred memories of her sister caused Annie immense pain and post-traumatic stress. Suddenly, the hefty plates of Stephanie Soo videos I had wolfed down churned uneasily in my stomach. I realized just how desensitized I had become. A human being’s lived-in nightmare is not meant to be hastily packaged into a sixty-something-minute monetized video. The inability of myself and countless others to immediately recognize this serves as a testament to the unsettling effects of mass media consumption.

In alphabetical order by the writer’s first name.

Anagha Nagesh on What Trump Means When He Mispronounces ‘Kamala’

Desi Miller on “ 104 Shows. $260 Million. After 10 Years, Billy Joel Closes a Chapter. ”

Gabriel Lam on “ Giant Pandas Will Head to D.C.’s National Zoo From China ”

Minghao Li on “ If You Know What ‘Brainrot’ Means, You Might Already Have It. ”

Vivian Wan on “ The Book Bag That Binds Japanese Society "

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Violent crime is rapidly declining. See which cities are seeing drops in homicides.

Violent crime rapidly declined in the first half of the year, according to a new report from the  Major Cities Chiefs Association .

Violent crime - including homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault - decreased 6% in the first six months of the year, compared to the same time the prior year, according to the group of police executives. Homicides dropped by 17% overall during the same time period, the group's report says.

The preliminary data tracks violent crime in 69 major U.S. cities. The report does not include violent crime data from New York City, the largest U.S. city. The New York Police Department previously shared data that indicates that violent crime declined in the first quarter of the year compared to the same time period in 2023.

Here's how violent crime is changing in some of the nation's largest cities:

Violent crime drops significantly

In 2020, violent crimes spiked, coinciding with the  COVID-19 pandemic and widespread racial justice protests . Experts have seen that  spike wane  for months, and multiple reports have found that most violent crimes have returned to 2019 levels.

An analysis from Axios found that violent crime plummeted in Columbus, Ohio, dropping  41% , the most of any city. Violent crime dropped more than 25% in Omaha, Nebraska, Miami, Florida, Washington, D.C. ,and Austin, Texas.

Complete FBI crime data for 2023 won’t be released until the fall, but quarterly reports show violent crime is continuing to drop. FBI crime data has its limitations. Not all police departments are represented in the FBI crime data explorer - about 79% of agencies reported statistics in the fourth quarter of 2023 – and the agency uses methods to adjust for missing data and publish estimates.

Jeff Asher is a New Orleans-based crime data analyst who worked for the CIA and Department of Defense. He previously told USA TODAY that the decrease in murders is "potentially historically large." Asher added that preliminary 2023 FBI data “paint the picture" of a big decrease in overall crime, he wrote.

Where did homicides decrease?

The Major Cities Chiefs Association  reported that homicide decreased in 54 of the 69 major cities tracked in the first six months of the year.

The most recent violent crime report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association  shows that murders declined by 17% during the first half of 2023 and 2024. Boston experienced the largest decline in homicides at a rate of 78% during that same time period.

Philadelphia experienced the second largest decline in homicide rates at 42% between the first half of 2023 and the same time period in 2024.

Report: Violent crime rates in American cities largely fall back to pre-pandemic levels

FBI crime data: FBI data shows America is seeing a 'considerable' drop in crime. Trump says the opposite.

Contributing: Zac Anderson and Kinsey Crowley , USA TODAY