NCJ Number
81163
Journal
Police Research Bulletin Issue: 37 Dated: (Autumn 1981) Pages: 10-18
Date Published
1981
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article describes a British study on the concept of defensible space and submits findings that show how crime can be prevented by design and managment of the environment.
Abstract
Street attacks reported to the police in Birmingham and Coventry between September 1977 and August 1978 were studied. The types of crime studied were violent and sexual assaults, robbery, and thefts from the person. The main concern of the study was with 552 attacks in the city of Birmingham, but there was also a sample of 1 month in 3 of the attacks which were reported for the whole of Coventry. Only those attacks which occurred in public places were included. Incidents were classified into more precise categories than those of existing crime categories so that clearer environmental patterns could emerge. This was done by considering time of day and week and plotting each incident in the form of a sequence of events with information on the victim, the offender, and the environmental setting. Two examples -- 'quick grabs' under 'sexual assaults' and 'thefts from shopping bags' under 'attacks for gain' illustrate how this categorization leads to identifying the precise city locations where such attacks are most likely to happen. Out of 18 reported 'quick grabs,' 11 occurred in pedestrian subway systems. Of 205 thefts from shopping bags, 158 took place at Birmingham markets and 26 more in covered shopping malls. The precision with which the crime sites can be located implies that the environment must be contributing to the crime causes. If the conditions that provide the opportunity for crime can be identified, it should be possible to find ways of reducing that opportunity. Through this analysis of both time and location of specific crime occurrence, five situations in Birmingham were identified, where changes in the design and management of the environment could lead to a reduction of these crimes. Three references, maps, and tables are provided.