The science of crime measurement : issues for spatially referenced crime data / Martin A. Andresen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Andresen, Martin A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal statistics.

Criminology.

Physical Description:

xii, 186 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, 2013.

Summary:

Crime statistics are ubiquitous in modern society - but how accurate are they? This book investigates the science of crime measurement by focusing on four main questions: how do we count crime? How do we calculate crime rates? Are there, other measurements of crime? What are the issues surrounding crime statistics? All too often we take the measurement of crime at face value when there is, in fact, a science behind it. This book specifically deals with issues related to spatially referenced crime data that are used to analyse crime patterns of across the urban environment. The first section of the book considers alternative crime rate calculations, whilst the second section contains a thorough discussion of a measure of crime specialisation. Finally, the third section addresses a number of aggregation issues that accompany such, data: crime type aggregations, temporal aggregations of crime data, the stability of crime patterns over time, and the importance of spatial scale. This book builds on a growing body of literature about the science of crime measurement and offers a comprehensive account of this growing subfield of criminology. The book speaks to wider debates in the fields of crime analysis, environmental criminology and crime prevention and will be perfect reading for advanced level undergraduate and graduate students looking to find out more about the measurement of crime. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The science of crime measurement 1

Part I Crime analysis and the ambient population 13

2 Ambient populations and the calculation of crime rates and risk 15

3 Role of the ambient population in crime analysis 36

4 Diurnal movements and the ambient population: an application to municipal level, crime rate calculations 63

Part II Measurement and analysis of crime specialization 69

5 Measuring crime specialization using the location quotient 71

6 Crime specialization across the Canadian provinces and Metro Vancouver's municipalities 86

7 Location quotients, ambient populations, and spatial analysis of crime in Vancouver 97

Part III Crime stability and crime aggregation 105

8 The (in)appropriateness of aggregating across crime types 107

9 The spatial dimension of crime seasonality 123

10 Testing the stability of crime patterns: implications for theory and policy 135

11 Spatial heterogeneity in crime analysis 148

12 Future directions in the science of crime measurement 163.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415856096

0415856094

OCLC:

828682592