Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 GEOINFORMATICS FOR CONCENTRATION OF CRIME AGAINST WOMEN IN TIRUCHIRAPPALLI CITY, TAMIL NADU. P. Mary Santhi1, S. Balaselvakumar2 K. Kumaraswamy3 1Research Scholar 2Assistant Professor & 3Emeritus Professor 1&2 Department of Geography, Periyar E.V.R. College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli – 620 023 3Department of Geography, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli – 620 024 Affiliated to Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli – 620 024 Abstract This paper is an attempt to mapping and analysing the concentration of crimes against women in Tiruchirappalli city for the years 2012 to 2017. The concentration score of crimes against women (rape, dowry death, molestation, kidnapping, cruelty by husband, dowry Prohibition Act 1961 and POCSO Act, 2012) recorded in each of All Women Police Station (AWPS) has been calculated and it reveals that the high concentration of crime rape was recorded in AWPS Golden rock with 1.4%, dowry death in AWPS Srirangam with 3.4%, molestation in AWPS Cantonment with 0.6%, cruelty by husband in AWPS Srirangam with 1.4%, dowry Prohibition Act 1961 cases in AWPS Fort with 1.7% and POCSO Act, 2012 cases in AWPS Golden rock with 1.4%. The low concentration of crime rape and cruelty by husband was recorded in AWPS Srirangam and Golden rock with 0.9% and molestation and kidnapping in AWPS Fort and Cantonment with 0.1 %. Among all four AWPS, the AWPS Golden rock and Srirangam had recorded the maximum concentration of crimes against women when the total crimes in a particular police station were compared to the total crimes in the study area. Keywords: Crime against women – women police station – concentration – Geoinformatics mapping 1. INTRODUCTION Crime against woman has become one of the most habitual and common human rights violations and is a major crisis in ending gender inequality and prejudice globally. It is also well- known that crime against women is not equally scattered across the world. It has been observed Volume 10 Issue 3 - 2020 832 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 that some places suffer from significantly higher rates of crime than others (Guerry, 1833; Park, 1925; Shaw and McKay, 1942; Reiss and Tonry, 1986; Sampson, 1985; Smith, 1986). It may take different forms depending on history, society, surroundings, but it causes great distress for women, their relatives, and the society in which they live. A concentration of crime against women is a spatial area in which high levels of crime incidents occur and it can be the result of homogeneous or heterogeneous crime event. Criminologists have explored crime distribution and the factors thought to contribute to these between-area differences in crime at many levels of geography, examining the impact of structural characteristics on levels of crime across states (Loftin and Hill, 1974), cities (Baumer, Lauritsen, Rosenfeld, and Wright, 1998), neighborhoods (Bursik and Grasmick, 1983; Sampson, 1985; Wilson, 1987) and even single addresses (Sherman, Gartin and Buerger, 1989). Recently, the term concentration has been used to describe the tendency of crime against women to be tied to a small number of places within a given city.Theoretical reasons to believe that any observed variation in the concentration of crime against women may have implications for the total volume of crime, which occurs within the city’s borders. Spatial concentration of crime against women is associated with differences in crimes. 2. STUDY AREA The Tiruchirappalli city’s base map had been outlined from the Survey of India (SOI) Toposheets Nos. 58 J/9, 10, 13 and 14. The city lies between the latitudes 10° 43' 40''- 10° 53' 00'' North and the longitudes 78° 38' 14'' - 78° 48' 50'' East. The Cauvery delta starts form 16 kilometers (9.9 mi) West of the city where the river divides into two streams-the Cauvery and the Kollidam-to form the island of Srirangam (Fig.2.1). The topography of Tiruchirappalli city is approximately flat and its average elevation is 88 meters (289 ft). Some isolated small hills rise above the surface, the highest of which is the Rockfort. Its estimated age of 3,800 million years makes it one of the oldest rocks in the world. Other prominent mound includes the Golden rock, Khajamalai, and one each at Uyyakondan Thirumalai and Thiruverumbur. (Fig.1).The two major rivers that facilitate Tiruchirappalli city are the Cauvery and its distributary the Kollidam, but the city is also fertiled by the Uyyakondan canal, Koraiyar and Kudamuritti Rivers. The land immediately surrounding the Cauvery River, which traverses through Tiruchirappalli city from West to East, consists of fertile alluvial soil deposits on which crops like paddy, banana and sugarcane are cultivated and on the nearby dry soil finger millet and maize are cultivated. Further South, the surface is enclosed by poor-quality black soil. A belt of Cretaceous rock known as the Trichinopoly group runs to the Northeast of the city, and to the Southeast in which there are layers of Achaean rocks, granite and gneiss covered by a thin bed of conglomeratic laterite. Volume 10 Issue 3 - 2020 833 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 3. METHODOLOGY The concentration of a certain crime against women would give the concentration of that crime in a particular area in relation to its surrounding area. The index of crime concentration was calculated for crimes against women for the years 2012-2017 in Tiruchirappalli city, with the help of (Hari Shripati Vanamore, 2012) formula, CR= PR/SR Where CR= concentration rate of X crime. PR = % of X crime in the total crimes in a particular police station. SR= % of X crime in the total crimes in the study area. The resultant map gives the police station wise concentration of crimes against women which varies with police stations as well as time. Accordingly, the levels of concentration of crimes against women in the city of Tiruchirappalli have been formed as high, medium and low concentration level and free from crime. 4. ANALYSIS OF CONCENTRATION OF CRIME AGAINST WOMEN 4.1 Index of Crime Concentration of Rape In the years, 2012 to 2017 the high concentration of crime rape was recorded in AWPS Golden rock with 1.4%. AWPS Fort and Cantonment were medium with the same crime rate1.2% and the low concentration of crime rape was recorded in AWPS Srirangam with 0.9% (Fig.2).Besides All Women Police Stations (AWPS), the concentration of crime rape was recorded in some of the police stations such as Cantonment with 3.7%, Government hospital Volume 10 Issue 3 - 2020 834 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 with 1.1% and Palakkarai with 0.9%. In 2012 and 2013, the high concentration of crime rape was found in AWPS Srirangam with 1.8%, medium was recorded in AWPS Golden rock with 1.2 % and AWPS Fort with 1.1% and the low was recorded in AWPS Cantonment with 0.6%.In the years, 2014 and 2015, the high concentration of crime rape was found in AWPS of Golden rock with 3.6%, medium was recorded in AWPS of Cantonment range with 2.4% and AWPS Srirangam was low withFig. 20.6% and AWPS Fort was free from this crime.In 2016 and 2017, the high concentration of crime rape was found in AWPS Fort with 2.5%. AWPS Cantonment was low with 1.7% and AWPS Srirangam and Golden rock were free from this crime. 5. Index of Crime Concentration of Dowry Death In the year, 2012 and 2017, the high concentration of crime dowry death was recorded in AWPS Srirangam with 3.4%. Medium was recorded in AWPS Golden rock with 1.1% and the rest were free from this crime (Fig.3).Besides All Women Police Stations (AWPS), the concentration of crime dowry death was also recorded in K.K. Nagar police station with 4.3%.In 2012 and 2013, the high concentration of crime dowry death was found in AWPS Srirangam with 5.0% and the rest were free from this crime.In 2014 and 2015, the high concentration of crime dowry death was found in AWPS Srirangam with 2.5%. AWPS Golden rock with 1.8% was recorded as Volume 10 Issue 3 - 2020 835 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 medium and the rest were free from this crime.In 2016 and 2017, the high concentration of crime dowry death was found in AWPS Srirangam with 3.5% and the rest were free from this crime. 6. Index of Crime Concentration of Molestation In the years from 2012 to 2017 the high concentration of crime molestation was recorded in AWPS Cantonment with 0.6% and AWPS Golden rock with 0.4%. Medium was recorded in AWPS Srirangam with 0.2% and AWPS Fort was low with 0.1% (Fig.4).Besides All Women Police Stations (AWPS), the concentration of crime molestation was also recorded in all other 14 police stations such as Sessions court, Ariyamangalam and Gandhi market with the same crime rate 5.8%, Golden rock and Thillainagar with the same crime rate 3.9%, Cantonment, Palakkarai and Government Hospital with the same crime rate 2.9%, Woraiyur with 2.5% Srirangam, K.K. Volume 10 Issue 3 - 2020 836 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 Nagar, Airport and Fort with the same crime rate 2.3% and Edamalaipattipudur with 1.9%. In 2012 and 2013, the high concentration of crime molestation was found in AWPS Srirangam with 0.5%, medium was recorded in AWPS Cantonment with 0.4% and AWPS Golden rock with 0.3% as low and Fort was free from this crime.In 2014 and 2015, the high concentration of crime molestation was found in AWPS Cantonment with 1.0%, medium was recorded in AWPS Golden rock with 0.6%.