Zooming into the Criminal Justice and Criminology Research Employing Geo-spatial Applications

• In Event: Roundtable: GIS/Spatial Data Analysis in Criminal Justice Research and Practices

Abstract

Although the popularity of practical crime mapping has been received in various criminal justice agencies, especially in law enforcement fields, the scientific research publications with a spatial data analysis to understand complicated crime patterns are still lagged. Recently, however, a growing number of criminal justice and criminology research try to employ a certain form of GIS (Geographic Information Systems), geo-spatial data, and crime mapping methodologies to explain/predict crime phenomenon and to develop criminal justice policies. This study is an effort to closely examine the recent research publications since 2000 focusing on the utilization of geo-spatial data and methods on their research. The author discusses the trends, strengths, pitfalls, limitations, and possibilities of geo-spatial approach in the scientific research of crime and criminal justice.

Author

• MoonSun Kim, State University of New York - Brockport