Search

The crime and place literature has consistently emphasized the importance of understanding spatial patterns of crime using increasingly smaller spatial units of analysis. Despite the growing number of studies that have used this perspective, very few of them have investigated sexual offenses specifically. The current study uses police event data to investigate the spatial distribution of sexual offenses that occurred between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2018 in Austin, Texas (N = 1381). Disaggregating offenses first by victim age (child versus adult) and then type of sexual act perpetrated (penetration, sexual contact, and sexual non-contact offenses), three measures of spatial clustering, kernel density analyses, and a spatial point pattern test are used. Findings indicate that sexual offenses perpetrated against children and adults are spatially concentrated, but the degree to which they cluster depends upon the type of sexual act committed. Furthermore, within each of these victim profiles, spatial point pattern findings suggest that the street segments (and intersections) affected by sexual crime differ according to the nature of the sexual act committed. Implications for situational crime prevention and policing are discussed.

PurposeEarly classification systems of fire setting have suffered from several limitations, including the lack of empirical validation and the focus mainly on the offender motivation behind this type of crime. More recent research shows that looking at the crime scene behaviors may present a more fruitful approach for helping to solve fire setting offenses. The purpose of this study is to advance current scholarship by developing a new typology of fire setting based on the combination of offender motive and crime scene behaviors.Design/methodology/approachLatent class analyses were used with a sample of 134 fire setters who committed 275 arsons from the Korean National Police Agency to identify distinct fire setter motivations and crime scene contexts. Chi-square and crosstabulation analysis were then conducted to determine whether crime scene behaviors were associated with distinct offender motives and vice versa. Lastly, to improve the external validity of each of the latent classes, chi-square analyses were performed using variables related to the fire setters' criminal history, sociodemographic characteristics and arson classification.FindingsFive motive subtypes were identified as well as five distinct crime scene contexts in which serial fire setting occurs. A significant association among these classes suggests that it is possible to infer fire setters’ motive from crime scene behavior and vice versa.Originality/valueThis comprehensive typology of fire setters has potential for profiling of unknown offenders as well as for suspect prioritization in police investigations.

The security hypothesis posits that the international crime drop can be attributed to, in large part, improvements in security technology. However, in recent years, certain types of property crime are increasing. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that offenders are adapting to increased security in vehicles through burglarizing residences to steal keys. We analyze residential burglaries, thefts of vehicles, and their co-occurrences in Brisbane Australia (2009–2018) to identify changes in their temporal patterns. Residential burglaries declined while thefts of vehicle remained relatively constant. Co-occurrences of residential burglaries and thefts of vehicle doubled while the rate almost tripled. Data signatures indicate a shift in modus operandi showing significant increases in the use of residential burglaries to facilitate thefts of vehicle.

Alternatives to population-based crime rates were first introduced in 1965. Activity-based crime rates derive numerator data from activity-specific crime events, then match these to time spent in the same activities. Activity-based rates can produce a vastly different picture of risk, not captured by population-based rates. Given that numerator and denominator data may be drawn from different sources using different methods, these rates can create a matching challenge. Yet, dramatic results justify that effort. This paper offers new activity-based crime rate calculations for Canada and Australia, then relates these to prior estimates in the USA. Despite data variations among the three nations, activity-based crime rates give us an overall understanding of crime risk not captured by population-based rates.

BACKGROUND While the presence or absence of previous healthcare and criminal justice system (CJS) contacts in the histories of mentally ill offenders has been well-studied, the frequency of these contacts and when they occur in the period leading up to an index criminal event has received less research attention. AIMS To explore patterns of healthcare and CJS use in the year prior to a criminal act leading to a Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder (NCRMD) finding in Canada. METHODS In this 3-year retrospective records study, the case files of all patients newly admitted to the British Columbia forensic psychiatric system after a finding of NCRMD between 1st July 2012 and 31st July 2015 were reviewed. Data were extracted on healthcare and CJS use for the 12 months before the act leading to the NCRMD finding. Time-based descriptive statistics and two-step cluster analysis were used to investigate service use patterns. RESULTS Among 94 eligible patients, only four had no service contacts in the year leading up to the index event, leaving 90 in the cohort for further analysis. On average, these 90 patients had seven contacts with health or criminal justice services in the year prior to the index offence. Cluster analysis revealed a high healthcare pathway group who had had many healthcare and few CJS contacts; a limited service user group who had had few contacts of any kind and a heavy service user group who had had a high volume of contacts with both types of service providers. CONCLUSIONS The different patterns of patient contact prior to the index event imply that each practitioner-type has distinct and temporally relevant opportunities to provide preventative interventions to their patients or user groups.

Recent research has shown that crime-related police calls for service account for 20–30% of police call-related activity. In this article, we analyse temporal patterns of calls for police service relating to mental health. Approximately, 22,000 mental health-related calls are analysed. Seasonal, monthly, and daily patterns are analysed using ANOVA and negative binomial regression. Mental health-related calls for police service have a distinct temporal pattern for the days of the week and, to a lesser extent, at different times of the year. These calls for police service are elevated during fall/winter months and during the week. Our analyses show that police resourcing based only on criminal activity is limited for at least this one form of police calls for service. This may have implications for police resourcing and scheduling, particularly in the context of the day of the week and when special mental health teams are needed.

Purpose Using both crime pattern and social disorganization theories, the current study investigates the characteristics of those places that experience high counts of reported sexual crime to police. Methods Socio-demographic factors, land use, specific sexual crime attractors, and ecological variables are used to predict dissemination areas with high counts of sexual crime within a large city using 2180 founded crime events retrieved from a Canadian police database. Results Socio-demographic and ecological factors, as well as the presence of particular sexual crime attractors, characterize these neighborhoods. For example, dissemination areas that have higher percentages of female, male, and single residents, as well as higher counts of rental units, bars, and schools, experience more sexual crimes. Land use does not predict dissemination areas with high counts of sexual crime. Conclusions Both crime pattern and social disorganization theories provide a framework within which the nature of sexual crime places can be better understood. This information could be used to empower community members as to the types of places that are the riskiest for crimes of this nature, as well as to create a conversation about interventions that could be put in place at both the secondary and tertiary levels to prevent future occurrences.

The current study investigates gender differences in the spatial distribution of the British Columbia Mental Health Act (MHA), criminal and non-criminal police calls-for-service involving emotionally disturbed persons (EDP). Using a sample of 4341 police incidents over a three-year period, 13 pairwise spatial comparisons of similarity were completed across four dimensions: Mental Health Act events, criminal and non-criminal events, and gender. Results indicate that the locations in which EDP intersect with police services are spatially concentrated, and the spatial patterns differ depending on whether the events are calls that fall under the Mental Health Act, criminal, or non-criminal in nature. When considering the gender component, findings indicate that the locations of Mental Health Act calls are the most spatially distinct between males and females. Findings further emphasise that EDP are involved in many different types of contacts with the police, most of which are apprehensions under the ...

A subset of persons with mental illness is at risk for becoming involved with the police, and an even smaller subset of emotionally disturbed persons (EDP) has multiple contacts over time. Not much is known, however, about the nature of these contacts and how the patterns of everyday life can lead to the initial contact with, and type of police response to, EDP. To address this issue, a spatial point pattern test is used to compare the spatial distributions of calls-for-service involving EDP (n = 2,847) to all other police contacts (n = 137,901) in an urban Canadian setting. FINDINGS indicate that there are significant variations among these two calls-for-service, with EDP calls clustering on very few street segments. To better understand this clustering, a series of place attractors that may affect EDP are analyzed. It is suggested that a link may exist between the density of place attractors and that of EDP calls-for-service. Language: en

Purpose To examine the variability in the ‘journey-to-crime’ and ‘journey-to-victimization’ in stranger rapes when disaggregated by offender motive. Using crime pattern theory as the theoretical framework, a series of pre-offense factors are used to explain these differences. Methods Two-step cluster analysis is first used to identify motive subtypes in 1009 stranger female rapes from a French police database. Kruskal-Wallis analyses then test for significant differences in distances traveled between the motivational groups. Finally, a series of negative binomial regressions are conducted to predict three distance measures: offender's residence to crime scene, victim's residence to crime scene, and victim's residence to offender's residence. Results The average distances traveled for both offenders and victims to the crime scene, and between their residences, varied by motive. Findings from the regression models indicated that while offender motive is important, environmental characteristics and victim activity at the time of the assault also predict the distances traveled for both individuals. Conclusions Determining the most likely motive of the offender, in conjunction with other offense characteristics that would be known at the time of investigation, has the potential to provide law enforcement officials with an indication of the unknown offender's geographic behavior in active rape cases.

Using data from qualitative interviews and police reports, latent class analysis is used on a sample of 54 repeat stranger sexual offenders who committed 204 sexual assaults to identify discrete contexts present at the time of victim encounter that influence these offenders’ decision to use more than one location to commit their crimes. Five distinct classes are identified: residential outdoor common area, spontaneous/quiet outdoor site, residential home, active green space, and indoor/public gathering place. An investigation into the outcome(s) that most often result from the offender’s decision to move the victim during the sexual assault indicates that those who move the victim from an active green space overwhelmingly engage in sexual penetration, as well as forcing their victims to commit sexual acts on them. Crimes where the victim is moved from a residential home show evidence of the offender physically harming the victim as well as using more force than necessary to complete the assault. Implications for situational crime prevention are discussed.

Purpose Using the rational choice perspective, the current study investigates the impact that the environment and offending behavior have on serial sexual crime event outcomes. Methods The effects of time and place factors, as well as offender modus operandi strategies, on sexual crime event outcomes are tested using Generalized Estimating Equations on a sample of 361 crime events committed by 72 serial sex offenders. Results Time and place do impact serial stranger sexual offenders’ modus operandi strategies, but the place characteristics of the crime have more of an effect on the offender’s behavior than do the temporal conditions during which the event occurs. Subsequent analyses indicate that temporal and place factors, as well as offender modus operandi strategies, predict whether the offender completes the rape, his reaction to victim resistance, and the level of physical force that he inflicts on the victim, but not whether the victim is forced to commit sexual acts on the offender. Conclusions Serial stranger sexual offenders are effective decision-makers who adapt their strategies to the physical environment in which they commit their crimes, but their degree of rationality can vary as some outcomes are more dependent on the context than the offender and his actions.

A series of stranger sexual assaults poses considerable obstacles for law enforcement officials. One such preoccupation is concerned with whether or not the offender will escalate in the severity of his behaviours with subsequent victims. The current study uses transition matrices to address whether or not the offending patterns of 72 serial stranger sex offenders change from one victim to the next as it pertains to their sexual acts and level of physical force used during the crime. Findings indicate that stability, specifically the offender's intrusive sexual acts and use of physical force, and versatility are present in this sample's offending patterns. To explain changes in offending patterns between victims, multinomial regression analyses indicate that situational factors and modus operandi strategies are important considerations. Implications for investigations are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Past research on the spatial mobility of serial offenders has generally found that these individuals make calculated decisions about the ways in which they come into contact with suitable victims. Within the geographic profiling literature, four victim-search methods have been theorized that describe how serial predatory offenders hunt for their victims: hunter, poacher, troller, and trapper. Using latent class analysis, the aim of this study is to test whether this theoretical typology can be empirically derived using data that were collected from both police files and semi-structured interviews with 72 serial sex offenders who committed 361 stranger sexual assaults. Empirical support is found for each of the aforementioned victim-search methods, in addition to two others: indiscriminate opportunist and walking prowler. Chi-square analyses are also conducted to test for associations between this typology and characteristics of the offense such as victim information, environmental factors, and the offender’s modus operandi strategies. Findings from these analyses suggest that the types of victims and environments targeted by the offender, as well as the behaviors that take place both before and during the offense, are dependent upon the offender’s victim-search strategy. Although the theoretical hunter, poacher, troller, and trapper were intended to describe the victim-search methods of serial violent predators more generally, the finding that these strategies exist along with two others in this sample of sexual offenders may indicate that search behavior is specific to certain crime types. Furthermore, these findings may be of assistance in the investigation of stranger sexual assaults by providing law-enforcement officials with possible clues as to the characteristics of the unknown suspect, the times and places likely targeted in any past or future events, and possibly even his base of operations.