Jarrett Moore
Offender Journey to Crime and Hotspot Environmental Characteristics in Durham Region 2009-2013 ©2014
This research seeks to explore the spatial patterns of crime incidents in Durham Region from 2009-2013. Through examining seven types of crime (break and enter business, break and enter dwelling, robbery of bank or financial institution, robbery of convenience store or gas station, robbery of person, theft from motor vehicle, and theft of motor vehicle), this paper brings forward an unique theoretical perspective, offender journey-to-crime, to analyze incident locations and offenders' residence as conclusive factors associated with spatial crime activity. It further addresses the lack of research on environmental factors of crime, by observing the structured environment and routine activities of hotspot locations through fieldwork.
Conclusions seem to complement previous patterns explored within scholarly literature: most incidents occur at times unique to each type of offence, when a suitable target is present, as well as a motivated offender and an absence of guardianship.
Findings could not confirm a connection between characteristics of the broken windows theory and locations with high densities of crime in Durham. However, environmental characteristics observed via fieldwork were similar to those suggested in place-based crime theories, as contributing and facilitating location based crime occurrences.
Journey-to-Crime analysis showed that the activity space of specific types of offenders follows a similar patterns with what has been shown in former studies. Violent offenders travelled shorter distances than property offenders, and serial offenders travelled further than non-serial offenders. Additionally, the activity space of Durham region offenders is larger if compared with similar literature findings.