Ambient populations and the calculation of crime rates and risk

Abstract

In the past, crime rate calculations have favored one denominator for spatially referenced crime rates, the residential population. Dominantly, this practice is the result of cost and time constraints on research. This paper uses freely available spatially referenced population data, the LandScan Global Population Database, which provides an alternative measure of the population at risk in crime rate calculations, the ambient population. Calculated crime rates using the residential and ambient populations exhibit a weak statistical relationship. This provides a strong positive implication for the use of these data such that their utilization may give a more precise depiction of victimization, particularly when considering violent crime. Consequently, it is argued that ambient-based (violent) crime rates should be used to supplement the conventional residential-based (violent) crime rates.