NCJ Number
79574
Date Published
1980
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This review assesses Peter Engstad's comparison of the extent of criminality in areas with licensed hotels (with bars) and control areas, as well as in shopping areas and control areas.
Abstract
The study did not use a formal hypothesis-testing design or test any results for levels of significance. Rather, the study used police crime statistics for specific types of crime to compare the crime levels in the hotel and shopping areas and control areas (areas without hotels and shopping). Data analysis involved the development of a series of crime opportunity indices, which were used in comparing crime phenomena in different areas of the city. The indices were a ratio of the number of crimes in an area to the number of environmental characteristics, such as parking stalls, bar seats, amount of retail space, and number of acres occupied by a shopping center. These 'characteristics' represented measures of the opportunities for crime. The study concluded that areas with hotels and shopping centers had considerably more offenses than did adjacent areas without such facilities. This conclusion is supported by the findings that more alcohol-related offenses occurred in areas with licensed hotels than in adjacent residential areas and that more auto-related offenses occurred in areas with shopping centers than in adjacent residential areas. These and similar findings are very narrow and cannot be generalized for other crimes. In addition, while the study developed indices to explain the crime incidence in areas with hotels and shopping centers, it did not establish comparable indices for adjacent control areas. This lack of comparability limits the validity of the conclusions.