1st Edition

Classics in Environmental Criminology

    552 Pages 66 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    A careful analysis of environmental factors is key to understanding the causes of crime, to solving crimes, and eventually helping to predict and prevent them. Classics in Environmental Criminology is a comprehensive collection of seminal pieces from legendary contributors who focus on the role that the immediate environment plays in the occurrence of a crime.

    Defines the field

    Divided into three parts, the book begins by highlighting the development of environmental criminology as a discipline through its origins in spatial criminology. It examines social disorganization theory, which explains criminal activity with reference to the characteristics of the community that delinquents live in. It then discusses the ecology of crime with reference to macroenvironments and microenvironments. The next section introduces concepts such as routine activity theory, the geometric theory of crime, the rational choice theory of offending, and crime pattern theory.

    Offers perspectives on prevention

    The last part focuses on the concept of crime prevention, examines the idea of altering the environment in order to prevent crime, and discusses situational crime factors and efforts to reduce the opportunities for crimes to be committed. It considers the impact of routine activities on crime prevention initiatives and advocates a flexible approach to crime prevention based on the dynamic nature of our environment. The book concludes with a chapter outlining how environmental criminology has evolved in recent years and provides a future outlook on where it may be headed.

    Invaluable as a textbook and as a professional reference, this volume is a comprehensive survey of a critical field in contemporary criminological theory. Offering insight assembled by top academic figures within the criminology community, this work is destined to provoke further inquiry and research.

    Early Work on the Ecology of Crime

    The Place of Environmental Criminology within Criminological Thought; M.A. Andresen

    Of the Development of the Propensity to Crime (1842); L.A.J. Quetelet

    Localities of Crime in Suffolk (1856); J. Glyde

    Juvenile Delinquency in a Small City (1916); E.W. Burgess

    Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas: A Study of Rates of Delinquency in Relation to Differential Characteristics of Local Communities in American Cities (1969); C.R. Shaw and H.D. McKay

    Urban Ecological Aspects of Crime in Akron (1974); G.F. Pyle, E.W. Hanten, P.G. Williams, A.L. Pearson II, J.G. Doyle, and K. Kwofie

    Intraurban Crime Patterns (1974); K.D. Harries

    Classics in Environmental Criminology

    Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach (1979); L.E. Cohen and M. Felson

    Routine Activities and Crime: An Analysis of Victimization in Canada (1990); L.W. Kennedy and D.R. Forde

    Notes on the Geometry of Crime (1981); P.L. Brantingham and P.J. Brantingham

    The Use of Space in Burglary (1985); G.F. Rengert and J. Wasilchick

    Nodes, Paths, and Edges: Considerations on the Complexity of Crime and the Physical Environment (1993); P.L. Brantingham and P.J. Brantingham

    Modeling Offenders’ Decisions: A Framework for Research and Policy (1985); R.V. Clarke and D.B. Cornish

    Linking Criminal Choices, Routine Activities, Informal Control, and Criminal Outcomes (1986); M. Felson

    Understanding Crime Displacement: An Application of Rational Choice Theory (1987); D.B. Cornish and R.V.G. Clarke

    Environment, Routine, and Situation: Toward a Pattern Theory of Crime (1993); P.L. Brantingham and P.J. Brantingham

    Environmental Criminology and Crime Prevention

    A Conceptual Model of Crime Prevention (1976); P.J. Brantingham and F.L. Faust

    Crime Prevention and Control through Environmental Engineering (1969); C.R. Jeffery

    Criminal Behavior and the Physical Environment: A Perspective; C.R. Jeffery

    Situational Crime Prevention: Theory and Practice; R.V.G. Clarke

    Routine Activities and Crime Prevention in the Developing Metropolis (1987); M. Felson

    Future Spaces: Classics in Environmental Criminology—Where Do We Go from Here? B. Kinney

    References

    Index

    Biography

    Martin A. Andresen is an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University School of Criminology. His areas of interest are spatial crime analysis, geography of crime, environmental criminology, applied spatial statistics and geographical information analysis, and (critical) quantitative methods.

    Paul J. Brantingham is a Professor at Simon Fraser University School of Criminology. His areas of interest are computational criminology, environmental criminology, the ecology of crime, crime analysis, historical criminology, comparative criminal justice, legal aid, and related matters.

    J. Bryan Kinney is an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University School of Criminology. His areas of interest are environmental criminology theory, geography of crime, police studies, crime prevention and crime reduction, and quantitative research methods.