NCJ Number
190386
Date Published
2001
Length
129 pages
Annotation
This report examined campus crime prevention from the perspective of campus environments as small, self-contained, high-density communities presenting a unique challenge in crime control with an emphasis on the use of high-definition Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Abstract
College and university campuses have many characteristics of a community. However, there are several characteristics that distinguish the members of a campus community from what is commonly thought of as a residential community presenting certain potential criminogenic factors. First, most members of the campus community are recent high school graduates between the ages of 18 and 24 and some will engage in excessive alcohol consumption and experiment with illegal drugs. This is seen as the most criminogenic age group in society. Second, the campus community is transitory in nature. Third, college campuses are criminogenic due to its members having predictable routines. Just as there are criminogenic factors involved in college communities there is also a social cohesiveness. Members of a college community are involved in a common mission, education. College and university campuses have many characteristics of a community, some of which have been associated with a criminogenic environment. However, campuses have characteristics not found in a residential community that make crime less likely, such as a common educational mission. The question of whether the campus community was part of a larger community contributing to the level of crime on campus was discussed. University and college administrators realize that the perception of crime on their campuses seriously affects the rate of future applications. Priorities were placed on campus police and security in an attempt to reduce crime and victimization. So that they can exercise greater control over the activities of campus police, colleges and universities developed their own police departments. Administrators want campus police to focus on special problems of the campus community. The majority of these problems require high-definition GIS to identify and record. Several sections in the report described a high-definition GIS that incorporated the three dimensions of the built environment. This system allows a micro-level identification and location of crime necessary for modern analysis of community policing and situational crime control. High-definition GIS allows a more refined reporting of crime to the campus community and suggests joint actions that the community and police can undertake to regain control of a criminogenic situation. Tables, figures, appendices, references