NCJ Number
45897
Date Published
1977
Length
34 pages
Annotation
THIS PAPER EXAMINES CRIME DATA FOR 1975 FROM A LOCATIONAL VIEWPOINT.
Abstract
WHILE MOST COMMUNITIES HAVE CONSIDERABLE INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THE INCIDENCE OF CRIMES, FEW HAVE ANALYZED SUCH DATA LOCATIONALLY, PARTICULARLY IN RELATION TO SPECIFIC NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTERISTICS. FOR THIS STUDY, DATA WERE USED PERTAINING TO ALL CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE COUNTY IN 1975 FOR WHICH POLICE FILES EXISTED. THROUGH GRAPHIC DISPLAYS, THIS REPORT DEPICTS THE LOCATIONS OF CRIMES AND THE RESIDENCES OF CRIMINALS, AND A DETERMINATION IS MADE FOR THE AVERAGE DISTANCE SEPARATION OF CRIME AND CRIMINAL FOR VARIOUS TYPES OF OFFENSES. ADDITIONALLY, REGRESSION ANALYSES SUGGEST FACTORS PROBABLY RESPONSIBLE FOR CRIME IN VARIOUS AREAS OF THE COUNTY. CRIME RATES FOR EACH CENSUS TRACT WERE BASED ON PEOPLE PER CRIME FOR ALL CRIMES COMBINED IN THAT CATEGORY. THE SPATIAL SEPARATION OF ROBBERIES AND THE RESIDENCES OF CRIMINAL AVERAGED 6.15 MILES; FOR ASSAULT THE DISTANCE VARIED CONSIDERABLY IN DIFFERENT AREAS OF THE COUNTY, BUT AVERAGED 1.97 MILES. THE FORT CARSON ARMY BASE FALLS WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES, AND FOR CRIMES OF ROBBERY AND ASSAULT, SOLDIERS FIGURE PROMINENTLY IN VICTIMIZATIONS THAT OCCURRED NEAR THE BASE. MILITARY PERSONNEL WERE GENERALLY NOT INVOLVED IN VEHICLE THEFTS, AS ONLY 17 PERCENT OF SUCH THEFTS WERE ATTRIBUTED TO THEM; THE AVERAGE SEPARATION WAS 3.17 MILES. BURGLARY WAS THE MOST FREQUENT CRIME, BUT MILITARY PERSONNEL WERE LESS FREQUENTLY INVOLVED IN THIS TYPE OF OFFENSE THAN ANY OTHER. THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE CRIME SITE AND THE CRIMINAL'S RESIDENCE AGAIN VARIED GREATLY IN CERTAIN PORTIONS OF THE COUNTY. THE AVERAGE DISTANCE FOR THE COUNTY AS A WHOLE WAS 1.71 MILES. IN CASES OF LARCENY, THERE WAS A TENDENCY FOR RESIDENTS OF COLORADO SPRINGS, THE COUNTRY'S URBAN CENTER, TO TRAVEL ELSEWHERE IN THE COUNTY TO COMMIT THIS CRIME. SOLDIERS WERE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR 28 PERCENT OF THE LARCENIES, AND THE AVERAGE SEPARATION WAS 1.80 MILES. MILITARY PERSONNEL WERE MORE FREQUENTLY INVOLVED IN SEX OFFENSES THAN ANY OTHER CRIME, ACCOUNTING FOR NEARLY 50 PERCENT OF SUCH OFFENSES. THE AVERAGE SEPARATION WAS 3.78 MILES. THE AVERAGE DISTANCE SEPARATION VARIED CONSIDERABLY BETWEEN CRIME CATEGORIES; THIS VARIATION CAN POSSIBLY BE EXPLAINED BY THE DIFFERENCES IN POPULATION DENSITY AND THE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF AGGREGATION OF DATA. FOUR CLASSES OF VARIABLE WERE EXAMINED USING A STEPWISE MULTIPLE REGRESSION MODEL IN AN EFFORT TO DETERMINE WHICH VARIABLES INFLUENCE CRIME RATES. THE VARIABLES CAN BE GROUPED INTO FOUR CATEGORIES: SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, DEMOGRAPHIC, AND SPATIAL. THE VARIABLES RESPONSIBLE FOR EXPLAINING CRIMES DIFFERED DEPENDING UPON WHETHER A CENSUS TRACT WAS DENSELY OR SPARSELY POPULATED. SOME VARIABLES WERE NEGATIVELY RELATED, WHILE OTHERS POSITIVELY RELATED TO CRIMES IN BOTH DENSELY AND SPARSELY POPULATED AREAS. THE DISTANCE TO FORT CARSON EMERGED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT VARIABLE RESPONSIBLE FOR EXPLAINING CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE DENSELY POPULATED COUNTY CENSUS TRACTS. VARIOUS MAPS OF THE STUDY AREA AND EXTENSIVE GRAPHIC AND TABULAR DATA ARE PROVIDED, AS IS A BIBLIOGRAPHY. (KBL)