NCJ Number
222937
Journal
International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences Volume: 1 Issue: 2 Dated: July 2006 Pages: 24-34
Date Published
July 2006
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This research study evaluated hypotheses concerning the relationship between specific types of crime and population density in an effort to determine whether compelling evidence could be detected for the presence of differential effects, whether criminogenic or crime-inhibiting.
Abstract
By and large, the available evidence increasingly tends to suggest that most types of crime tend to increase in levels of occurrence with increasing population density. This analysis demonstrates that both property and violent crimes were moderately correlated with population density and these crimes largely affected the same blocks. The conclusion is drawn that at the block level of geography, no evidence of a differential between property and violent crimes based on population density could be detected. The role of population density as a generator or inhibitor of crime has been the subject of research and debate for decades. The classic argument is that high density offers opportunities for property crimes, given that it is a surrogate for the distribution of private property, offering attractive targets to thieves. However, on the other hand, densely populated areas offer natural surveillance that has the effect of inhibiting violent crimes. This study hypothesized that there would be a significant difference between the densities of (a) property crimes and (b) violent crimes in terms of their relationship to population density, all measured at a fine or large scale of geography, specifically the city block. Property and violent crimes were selected from a database of over 100,000 crimes reported in Baltimore County, MD in the year 2000. Tables, figures, references