Conditional Effects of Open-Street Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) on Crime

• In Event: Role of the Built Environment in Crime Prevention

Abstract

Prior studies reported mixed findings on the crime reduction effects of open-street CCTV. Some studies explained the variance of its “mixed” effects. By utilizing the theoretical framework of the multi-contextual criminal opportunity, the current study purports to determine conditional effects of open-street CCTVs on crime across sociodemographic, socioeconomic and physical environmental factors and its interaction. The unit of analysis for the current study is Korean Census Tract (KCT) (N = 625). More than one thousand CCTV coverage zones were included for the analysis. We examined the variation of counts of three outdoor crime categories across KCTs. A series of spatial Poisson regression with interaction terms and graphs allowed for explaining conditional effects of open-street CCTVs on crime. Findings indicated that open-street CCTVs affected the levels of crime. KCTs with more surveillance areas had lowered counts of crimes, particularly property crimes. Also, its effects were differential, conditioned by other ecological factors. The findings suggested some optimal places for deploying more open-street CCTVs to maximize their crime reduction effects. These suggested circumstances should be utilized for more effectively implementing the open-street CCTV mechanism.

Authors

• Yongseol (Wendy) Jang, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Dohyeong Kim, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Junhwi Park, Korean Institute of Criminology

• Dowoo Kim, Kyungnam University