Mapping Crime for Analytic Purposes: Location Quotients, Counts and Rates (From Crime Mapping and Crime Prevention, P 263-288, 1997, David Weisburd and Tom McEwen, eds. - See NCJ-170277)

• NCJ Number: 170286
• Author(s): P L Brantingham; P J Brantingham
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This chapter compares maps of violent crime across the cities of British Columbia using three crime measures: counts, rates and crime location quotients (LQCs).

Abstract

Crime can be analyzed and mapped in a number of different ways. The LQC, adapted from regional planning, provides views of crime patterns not obtained with the two more traditional measures of crime. The LQC estimates the mix of crimes rather than the prevalence of crime events, allowing the researcher to define what types of crimes dominate a given area, rather than focusing on the amount of crime that is present. It offers a way of understanding how one area is different from another for purposes of research and deployment of prevention and control resources. The LQC could be particularly important when studying crimes that are dependent on movement and activities, and allows researchers to incorporate socioeconomic data into crime figures. The LQC emphasizes the contextual view of crime, and illustrates the importance of developing new analytical tools for describing geographic crime patterns. Tables, figures, notes, references