NCJ Number
165239
Date Published
1996
Length
40 pages
Annotation
A common theme in crime analysis concerns the identification, description, and explanation of crime-related events, and case studies are presented that describe techniques used to assess the distribution of crime over a geographic area.
Abstract
Tremendous advances in information systems have occurred over the past decade. Most notable have been advances in geographic information systems and computer applications, including the development and use of databases and digital map files in a microcomputer environment. Many of the techniques used to describe and analyze the geographic distribution of crime have been used for decades, but the revolution in information systems has greatly improved the ability to analyze crime. An overview of point pattern analysis is presented, and types of point patterns are described. Descriptive measures of the spatial occurrence of crime in one dimension and methods for determining probabilities associated with residential burglary cases in Baltimore County, Maryland, are described. Procedures are also detailed to test for the spatial randomness of robberies along the Baltimore National Pike, to identify and monitor high-crime activity areas, and to assess space-time interactions in crime analysis. 18 references, 3 tables, and 8 figures