Spatial patterns of Indian serial burglars with relevance to geographical profiling

Sarangi, Sudhanshu; Youngs, Donna E.

doi:10.1002/jip.38

Cited by 32 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Notwithstanding the ongoing discussion on the starting point, we have left this issue largely untouched in our study for two reasons. First, we support the assertion that the location of an offender's home determines his use and understanding of the surrounding environment (Canter & Larkin, 1993;Sarangi & Youngs, 2006) and that offenders will have to return home at some point in time (Levine & Lee, 2013, p. 153;Rengert, 2004, p. 169). Second, the police records used in the study do not include sufficient and valid information on secondary anchor points.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

What Makes Long Crime Trips Worth Undertaking? Balancing Costs and Benefits in Burglars’ Journey to Crime

Vandeviver¹,

Daele²,

Beken³

2014

CRIMIN

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

What Makes Long Crime Trips Worth Undertaking? Balancing Costs and Benefits in Burglars’ Journey to Crime

Vandeviver¹,

Daele²,

Beken³

2014

CRIMIN

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“…Lundrigan & Canter, 2001), they prefer short rather than long journeys to crime (e.g. Canter & Hammond, 2006;Santtila, Laukkanen, & Zappalá, 2007;Sarangi & Youngs, 2006), and they tend to offend in areas that are familiar to them (e.g. Alston, 1994;Bernasco, 2010;Bernasco & Kooistra, 2010;Clarke & Felson, 1993;Felson, 1986Felson, , 1994.…”

Section: Behavioral Case Linkagementioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Different Types of Crime Using Geographical and Temporal Proximity

Tonkin

Woodhams

Bull

et al. 2011

Criminal Justice and Behavior

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In the absence of forensic evidence (such as DNA or fingerprints), offender behavior can be used to identify crimes that have been committed by the same person (referred to as behavioral case linkage). The current study presents the first empirical test of whether it is possible to link different types of crime using simple aspects of offender behavior. The discrimination accuracy of the kilometer-distance between offense locations (the intercrime distance) and the number of days between offenses (temporal proximity) was examined across a range of crimes, including violent, sexual and property-related offenses. Both the intercrime distance and temporal proximity were able to achieve statistically significant levels of discrimination accuracy that were comparable across and within crime types and categories. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations made for future research. Keywords ProximityOne of the most compelling and well-supported findings in criminology is that the majority of crime is committed by a minority of offenders (e.g. Kershaw, Nicholas, & Walker, 2008;Laub, 2004;Piquero, Farrington, & Blumstein, 2007). In the United States (US), for example, estimates suggest that approximately 5% of offenders are responsible for 30% of felony convictions (Office of the Legislative Auditor, 2001). Findings such as these suggest that an effective way for the police to tackle and reduce crime is to target serial and repeat offenders who are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime.Targeting serial offenders specifically, however, requires the police to identify serial offenses (referred to hereafter as linked crime series), which are essentially two or more crimes committed by the same offender or the same group of offenders (Woodhams, Hollin, & Bull, 2007). The most reliable way of identifying linked crime series is through the recovery of forensic evidence, such as DNA or fingerprints, left at the scenes of several different crimes (Grubin, Kelly, & Brunsdon, 2001). However, despite the impression that television programs such as CSI create, the availability of forensic evidence is surprisingly limited, with less than 1% of recorded crimes yielding such evidence (House of Commons, 2005). Therefore, the police often need to rely on other approaches to linking crime. One potential alternative is to use behavioral similarity, whereby crimes that show evidence of similar offender behavior are judged to have been committed by the same offender/s (referred to as linked crimes), whereas those that involve different behavior are said to have been committed by different offenders Running head: Linking Different Types of Crime 3 (referred to as unlinked crimes). This procedure is known by several names, including linkage analysis and comparative case analysis, but the term behavioral case linkage will be used in the current paper. Behavioral Case LinkageBehavioral case linkage is an investigative procedure that has received growing attention both prac...

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“…A significant body of research exists to support distance decay in the spatial behaviour of offenders from various crime types (e.g., Canter & Hammond, 2006;Lundrigan & Canter, 2001;Santtila, Laukkanen, & Zappalá, 2007;Sarangi & Youngs, 2006;Snook, 2004;Snook et al, 2005a;van Koppen & Jansen, 1998). The second assumption is that an offender will commit his/her crimes in the area surrounding the home (marauding), rather than travelling away from the home to commit crime (commuting).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The second assumption is that an offender will commit his/her crimes in the area surrounding the home (marauding), rather than travelling away from the home to commit crime (commuting). This marauding pattern has alternatively been referred to as domocentric (see, e.g., Sarangi & Youngs, 2006). Research has demonstrated varying degrees of marauding/commuting in a number of different crime types committed across the world, with the percentage of marauders ranging from 87% in the sample by Canter and Larkin (1993) of British serial rapists to 49% in the sample by Kocsis and Irwin (1997) of Australian burglars (see also Edwards & Grace, 2006;Hodge & Canter, 1998, cited by Canter et al, 2000Kocsis, Cooksey, Irwin, & Allen, 2002;Lundrigan & Canter, 2001;Tamura & Suzuki, 1997;Warren, Reboussin, & Hazelwood, 1995, cited by Canter et al, 2000Warren et al, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

A theoretical and practical test of geographical profiling with serial vehicle theft in a U.K. context

Tonkin

Woodhams²,

Bond³

et al. 2009

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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Geographical profiling is an investigative methodology sometimes employed by the police to predict the residence of an unknown offender from the locations of his/her crimes. The validity of geographical profiling, however, has not been fully explored for certain crime types. This study, therefore, presents a preliminary test of the potential for geographical profiling with a sample of 145 serial vehicle thieves from the U.K. The behavioural assumptions underlying geographical profiling (distance decay and domocentricity) are tested and a simple practical test of profiling using the spatial mean is presented. There is evidence for distance decay but not domocentricity among the spatial behaviour of car thieves from the U.K. A degree of success was achieved when applying the spatial mean on a case-by-case basis. The level of success varied, however, and neither series length in days nor number of crimes could account for the variation. The findings question previously held assumptions regarding geographical profiling and have potential theoretical and practical implications for the study and investigation of vehicle theft in the U.K.

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Spatial patterns of Indian serial burglars with relevance to geographical profiling

Cited by 32 publications

References 10 publications

What Makes Long Crime Trips Worth Undertaking? Balancing Costs and Benefits in Burglars’ Journey to Crime

What Makes Long Crime Trips Worth Undertaking? Balancing Costs and Benefits in Burglars’ Journey to Crime

Linking Different Types of Crime Using Geographical and Temporal Proximity

A theoretical and practical test of geographical profiling with serial vehicle theft in a U.K. context

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