GIS and Crime Mapping
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 The geography of crime
Crime has an inherent geographical quality. When a crime occurs, it happens
at a place with a geographical location. For someone to have committed a
crime they must have also come from a place (such as their home, work
or school). This place could be the same location where the crime was
committed or is often close to where the crime was perpetrated (Frisbie et al.,
1977; Brantingham and Brantingham, 1981; Rossmo, 2000; Wiles and
Costello, 2000). 'Place' therefore plays a vital role in understanding crime
and how crime can be tackled.
The study of crime has traditionally been the preserve of other
disciplines such as sociology and psychology (Georges, 1978) and it was
not until the late 1970s that the 'place' and the spatial dimension to crime
began to be more fully explored. The police have long recognised the
inherent geographical component of crime by sticking pins into maps
displayed on walls, where each pin represented a crime event, but it was
studies such as those from the 'Chicago ... read full excerpt from GIS and Crime Mapping ebook
