Mobility and the distribution of crime
Co-ordinator: Prof. dr. H. Elffers
In this field the NSCR carries out theoretical and empirical research into temporal and spatial patterns of crime. Three principal research questions are distinguished.
The second question concerns the explanation of spatial crime patterns. Explanations of the described phenomena are developed and tested. Why do some neighbourhoods have more crime than others? Is this related to the attractiveness of targets, the geographical location of the neighbourhood, or the concentration of offenders in the area? Are changes in spatial crime patterns be explained by changes in physical, economic or social circumstances?
The third question investigates the interaction between crime and law enforcement. The nature of the interaction between the temporal and spatial distribution of crime and location-specific interventions by the police and other law enforcement bodies is explored. The theme addresses the intended and unintended consequences of policy measures, such as the prioritisation of police operations, decriminalisation, or more intensive forms of observation (e.g., placing cameras in public spaces (CCTV). In the research area it is also considered how the police and other law enforcement bodies react to changes in spatial crime patterns.
Current projects
Geographic criminology: history and explanations of the spatial distribution of crime
prof. dr. Gerben Bruinsma
This project presents an overview of explanations of the spatial distribution of crime and criminality, and a critical discussion of these theories. Core issues in criminology, in particular geographic criminology, are identified and discussed. Part of the project is the compilation of a comprehensive historical overview of the field, which goes back to the 19th century. Empirical findings on differences in crime and criminality between countries, between the cities and rural areas, between neighbourhoods and between specific locations are discussed.
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Spatial aspects of criminal target choice
prof. dr. Henk Elffers, dr. Wim Bernasco
We perform theoretical studies of how offenders use space and select targets, and we study the foundations underlying geographic offender profiling. In empirical work, we study how crime levels are related to offender concentrations in the vicinity, and how target-based and offender-based analyses of spatial target selection can be combined. New studies address whether and how spatial target choice is influenced by similar choices in the past, and their outcomes, and by the residential history of the offender.
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A time for a crime: Spatio-temporal aspects of criminal target choice
dr. Stijn Ruiter and dr. Wim Bernasco
This project extends previous work on spatial aspects of criminal target choice by studying how such target choices vary by time of the day and day of the week. It subsequently tries to explain these temporal variations. First, we look at whether effects of determinants of spatial choices vary with time. Second, we collect space-time specific contextual data on attractors and generators of crime and study how these affect target choices.
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Communication of victimisation risk
dr. Wim Bernasco, prof. dr. Henk Elffers
Victims of residential burglary have an elevated risk of re-victimisation, especially shortly after the first crime. Recent research shows that residential burglary is also ‘contagious’: the elevated risk in the wake of a burglary not only applies to the victimised property, but also to properties in the surrounding environment. In this project we study this phenomenon. Why and how does it occur? How does it vat across neighbourhoods, and what is the relation with repeat victimisation? Does the phenomenon also apply to other types of crime? We collaborate with researchers from England (Johnson and Bowers at the Jill Dando Institute, London) the USA (Ratcliffe and Rengert at Temple University, Philadelphia) and Australia (Townsley at Griffith University, Brisbane).
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Simulation of spatial aspects of offending behaviour
dr. Charlotte Gerritsen
In this research project we focus on the analysis of the spatial dynamics of offending behaviour. The starting point of our research is the Routine Activity Theory that states that crime will occur when a motivated offender and attractive target meet while no capable guardian is present. Analysing the interaction between these three types can become complicated when we want to investigate large groups and different aspects of the environment. A solution to this problem is the possibility to perform computer simulations. We imitate a certain process over time in the computer and are able to test different strategies relatively fast and cheap. This research is performed in collaboration with the Faculty of Sciences, Department of Artificial Intelligence of VU University Amsterdam.
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Study of peers, activities and neighbourhoods (SPAN)
dr. Frank Weerman, prof. dr. Gerben Bruinsma, dr. Wim Bernasco, Kirsten Grandia, MSc., prof.dr. Lieven Pauwels (Ghent University, Belgium) and prof.dr. Per-Olof Wikström (Cambridge University, UK)
Research in developmental and life course criminology has taught us a lot about the way that characteristics of individuals, their families, and their neighbourhoods can stimulate or discourage delinquent behaviour. Whether or not youth will become involved in delinquent behaviour is also likely to be affected by their spatial behaviour patterns. In this study the time use of 12-13 and 15-16 year old youth is assessed using a space-time-budget method. What do they do, when, where and with whom? And what is the effect on criminal offending and victimisation? The findings allow us to test criminological explanations, and to combine etiological explanations with ecological ones. We closely cooperate with the universities of Cambridge (prof. Wikström) en Malmö (Prof. Marie Torstensen Levander), where the same type of research projects are being undertaken.
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Bystander (non)-intervention: A matter of 'mixed feelings'?
Marco van Bommel, MSc, prof. dr. Henk Elffers (promotor), prof. dr. Paul van Lange (promotor, VU Amsterdam, Social Psychology), dr. Jan-Willem van Prooijen (co-promotor, VU Amsterdam, Social Psychology) and Danielle Reynald, MSc (co-promotor).
This project seeks to understand the affective and cognitive processes that determine whether informal guardians—defined as independent bystanders who do not have a formal role to prevent crime—help when they witness an emergence situation which requires some form of intervention. To this end, we proposed four sets of studies which are designed to investigate the bystander effect from both a social psychological and a criminological viewpoint. The first set of studies will focus on the emotional, and cognitive consequences of group size, anonymity and the severity of the situation. The focus on this study will be on reducing the sense of anonymity, by means of camera’s. The second set of studies will examine the effects of the presence of friends or acquaintances. The third set of studies will investigate the effects of the actions of other bystanders who are initiating an intervention. The fourth set of studies are field studies which focus on the responses of people when they observe a transgression in a real-life situation. This will be done by means of interviews, and with a manipulated real-life (enacted) occurrence of a transgression.
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Spatial behaviour and criminal careers. Empirical research using linked forensic evidence
Marre Lammers, MSc., prof. dr. Henk Elffers (promotor) and dr. Wim Bernasco (co-promotor).
Many findings in geographic criminology and life course criminology rely on information about the small minority of offenders who have been arrested or convicted (In the Netherlands about one third of all offenses is reported to the police and for only twenty percent of these offenses an offender is arrested). Using national forensic databases of fingerprints and DNA profiles, this project takes a new approach to study the spatial and criminal careers of offenders. By linking crimes involving the same offender, the geographic and criminal behavior is studied through the tracks they leave behind, even if the offender is never been arrested.
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Guardianship in and around coffeeshops and bars
Scott Jacques, MSc. and Danielle Reynald, PhD.
This research examines whether guardianship influences the rate of victimization experienced by coffeeshops and bars located in the center of Amsterdam. The fundamental question is whether the degree of preventive control techniques – such as cameras and rule signs – affect the amount of violence, fraud, unseen theft, or vandalism experienced by such businesses. Data are obtained from survey-interviews with 50 bars and 50 coffeeshops, and systematic observations inside these places and of the street-segments they are located on.
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Location choice in street drug sales
Scott Jacques, MSc. and Wim Bernasco, PhD.
This study investigates location choices of dealers who sell hard drugs on the streets of Amsterdam. Criminological theories on target selection are combined with theories in spatial economics on location choice in retail markets. The research establishes where and when customers are sollicited and where and when drugs are sold. The overarching explanatory question is whether the outcome – the location – can be explained on the basis of how well the location fits the preferences of the buyer and the seller in terms of the social, physical and economic aspects of the immediate environment, including risk of arrest or victimization. Data are obtained from survey-interviews with 30 active hard-drug market participants.
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Completed projects
Offenders on offending
dr. Wim Bernasco
In Oktober 2008 NSCR organised an international 3-day workshop Offenders On Offending with the aim of addressing the truthfullness, veracity and validity of what we can learn about offending from offenders in interviews, autobiographies and ethnographic research. Wim Bernasco edited a volume on the topic (published April 2010 by Willan Publishers) that includes contributions of Fiona Brookman, Heith Copes, Ric Curtis, Henk Elffers, Frank van Gemert, Andrew Hochstetler, Scott Jacques, Jody Miller, Carlo Morselli, Claire Nee, Veronika Polišenská, Marie Lindegaard, Neal Shover, Lucia Summers, Richard Wright, Birgit Zetinigg, and Sheldon Zhang.
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Victimization and lifestyle theory
drs. Margit Averdijk, prof. dr. Gerben Bruinsma (promotor), dr. Wim Bernasco (co-promotor)
Hindelang and colleagues introduced lifestyle theory in 1978. Central in this theory is that individual’s lifestyles affect a range of life events, for example victimization. Demographic characteristics also influence the occurrence of these events, because these characteristics shape individual’s lifestyles. Lifestyle theory is comprehensive and broadly formulated. Therefore, more specification and insight into the mechanisms of the theory is needed. Through testing some of the propositions of the theory and through using ideas from other theories, a deepened understanding of the theory will be developed. Longitudinal data from victimization surveys will be analyzed through statistical models. Margit Averdijk succesfully defended her thesis on June 30, 2010 at VU University Amsterdam.
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dr. Danielle Reynald, prof. dr. Henk Elffers (promotor), prof. dr. Gerben Bruinsma (promotor)
This project studies the role of Oscar Newmans’s Defensible Space theory. It is the reference point for all contemporary discussions about the relation between design of the physical environment. The theory has been adopted in the US and the UK as the norm for the safe design of dwellings and residential neighbourhoods. The popularity of the theory formed the basis for practical guidelines in programmes like “Secured by Design”. However, since its inital formulation the theory has also been subjected to strong conceptual and methodlogical critiques. The aim of this project is to reformulate Defensible Space theory. By describing its origin and development, existing conceptual obscurities can be displayed and underlying processes that generate spatial defensibility and vulnerability can be clarified. The result will be a theoretical framework: a combination of Defensible Space theory with an adapted perspective on situational crime prevention, and criminological opportunity theories. Danielle Reynald successfully defended her disseration on December 8th 2009 at the VU University Amsterdam.
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