NCJ Number
195425
Journal
Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: 2002 Pages: 47-51
Date Published
2002
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This essay presents some challenges for the topography of crime, considers some of the specifics it might address, and shows how it might enrich environmental criminology by helping to describe landscapes and cityscapes as they affect criminal activities.
Abstract
"Topography" refers to a detailed description of a particular place, city, county, region, or tract of land. It is distinguished from geography by its focus on more minute details rather than general principles. Still, topography and geography are highly interdependent, and the "topography of crime" must be closely related to the development of the "geography of crime" and to the larger field that encompasses them both, i.e., environmental criminology. The essay first discusses why the topography of crime is developing as a distinct field within environmental criminology. The most important reason cited is that offenders themselves live and act at the minute level. From the perspective of the offender, crime has its perfect moment and place, and it is the task of the topography of crime to identify them. In this process, specialists can identify the minute details that mitigate crime risk and learn how to manipulate some of those details. In analyzing crime for the purposes of developing security policies, each type of crime is highly specific and draws differently upon the local environment. Assuming that a single security dimension will address crime in general amounts to abandoning the first requirement of the topology of crime; i.e., recognizing the finer details of criminal action or avoidance in particular places. Three categories of specifics are required to enhance knowledge of localized crime: specifics about the setting, the offense, and the link between the two. Physical geography is also important for the topography of crime. In studying crime patterns, variations in a city's geography must be noted as deterrents to or facilitators of various types of crime. These factors become part of the detailed analyses involved in the topography of crime. 5 notes