NCJ Number
54052
Date Published
1978
Length
39 pages
Annotation
THIS RESOURCE PAPER FOR USE IN CRIMINOLOGY COURSES PRESENTS A SPATIAL ECOLOGICAL METHOD FOR STUDYING CRIME DISTRIBUTION IN RELATION TO ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, HISTORICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND ECONOMIC VARIABLES.
Abstract
BOTH ASSOCIATIONAL AND PREDICTIVE APPROACHES ARE POSSIBLE USING THE SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL METHOD. GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF CRIME CAN BE CONDUCTED ON THE THE MICROLEVEL, EXPLORING THE EXACT PHYSICAL LOCATION OF A CRIMINAL ACT WHILE FOCUSING ON THE GEOGRAPHIC CONCEPT OF SITE, TYPE OF PHYSICAL LOCATION IN WHICH THE ACT OCCURRED, AND SITUATIONAL AND SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CRIME, OF AGGREGATING THIS DATA AND THEN WIDENING THE STUDY TO A MACROANALYSIS ON A LARGE, LESS-DETAILED SCALE. USING THESE TWO APPROACHES, RESEARCHERS MIGHT BE ABLE TO RELATE INDIVIDUAL ACTS TO ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS SUCH AS CHANGES IN ETHNIC OR RACIAL RESIDENTIAL PATTERNS, LOCATIONS OF RED-LIGHT DISTRICTS, AND TENDENCIES OF SPECIFIC LOCATIONAL TARGETS TO BE TIED TO SPECIFIC SOCIOCULTURAL ISSUES. THE MAJOR ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS USED BY GEOGRAPHERS AND SOCIAL ECOLOGISTS ARE HUMAN ECOLOGY; SYMBIOSIS (THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HUMANS AND HUMAN INSTITUTIONS): COMMUNITY AND SOCIETY; COMMUNICATIONS; SLUMS; GHETTO CORES AND FRINGE AND TRANSITION ZONES; RED-LIGHT DISTRICTS; CRIMINAL'S TYPING OF NEIGHBORHOODS IN REGARD TO THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING DETECTED, PURSUED, OR APPREHENDED AND PUNISHED; THE DISTANCE DECAY ANALYSIS AND OTHER CENTROGRAPHIC CONCEPTS, NATURAL AREAS, AND DELINQUENCY AREAS (AREAS WHERE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY IS PREVALENT). AN INTRODUCTION TO REGRESSION AND CORRELATION ANALYSIS, A BASIC ASSOCIATIONAL STATISTICAL PROCEDURE, USEFUL DATA SOURCES, TABULAR DATA, FIGURES, MAPS AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE PROVIDED.