Examining Gun Crime Micro-Place Hotspots

• In Event: Midwestern Gun Violence: Tales from Four Cities

Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated that gun crimes such as homicides, non-fatal shootings, aggravated gun assaults, and robberies are highly concentrated at the street segment level. This study examines these patterns in Detroit focusing on fatal and non-fatal shootings and aggravated assaults with a gun. The results indicate that the pattern of a small number of street segments do account for the vast majority of these gun crime incidents. Risk Terrain Modeling was then used to identify the features of these micro-places that generate highest risk for gun crimes. A sample of high risk street segments was then developed using a case control approach to distinguish high risk locations that generated gun crimes as well as case controls that did not experience a gun crime. Systematic observation using online mapping technologies was then used to characterize the two sets of high risk street segments. The theoretical and prevention implications of the findings are discussed.

Authors

• Edmund F. McGarrell, Michigan State University

• Giovanni Circo, Michigan State University

• Alaina Debiasi, Michigan State University

• Lauren A. Magee, Michigan State University