apologies for cross-posting
Crime and Spatial Dynamics
CALL FOR PAPERS - RSAIBIS 2003, University of St. Andrews, Scotland
Despite overall crime rates which seem to have been falling, at least in
the UK, rising popular and political concern with crime, and real growth in
some particular types of street crime, have encouraged an increasing amount
of work on patterns of criminality and their relation to social and
environmental contexts. Much of this work has been based on spatial data,
either because of its availability or because of particular interests in
local crime reduction strategies. Another factor has been the development
of more sophisticated GIS and spatial econometric techniques, allowing
explicit consideration of the role of spatial factors, including local
concentrations of disadvantaged/alienated groups, or of crime targets, and
of ‘travel-to-crime’ or other kinds of spatial spillover. Such analyses can
offer evidence of direct relevance not only to local crime reduction
initiatives but also to a range of other area-focused policies whose
rationales are partly conceived in terms of relieving threats to social
order.
The aim of this session is to focus on explicitly spatial analyses of the
determinants of crime, including evidence on dynamic interactions between
areas. In particular we are interested in work on the role of population
movement, spatial concentration, local social capital and spatial spill-
overs. Among the questions of interest are:
§ How migration (whether domestic or international) impacts on
criminal activity, either directly or in interaction with the socio-
economic bases of recipient areas?
§ Are there concentration and/or threshold effects in the
relationship between some specific socio-economic characteristics and crime
rates?
§ Which specific socio-economic characteristics generate
concentration/threshold effects?
§ What evidence is there for the existence of spatial dependence in
the determination of criminal activity?
§ In relation to spatial spill-overs, what roles are played by:
travel-to-crime patterns; spatial scale effects (e.g., policing effects
operating at different scales); spatial competition/dependence in terms of
socio-economic characteristics; spatial contamination effects i.e., local
criminal activity affecting crime in neighbouring areas); or other factors?
§ What is the most effective way for separating the influence of each
of these types of spatial effects?
§ What is the relative importance of each of these types of spatial
effects?
§ How can policy (in terms of both policing and socio-economic
policies) be informed by the findings related to the above questions?
Paper proposals are invited from researchers from any disciplinary
backgrounds - including criminology, sociology, spatial econometrics,
geography, or economics - working on these topics. By bringing together a
range of experience and perspectives, the intention is to promote wider
understanding of, and more effective research on, the role that spatial
factors play in the generation, distribution and containment of criminal
activity.
Abstracts, of around 500 words, including information on methodology and
expected findings where possible, should be submitted to the session
organisers (see details below) by January the 31st, 2003. Electronic
submissions by email are encouraged.
Vassilis Monastiriotis
Department of Geography & Environment
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
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tel.: +44 (0) 20 79556776
fax: +44 (0) 20 79557412
or
Ian Gordon
Department of Geography & Environment
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
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tel.: +44 (0) 20 79556180
fax: +44 (0) 20 79557412
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