"Residence-to-Crime" Convergence: An Analysis of Victim-Offender Mobility Triangles

• In Event: Policing, Offenders, Victims, and the Spatial Distribution of Crime

Abstract

Routine activities theory asserts crime is the convergence of both a victim and offender. Risk of victimization and awareness of crime opportunities shift as both victims and offenders conduct their routines activities. The "journey to crime" literature reveals variation in distance offender's travel to their crime location based on the offense type, individual factors, and neighborhood characteristics. Andresen, Felson, & Frank (2012) expand the "journey to crime" literature by developing the mobility triangle, incorporating the offender's home location, the victim's home location, and the crime incident location. The current study utilizes a novel open-source dataset to examine how crime type, individual factors, and neighborhood characteristics contribute to the shape of victim-offender mobility triangles in a single municipality. We further extend Ackerman and Rossmo's (2014) work by examining the individual and neighborhood factors that explain variation in "residence-to-crime" distances for both victims and offenders simultaneously. The implications for crime control are discussed based on the variations in victim-offender mobility triangles.

Author

• Christopher J. Bates, University of California, Irvine