Criminal Mobility and the Directional Component in Journeys to Crime (From Metropolitan Crime Patterns, P 73-95, 1986, Robert M Figlio, et al., eds. - See NCJ-102783)

• NCJ Number: 102787
• Author(s): C M Costanzo; W C Halperin; N Gale
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 23 pages
• Grant Number(s): 82-IJ-CX-0019
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Offenders' patterns of travel to crime are examined through both a review of research on the mobility of criminals and an empirical analysis using data from Minneapolis.

Abstract

Research on criminal mobility has used ecological, economic, and social-psychological perspectives. Multiple regression techniques have been used to study the accessibility of potential offenders and target locations. The units of analysis have generally been individual blocks, neighborhoods, or municipalities. These units of analysis and the emphasis on distance as the measure of criminal spatial behavior have limited the existing studies' usefulness for considering individual criminal behavior, however. The present study focused on individual travel patterns as well as the direction of criminal movement patterns. The study used a subset of data from a previous study conducted in Minneapolis. The analysis considered mobility patterns for 509 crimes of 7 types: street robbery, commercial burglary, assault, rape, commercial robbery, vandalism, and residential burglary. Criminals who lived near one another had a significant tendency to travel in similar directions to commit the same type of crime. However, crimes committed at nearby sites were not necessarily committed by suspects coming from similar directions. Models of criminal mobility should include direction as well as distance. Tables, figures, and 40 reference notes.