Gerben Bruinsma

Putting crime in its place : Units of analysis in geographic criminology

Putting Crime in its Place: Units of Analysis in Geographic Criminology Edited by David Weisburd, Wim Bernasco and Gerben J.N. Bruinsma Table of Contents Introduction 1-Units of Analysis in Geographic Criminology: Historical Development, Critical Issues and Open Questions David Weisburd, Gerben J.N. Bruinsma, Wim Bernasco Part I What is the Appropriate Level of Investigation of Crime At Place? Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Defining Units of Place 2-Why Small is Better: Advancing the Study of the Role of Behavioral Contexts in Crime Causation Dietrich Oberwittler, Per-Olof H. Wikstrom 3-Where the Action is at Places: Examining Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Juvenile Crime at Places Using Trajectory Analysis and GIS Elizabeth Groff, David Weisburd, Nancy A. Morris 4-Crime Analysis at Multiple Scales of Aggregation: A Topological Approach Patricia L. Brantingham, Paul J. Brantingham, Mona Vajihollahi, Kathryn Wuschke 5-Geographical Units of Analysis and the Analysis of Crime George F. Rengert, Brian Lockwood 6-Waves, Particles and Crime Michael D. Maltz Part II Empirical Examples of Crime Place Studies: What Can We Learn? 7-Crime, Neighborhoods and Units of Analysis: Putting Space in its Place George E. Tita, Robert T. Greenbaum 8-Predictive Mapping of Crime by ProMap: Accuracy, Units of Analysis and the Environmental Backcloth Shane D. Johnson, Kate J. Bowers, Daniel J. Birks, Ken Pease 9-Urban Streets as MicroContexts to Commit Violence Johan van Wilsem 10-Determining How Journeys-To-Crime Vary: Measuring Inter- and Intra-Offender Crime Trip Distributions William Smith, John W. Bond, Michael Townsley

Putting Crime in its Place

Putting Crime in its Place: Units of Analysis in Geographic Criminology Edited by David Weisburd, Wim Bernasco and Gerben J.N. Bruinsma Table of Contents Introduction 1-Units of Analysis in Geographic Criminology: Historical Development, Critical Issues and Open Questions David Weisburd, Gerben J.N. Bruinsma, Wim Bernasco Part I What is the Appropriate Level of Investigation of Crime At Place? Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Defining Units of Place 2-Why Small is Better: Advancing the Study of the Role of Behavioral Contexts in Crime Causation Dietrich Oberwittler, Per-Olof H. Wikstrom 3-Where the Action is at Places: Examining Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Juvenile Crime at Places Using Trajectory Analysis and GIS Elizabeth Groff, David Weisburd, Nancy A. Morris 4-Crime Analysis at Multiple Scales of Aggregation: A Topological Approach Patricia L. Brantingham, Paul J. Brantingham, Mona Vajihollahi, Kathryn Wuschke 5-Geographical Units of Analysis and the Analysis of Crime George F. Rengert, Brian Lockwood 6-Waves, Particles and Crime Michael D. Maltz Part II Empirical Examples of Crime Place Studies: What Can We Learn? 7-Crime, Neighborhoods and Units of Analysis: Putting Space in its Place George E. Tita, Robert T. Greenbaum 8-Predictive Mapping of Crime by ProMap: Accuracy, Units of Analysis and the Environmental Backcloth Shane D. Johnson, Kate J. Bowers, Daniel J. Birks, Ken Pease 9-Urban Streets as MicroContexts to Commit Violence Johan van Wilsem 10-Determining How Journeys-To-Crime Vary: Measuring Inter- and Intra-Offender Crime Trip Distributions William Smith, John W. Bond, Michael Townsley

Situational causes of offending: a fixed-effects analysis of space-time budget data

Situational theories of crime assert that the situations that people participate in contain the proximal causes of crime. Prior research has not tested situational hypotheses rigorously, either for lack of detailed situational data or for lack of analytical rigor. The present research combines detailed situational data with analytical methods that eliminate all stable between-individual factors as potential confounds. We test seven potential situational causes: 1) presence of peers, 2) absence of adult handlers, 3) public space, 4) unstructured activities, 5) use of alcohol, 6) use of cannabis, and 7) carrying weapons. In a two-wave panel study, a general sample of adolescents completed a space-time budget interview that recorded, hour by hour over the course of 4 complete days, the activities and whereabouts of the subjects, including any self-reported offenses. In total, 76 individuals reported having committed 104 offenses during the 4 days covered in the space-time budget interview. Using data on the 4,949 hours that these 76 offenders spent awake during these 4 days, within-individual, fixed-effects multivariate logit analyses were used to establish situational causes of offending. The findings demonstrate that offending is strongly and positively related to all hypothesized situational causes except using cannabis and carrying weapons.

When Is Spending Time With Peers Related to Delinquency? The Importance of Where, What, and With Whom

Research has shown that time spent with peers is related to delinquency, but little is known about the conditions under which spending time with peers is most related to delinquent behavior. In this study, we contrast different categories of time spent with peers, using detailed information about the activities and whereabouts of 843 adolescents in The Hague, the Netherlands. Our findings reveal substantial differences. Time spent with peers appears to be independently related with delinquency only when it combines at least two of the following risk-inducing conditions: just socializing, being in public, and being unsupervised.

Moral emotions and offending: Do feelings of anticipated shame and guilt mediate the effect of socialization on offending?

In this study we examine whether feelings of anticipated shame and anticipated guilt when being caught for an offence mediate the relationship between parental monitoring, bonds with parents and school, deviant peers, moral values and offending. We use data from the SPAN project, a study that collected detailed information about offending, moral emotions and socialization among 843 adolescents in The Hague, the Netherlands. The results show that moral emotions of both anticipated shame and guilt have a strong direct effect on offending. The results also show that the relationship between parental monitoring, deviant peers, moral values and offending is substantially mediated by anticipated shame and guilt. This study clearly suggests that both shame and guilt need to be included in the explanation of offending.

Perceived sanction risk, individual propensity and adolescent offending: Assessing key findings from the deterrence literature in a Dutch sample

Deterrence studies have shown that perceived sanction risk is related to delinquent behaviour, independent of other variables, and that this relation may be conditioned by individual propensity towards crime. The principal goal of this study is to assess these findings with data from a sample of 843 Dutch adolescents. First, we analysed whether perceived sanction risk (perceived apprehension risk and perceived consequences if one is caught offending) has a relationship with offending, independent of one’s morality and self-control. Second, we examined possible interactions between perceived sanction risk and self-control, and between perceived sanction risk and morality. We also explored associations between specific offences (burglary, vandalism and assault), offence-specific measures of low morality (how right or wrong are burglary, vandalism and assault) and specific measures of perceived sanction risks. The findings demonstrate that perceived sanction risk is related to lower offending and that self-control is related to less offending, whereas low levels of morality are related to higher levels of offending. When offence-specific measures are used, the relation between perceived sanctions and offending seems to be dependent on one’s level of morality. Our results suggest that the less a person morally supports specific types of offending, the more strongly that person is affected by perceived sanctions. The implications of these findings for future studies of deterrence are discussed.

Public support for vigilantism, confidence in police and police responsiveness

This article provides an empirical test of the common assumption that public support for vigilantism is affected by confidence in police. Aside from assessing the role of diffuse (general) confidence in police, we also tested whether police response on a situational level affects how the public views an act of vigilantism. Respondents (N=385) were presented with a vignette about vigilantism. Using an experimental between-subjects design, we varied police responsiveness (high/low) to precipitating crime as well as vigilante violence (high/low). Diffused confidence in police was a significant predictor of support for vigilantism. Additionally, both experimental factors played an important role: low police responsiveness and low vigilante violence led to more support for vigilantism. Citizens are thus sensitive to situational variation when judging a crime. Our findings also emphasise the importance of police action on a local level for the formation of public opinion.

How is parenting related to adolescent delinquency? A between- and within-person analysis of the mediating role of self-control, delinquent attitudes, peer delinquency, and time spent in criminogenic settings

We examined how parenting is directly and indirectly associated with adolescent delinquency. We derived four possible mechanisms from major criminological theories and examined their relative contribution to explaining the relationship between parenting and delinquency: self-control theory (that is, self-control), differential association theory (that is, delinquent attitudes and peer delinquency), and routine activity theory (that is, time spent in criminogenic settings). In addition, we examined how changes in different aspects of parenting during adolescence were directly and indirectly related to changes in delinquency. Results of multilevel structural equation modeling on two waves of panel data on 603 adolescents indicated that parenting was indirectly related to delinquency through self-control, delinquent attitudes, peer delinquency, and time spent in criminogenic settings. However, only when examined together these variables, derived from major criminological theories, almost fully mediate the effects of parenting. Furthermore, changes in parenting during adolescence were indirectly related to changes in delinquency through changes in delinquent attitudes and in peer delinquency.

Gender Differences in Delinquency and Situational Action Theory: A Partial Test

This paper investigates to what extent a recent perspective in criminology, Situational Action Theory, is valid for both males and females and to what extent elements from the theory explain gender differences in delinquency. Data are used from the first (N = 843) and second (N = 616) wave of the Study of Peers, Activities, and Neighborhoods, which included detailed data about core elements of Situational Action Theory (morality, self-control, unsupervised peer activity and peer deviancy), proposed indirect causes (bonds with parents and school, parental monitoring) and self-reported delinquency. Cross-sectional and lagged Tobit regression analyses show that the core relations with delinquency are not significantly different between boys and girls and that the elements of Situational Action Theory are able to explain gender differences in delinquency for a substantial part. However, there is still a remaining independent effect of gender on current and lagged delinquency.

Reimagining Broken Windows From Theory to Policy

This article serves as a substantive introduction and guiding post for the journal’s special issue on “Reimagining Broken Windows: From Theory to Policy.” It describes the core concepts of the broken windows perspective, examines its theoretical underpinnings, and sets out priorities for future research and policy development. Important advancements have been made in the intellectual development and programmatic application of the broken windows perspective over the last 30 years. Some of these advancements include the measurement of disorder and experimentation of community and problem-solving strategies for policing disorder. There are also many challenges, including the need for a more consistent operationalization of disorder, a better understanding of potential mechanisms, and concerns about policy overreach in the name of broken windows. We predict that the broken windows perspective will be around for many more decades to come—its enduring qualities far exceed a smartly coined phrase.