CCJ 335 Understanding Crime Hotspots

Criminal events are not uniformly distributed across space; nor are such events randomly patterned. Rather, crime and disorder patterns tend to concentrate in specific places and at specific times. In addition, crime is a relatively rare event, meaning that most locations experience little to no occurrences. By exploring where and when crime concentrates, we can learn more about why crime occurs at these locations, and importantly, we can learn how to prevent future occurrences. Understanding Crime Hotspots brings the geographic concepts of space and place into the context of criminology.