Crime, Policing and Place
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CRIME, POLICING AND PLACE Spiralling crime rates and continuing public concern about police– community relations ensure that crime and policing remain firmly on the social and political agenda. An awareness of crime continues to affect the lives of ordinary people and also to stimulate policy-makers who recognize that crime rates form one of the litmus papers by which their effectiveness is judged. Of the many agencies involved in the battle against crime, the police in their various roles constitute the most obvious front line. Drawing in case material from Britain, Europe, Canada and America, Crime, Policing and Place examines the significance of spatial patterns of crime and the processes which produce them. The book analyses the implications of theoretical and methodological innovation in the study of crime and policing, the processes which underlie the uneven distribution and impact of crime and the success of recent policies aimed at preventing crime and enhancing police– community relations. The contributors are drawn from a variety of academic disciplines which include criminology, geography and social policy and also from police and government agencies with direct inputs into policy. David Evans is Senior Lecturer in Geography at Staffordshire Polytechnic. Nicholas Fyfe is Lecturer in Geography at Strathclyde University. David Herbert is Professor of Geography at the University College of Swansea. CRIME, POLICING AND PLACE Essays in environmental criminology Edited by David J. Evans, Nicholas R. Fyfe and David T. Herbert London and New York First published 1992 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc. 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “ To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” © 1992 Pauline M. H. Mazumdar All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Crime, policing and place: essays in environmental criminology I. Herbert, David, 1935– II. Evans, David J. (David John), 1947– III. Fyfe, N. R. 364.49 ISBN 0-203-00786-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-20316-X (Adobe e-Reader Format) ISBN 0–415–04990–3 (Print Edition) Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Crime, policing, and place: essays in environmental criminology/edited by David J. Evans, Nicholas R. Fyfe, and David T. Herbert. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–415–04990–3 1. Criminology. 2. Human geography. 3. Crime – Case studies. 4. Crime prevention – Case studies. I. Evans, David J., 1947– II. Herbert, David T. III. Fyfe, Nicholas R. HV6030.C742 1992 364.2′2—dc20 91–24980 CIP CONTENTS Figures Tables ix Contributors xi INTRODUCTION David J. Evans, Nicholas R. Fyfe and David T. Herbert 1 Part I Methodologies and sources 1 EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME AND PLACE Anthony E. Bottoms and Paul Wiles 8 2 LEFT REALISM AND THE SPATIAL STUDY OF CRIME David J. Evans 28 3 LOCAL AREA PROFILES OF CRIME: NEIGHBOURHOOD CRIME PATTERNS IN CONTEXT Norman Davidson and Trevor Locke 48 4 IS THERE A ROLE FOR SPATIAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN FORMULATING MULTI-AGENCY CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGIES? Ian Heywood, Neil Hall and Peter Redhead 59 Part II Crime and policing: spatial patterns and social processes 5 WHERE CRIMINALS LIVE: A STUDY OF BUDAPEST János Ladányi 75 6 THE JOURNEY TO CRIME: CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS George F. Rengert 87 7 HOUSING MARKETS AND RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY CRIME CAREERS: A CASE STUDY FROM SHEFFIELD Anthony E. Bottoms, Ann Claytor and Paul Wiles 94 8 CRIME AWARENESS AND URBAN NEIGHBOURHOODS David T. Herbert and Judy Darwood 117 9 DIFFERENT WORLDS: THE SPATIAL, TEMPORAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF FEMALE VICTIMIZATION Kate Painter 133 10 A PLACE FOR EVERY CRIME AND EVERY CRIME IN ITS PLACE: AN ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON CRIME DISPLACEMENT Robert Barr and Ken Pease 157 11 POLICING THE UPPER WORLD: TOWARDS THE GLOBAL VILLAGE Michael Levi 174 12 POLICE PRACTICES AND CRIME RATES IN THE LOWER WORLD: PROSTITUTION IN VANCOUVER John Lowman 186 Part III Crime and policing: policy perspectives 13 CHANGING PERSPECTIVES ON CRIME PREVENTION: THE ROLE OF INFORMATION AND STRUCTURE Kevin Heal 205 14 THEMES AND VARIATIONS IN NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH Trevor Bennett 217 15 INITIATIVES IN POLICING LONDON’S BRIXTON SINCE THE 1981 RIOTS David Mitchell 228 16 TOWARDS LOCALLY SENSITIVE POLICING? POLITICS, PARTICIPATION AND POWER IN COMMUNITY/POLICE CONSULTATION Nicholas R. Fyfe 243 Index 260 FIGURES 1.1 Variation in crime and structure in the urban environment 16 1.2 Heuristic model of the context of offending 21 3.1 Specification of crime model 50 4.1 The structure of the North Tyneside geographical crime database 65 4.2 Schematic diagram illustrating the structure of the Gateshead geographic information system (GIS) demonstrator 69 5.1 Semi-skilled and unskilled economically active workers in Budapest 1980 76 5.2 Residential distribution of gypsies in Budapest 1980 77 5.3 Residential distribution of those in prison in Budapest 1980 80 5.4 Residential distribution of those in prison in Budapest in 1979 by cluster 84 7.1 Diagrammatic representation of the relationship between the potential effects of the housing market and residential community crime careers 95 7.2 Outline map of Gardenia and Stonewall 99 7.3 Sheffield council house allocation system 1987 100 8.1 Burglary and neighbourhood problems: a comparison of perceptions and 124- realities 25 8.2 Neighbourhood satisfaction and perceived levels of burglary 126- 27 8.3 Perceived levels of burglary and security consciousness 130 10.1 Conceptual model of crime distribution 164 10.2 A classification of crime distribution 166 10.3 Relationship between the prevalence and concentration of selected crimes 167 10.4 Crime flux 169 12.1 Vancouver prostitution strolls 1975–84 194 12.2 Vancouver prostitution strolls 1986–7 195 12.3 Vancouver men charged with communicating for the purpose of purchasing sexual services 197 12.4 Average family income, Vancouver 1985 198 16.1 Participation in consultation 246 16.2 The content of consultation 247 TABLES 2.1 Reporting rates for residential burglary and violent crime 30 2.2 Recording levels for residential burglary and violent crime 32 3.1 Difference model of local crime rates 50 3.2 A local profile of crime on a northern estate 52 5.1 Distribution of the population in Budapest and of those in prison in 1979 by age group 78 5.2 Distribution of the population in Budapest and of those in prison in 1979 by their educational level 78 5.3 Residential distribution of imprisoned offenders in 1979 and of the population as a whole in Budapest 79 5.4 Distribution of social–occupational groups by cluster 81 5.5 Proportion of those who served their sentence in 1979 and the linear correlation coefficients by cluster 83 5.6 Segregational indices of those in prison in 1979 compared to the population by cluster 84 5.7 Dissimilarity indices of some of the groups in prison in 1979 by cluster 85 5.8 Segregational indices of those in prison in 1979 by number of years in prison 85 7.1 Social characteristics of residents in Gardenia and Stonewall, 1975 and 1988 101 7.2 Police-recorded offender and offence data, 1971 and 1987 102 7.3 Survey offence data 102 7.4 Reasons for accepting present dwelling for tenants in Gardenia and Stonewall in 1975 105 7.5 Housing allocation by application type 1974 and 1988 106 7.6 Residents’ perceptions of area 109 7.7 Residents’ perceptions of local offending and policing 111 8.1 Area types and victimization and fear rates 121 8.2 Some basic indicators by residential areas 123 9.1 Proportions of men and women experiencing crime and harassment 140 9.2 Level of harassment by combination of age and gender 141 9.3 Annoying and frightening behaviour by gender 141 9.4 Proportions of men and women undertaking avoidance strategies to negotiate public space in inner city areas 143 9.5 Victimization rates of men and women in poorly lit areas after dark 148 10.1 Victimization rates and concentrations 168 10.2 Regression of Log concentration (dependent variable) on Log prevalence (independent variable) 168 12.1 Area that charges were laid as compared to head counts of prostitutes (January 1986 to June 1987) 197 15.1 The composition of the CPCGL 231 16.1 Community membership of police consultative committees 1986–7 251 CONTRIBUTORS Robert Barr Department of Geography, University of Manchester Trevor Bennett Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge Anthony E. Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge Bottoms Ann Claytor Centre for Criminological and Legal Research, University of Sheffield Judy Darwood Department of Geography, University of Wales (Swansea) Norman Davidson School of Geography and Earth Resources, University of Hull David J. Evans Department of Geography and Recreation Studies, Staffordshire Polytechnic Nicholas R. Fyfe Department of Geography, University of Strathclyde Neil Hall Northumbria Police Force, Ponteland Kevin Heal Home Office Crime Prevention Unit, London David T. Herbert Department of Geography, University of Swansea Ian Heywood Department of Geography, Salford University János Ladányi Department of Sociology, University of Economics, Budapest, Hungary Michael Levi School of Social and Administrative Studies, University of Wales (Cardiff) Trevor Locke Policy Planning Officer, Coventry City Council John Lowman Department of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, Canada David Mitchell Department of Geography, Edinburgh University Kate Painter Department of Social Policy, University of Manchester Ken Pease Correctional Service of Canada, University of Saskatchewan Peter Redhead Gateshead Multi-Agency Crime Prevention George F.