The Criminology of Place: Street Segments and Our Understanding of the Crime Problem

by David Weisburd, Elizabeth R. Groff, Sue-Ming Yang

The study of crime has focused primarily on why particular people commit crime or why specific communities have higher crime levels than others. In The Criminology of Place , David Weisburd, Elizabeth Groff, and Sue-Ming Yang present a new and different way of looking at the crime problem by examining why specific streets in a city have specific crime trends over time. Based on a 16-year longitudinal study of crime in Seattle, Washington, the book focuses our attention on small units of geographic analysis-micro communities, defined as street segments. Half of all Seattle crime each year occurs on just 5-6 percent of the city's street segments, yet these crime hot spots are not concentrated in a single neighborhood and street by street variability is significant. Weisburd, Groff, and Yang set out to explain why.

The Criminology of Place shows how much essential information about crime is inevitably lost when we focus on larger units like neighborhoods or communities. Reorienting the study of crime by focusing on small units of geography, the authors identify a large group of possible crime risk and protective factors for street segments and an array of interventions that could be implemented to address them. The Criminology of Place is a groundbreaking book that radically alters traditional thinking about the crime problem and what we should do about it.

Genres: Crime, Academic

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2012

About the author

David L. Weisburd (b. 1954) is a leading American criminologist and Distinguished Professor at George Mason University, where he heads the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. Known particularly for his work on policing, white-collar crime, and the criminology of place, he is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology and an Honorary Fellow of the American Society of Criminology. (His other honors, awards and positions are too numerous to even summarize here.) Weisburd received his undergraduate education at Shimer College and Brandeis University, and his master's and doctoral degrees from Yale University. He has authored more than twenty books and more than a hundred scholarly articles; his better-known works include Statistics in Criminal Justice and Putting Crime in Its Place. (from Shimer College Wiki)

Reviews

[Jason Waltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong, informative book covering the policing strategy called place-based policing, under the umbrella of evidence-based policing. Clearly articulates history of policing strategies and presents PBP as an excellent strategy that should be adopted more often by more law enforcement agencies and their communities. However, if you're interested in PBP and why it can be successful, Place Matters is newer and excellent - Place Matters: Criminology for the Twenty-First Century