Geographies of Crime: Locating High-Risk Offending

• In Event: Offending Patterns of High-Risk Groups

Abstract

Individuals identified by the courts as ‘high-risk’ tend to have criminal records reflecting prolific and/or serious offending, occurring over both short and long careers (Humphrey 2016). While their official criminal records only capture a portion of criminal activity, the spatial and temporal locations of convictions and charges provide insight into individuals’ lives and the associated stability and change over their offending histories. The extant research suggests that ‘high-risk’ individuals may have fewer social bonds including familial, employment and educational bonds – some of which may be due to residential or geographic change. Here we consider if and how spatial and temporal locations of offenses (convictions and charges) as detailed in official criminal records influence the length, frequency and types of crimes that characterize high-risk offending. Specifically, our investigation seeks to address the evidence of stability and change in offense location (place of convictions and charges) over time within individuals’ offending careers. We also consider the spatial and temporal clustering of offenses in order to identify geographic/temporal patterns to high-risk offending. Our data consists of official criminal records associated with individuals identified as high-risk by a municipal police force in a large Canadian city. We address future research and policy implications.

Authors

• Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot, University of Calgary

• Tamara Humphrey, University of Calgary