Defining the "Hot Spots of Crime": Operationalizing Theoretical Concepts for Field Research (From Crime and Place, P 237-257, 1995, John E Eck and David Weisburd, eds. -- See NCJ- 160730)

• NCJ Number: 160741
• Author(s): M E Buerger; E G Cohn; A J Petrosino
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 21 pages
• Grant Number(s): 88-IJ-CX-0009
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: Police Executive Research Forum (PERF); Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Crime Prevention Studies, Volume 4

Annotation

This research explored difficulties in transforming theoretical definitions of place into operational terms, where rigid boundaries of place in the abstract conflict with more fluid social definitions of place.

Abstract

The process of operationalizing computer-constructed "hot spots" for a 1988-1989 crime experiment in Minneapolis illustrated mutual effects between experimental design requirements and practical concerns of both field research and operational policy. Experimental results identified at least three different decision points where abstract concepts of space had to be negotiated in operational terms: (1) in the nature of human techniques and practices that assign activities to particular addresses in official records; (2) in the attribution of public space; and (3) in conflict over the nature of boundaries, distinct and discrete in computerized representations but invisible and fluid under field conditions. 11 references