Mapping and Measuring Crime Concentration at Street Segments in Suburban Places: A case study of Nigeria.

• In Event: WG-PLACE 2: Research on crime, place and time

Abstract

Empirical evidence across Europe and North America have consistently suggest that crime is geographically concentrated across varying spatial scales and units of analysis. However, there is limited contribution from Sub-Saharan Africa in understanding the patterns of crime concentration due to the challenges of obtaining micro-level dataset. This research seeks to address this gap, moving beyond Euro-American case studies to focus on underrepresented places. A key question is whether patterns of crime concentration at place identified across Euro-American suburban places are reflected in Sub-Saharan Africa? This paper therefore examines the level of crime concentration at place using street segments as unit of analysis in Lugbe – a suburban area located in the Federal Capital City of Nigeria, Abuja. This study utilises trained field workers in conducting a detailed georeferenced door-to-door survey (N>3000) to capture incidents of crime at property level. The data is supplemented by individual sociodemographic data at property level to analyse events at micro level. Results show that crime is concentrated at street segments – few street segments account for majority of crimes given the distribution of opportunities. Unlike previous studies drawn from Europe and North America that used secondary data, this study, owing to the limitation of geocoded crime data from the police, uses primary data generated from crime and victimisation survey. The patterns as observed are considerably consistent with prior research.

Authors

• Abdulaziz Ibrahim, Nottingham Trent University

• Andy David Newton, Nottingham Trent University

• James Hunter, Nottingham Trent University