NCJ Number
90479
Journal
Bewaehrungshilfe Volume: 28 Issue: 4 Dated: (1981) Pages: 306-318
Date Published
1981
Length
14 pages
Annotation
A criminal geography study of the West German city of Bochum was undertaken in 1978. It examined reported crime patterns based on police data as well as the dark field of unreported crime by means of a citizen victimization survey.
Abstract
The reported crime data reveal that 87.6 percent of the offenders lived in Bochum; 70 percent of the reported burglaries occurred within 2 kilometers of the offender's residence. The victimization survey indicated that unreported crime incidence was generally high in the same areas when a high crime rate was reported. Specifically, the survey disclosed 40,731 larceny incidents in addition to the officially reported 12,123. First-time victims cited insignificant value of their losses instead of distrust of the police as reasons for failure to report the crime. Bochum offenders were residents of underprivileged, older downtown areas with high concentrations of older residents. High activity areas also had high crime concentration. At a time when overall unemployment stood at 5 percent, 33 percent of the Bochum offenders were unemployed at the time of their offense. A total of 27 endnotes are provided.