Crime analysis

Abstract: Who are the men committing the rising number of serial homicides in the U.S. -- and why do they kill? The increase in these violent crimes over the past decade has created an urgent need for more and better information about these men: their crime scene patterns, violent acts, and above all, their motivations for committing these shocking and repetitive murders. This authoritative book represents the data, findings, and implications of a long-term F.B.I.-sponsored study of serial sex killers. Specially trained F.B.I. agents examined thirty-six convicted, incarcerated sexual murderers to build a valuable new bank of information which reveals the world of the serial sexual killer in both quantitative and qualitative detail. Data was obtained from official psychiatric and criminal records, court transcripts, and prison reports, as well as from extensive interviews with the offenders themselves. Featured in this book is detailed information on the F.B.I.'s recently developed Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP) and a sample of an actual VICAP Crime Analysis Report Form.

Abstract: Environmental criminology is a generic label that covers a range of overlapping perspectives. At the core, the various strands of environmental criminology are bound by a common focus on the role that the immediate environment plays in the performance of crime, and a conviction that careful analyses of these environmental influences are the key to the effective investigation, control and prevention of crime. Environmental Crime and Crime Analysis brings together for the first time the key contributions to environmental criminology to comprehensively define the field and synthesize the concepts and ideas surrounding environmental criminology. The chapters are written by leading theorists and practitioners in the field. Each chapter will analyze one of the twelve major elements of environmental criminology and crime analysis. This book will be essential reading for both practitioners and undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in this subject.

Abstract: Spatial crime analysis relies not only on accurate geocoding but also the achievement of a high level of geocoding success. Geocoding is the task of converting locations, such as the addresses of burglary victims, into grid coordinates and is a task performed regularly by many crime analysts. Data sources include police offence and incident databases where the quality of geographical references can vary. The reality of dealing with this real world data means that achieving a completely successful geocoding process is rare and few crime analysts can get a hit rate (the percentage measure of success) of 100%. This paper seeks the answer to a seemingly simple question: what is an ‘acceptable’ minimum geocoding hit rate for crime data? This paper uses a number of different crime patterns and Monte Carlo simulation to replicate a declining geocoding hit rate to answer this question. Reduced crime rates of mapped points, aggregated to census boundaries, are compared for a statistically significant difference. T...

Abstract: his is a revised and extended version of a manual, Become a Problem-Solving Crime Analyst, that we wrote for the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at University College London, with financial support from the Home Office. We are most grateful to the Institute and to the Home Office for allowing us to produce this version for the United States. We are also grateful to the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services for commissioning the work. In the Acknowledgements page of the earlier version we thanked many colleagues and friends on whose work we had freely drawn. Those who have materially assisted us in completing this version by supplying material for inclusion, commenting on drafts, or in other ways, include: John Eck is professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati. He has contributed to the development of problem-oriented policing since 1984 when he studied the first full-scale attempt to implement the concept in the United States at Newport News, Virginia. He helped to develop a number of now standard techniques in problem-oriented policing, including the SARA model and the problem analysis triangle. O ne of the primary concerns in policing in the United States today – and for the foreseeable future – is the severe constraint on spending. The lion's share of police budgets is consumed in personnel costs. As a result, many police agencies are already operating significantly below their authorized strength. Funds to hire new officers to meet growing needs are hard to obtain. And, of special relevance here, traditional forms of policing, because they are so heavily dependent on personnel, are being curtailed. Calls cannot be handled as completely and quickly as in the past. Personnel cannot be as freely assigned to increasing the police presence on the streets in labor-intensive tactics, such as crackdowns, sweeps, and special task forces. This reality is a powerful new force for rethinking the way in which we police. It connects with prior efforts to promote greater concern for the effectiveness of the police. And it lends fresh impetus to meeting a long-standing, neglected need – the need to equip the police with an institutionalized capacity to examine its work product; to routinely ask, before committing to more of the same, what it is that the police are expected to accomplish and how they can more effectively accomplish it. Rethinking current methods requires a new understanding of the role …