Putting Fear of Crime on the Map: Investigating Perceptions of Crime Using Geographic Information Systems

ISBN-13: 9781441956460 / Angielski / Twarda / 2011 / 304 str.

Bruce Doran; Melissa Burgess

Opis

Since first emerging as an issue of concern in the late 1960s, fear of crime has become one of the most researched topics in contemporary criminology and receives considerable attention in a range of other disciplines including social ecology, social psychology and geography. Researchers looking the subject have consistently uncovered alarming characteristics, primarily relating to the behavioural responses that people adopt in relation to their fear of crime. This book reports on research conducted over the past eight years, in which efforts have been made to pioneer the combination of techniques from behavioural geography with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in order to map the fear of crime. The first part of the book outlines the history of research into fear of crime, with an emphasis on the many approaches that have been used to investigate the problem and the need for a spatially-explicit approach. The second part provides a technical break down of the GIS-based techniques used to map fear of crime and summarises key findings from two separate study sites. The authors describe collective avoidance behaviour in relation to disorder decline models such as the Broken Windows Thesis, the potential to integrate fear mapping with police-community partnerships and emerging avenues for further research. Issues discussed include fear of crime in relation to housing prices and disorder, the use of fear mapping as a means with which to monitor the impact of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and fear mapping in transit environments.

Spis treści

Foreword and dedication

 

Chapter 1: Introduction

The emergence of fear of crime as an area of research

The paradoxical nature of the fear of crime

Research into the fear of crime in different sites and situations

Current trends in fear of crime research

 

Chapter 2: Why is fear of crime a serious social problem?

Individual reactions

Hypothesised inks between the fear of crime, disorder and crime

Economic impacts of behavioural responses to fear of crime

Chapter review: problems not to be ignored and a need for spatially-explicit research

 

Chapter 3: What causes fear of crime?

Criminal opportunity and risk of victimisation theories

Demographic theories explaining fear of crime

Social theories explaining fear of crime

Environmental theories explaining fear of crime

Chapter review: an opening for pertinent environmental studies

 

Chapter 4: Managing fear of crime

Policing fear of crime

Social solutions to fear of crime

Environmental design and fear of crime

Chapter review: police, community and government cooperation

 

Chapter 5: Investigating the fear of crime

Defining fear of crime

Measuring fear of crime

Analysing fear of crime data

Chapter review: a new direction with avoidance mapping

 

Chapter 6: The Wollongong Study

                The goals of the Wollongong study

                Research Setting

                Fear of crime survey and analysis

                Discussion of spatial outputs

Discussion of activity diary analysis: The discrepancy between emotion-based fear in relation to daily routines and global measures of fear

Integrating the key spatio-temporal findings with police and community initiatives in Wollongong:  the degree of institutional involvement

                Assessments of techniques and approaches developed in the Wollongong  Study

 

Chapter 7: The Kings Cross Study

The goals of the Kings Cross study

                Research Setting

Fear of crime survey and analysis

Results and discussion

The dissonance between traditional global measures and crime-specific avoidance-based questions

Where are people afraid of crime?

Safe areas and cognitive barriers

Implications for policy, planning and practice

 

Chapter 8: Future avenues for fear mapping: potential applications and improvements

                Has collective avoidance behaviour change in Wollongong and Kings Cross?

                Investigating behavioral responses in relation to different types of crime

                Further avenues for investigating links between fear, crime and disorder

                Broken Windows theory in the transit context

                Fear mapping in and advances in spatial technology

O autorze

Dr Bruce Doran is a lecturer at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University. His research interests relate to the applied use of GIS-based techniques to investigate urban and biophysical problems, with a particular focus on strategic management and Decision Support Systems (DSS). Over recent years he has been developing techniques to investigate spatio-temporal links between the fear of crime and the actual occurrence of crime.

Dr Melissa Burgess completed a PhD looking into spatio-temporal patterns of avoidance in Kings Cross, Sydney. She has worked as a spatial analyst with the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research and is currently working for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Bangkok, Thailand.

Blurb

The impact of crime on society is well-known and well-documented. But fear of crime also takes a major toll, affecting individual mobility, neighborhood cohesion, and local economies, and is an increasingly important topic in criminology and other disciplines. In recent years, Geographic Information Systems technology has brought needed spatial dimensions to research into fear of crime.

Putting Fear of Crime on the Map reviews these efforts, chronicling the evolution of both research and technology. Fear of crime is defined as a complex system of avoidance behaviors that paradoxically helps create conditions favorable to crime, and the authors summarize approaches used in understanding the problem. In later chapters, data from two landmark studies examine new ways of conceptualizing and addressing fear of crime offered by GIS technology, and the authors present innovative GIS-based methods for reducing fear of crime, as well as in monitoring the effectiveness of law enforcement and community initiatives.

Key features of the book:

·         Historical and current trends in fear of crime research.

·         Analysis of fear of crime is a serious analytical and social problem.

·         Social/environmental theories explaining fear of crime.

·         Technical breakdown of Geographic Information Systems techniques used to map fear of crime.

·         Findings from eight years of studies of fear of crime using GIS technology.

·         Potential applications for fear mapping, and emerging areas for fear of crime research.

Putting Fear of Crime on the Map is a unique source of information for graduate and postgraduate researchers in criminology, and policy makers.