The NSCR is a research institute of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research

Offenders commit crimes nearby their past homes (publication)

In a recent paper in Criminology, Wim Bernasco demonstrates that offenders not only offend near their current home, but also in the vicinity of past homes, especially if they lived there for a long time and left only recently. This finding could be useful in searching perpetrators of unsolved crimes.

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Full reference

Bernasco, Wim (2010). A Sentimental Journey to Crime; Effects of Residential History on Crime Location Choice. Criminology, Volume 48, Issue 2, pages 389-416 . Digital version (access to subscribers)

Summary

Many offenses take place close to where the offender lives. Anecdotal evidence suggests that offenders also might commit crimes near their former homes. Building on crime pattern  theory and combining information from police records and other sources, this study confirms that offenders who commit robberies, residential burglaries, thefts from vehicles, and assaults are more likely to target their current and former residential areas than similar areas they never lived in. In support of the argument that spatial awareness mediates the effects of past a and current residence, it also is shown that areas of past and present residence are more likely to be targeted if the offender lived in the area for a long time instead of briefly and if the offender has moved away from the area only recently rather than a long time ago. The theoretical implications of these findings and their use for investigative purposes are discussed, and suggestions for future inquiry are made.

More on this subject

Using the national commercial robbery database (LORS), Wim Bernasco and Thessa Kooistra (Utrecht regional police force) conducted a similar study amongst commercial robbers. This study is published in July 2010 in the European Journal of Criminology, volume 7, issue 4, pages 251-265. Digital version (access to subscribers)

Both studies are briefly discussed, in Dutch and for a general readership in a contribution to Kennislink and in an article in the magazine Secondant.