An Ecological Bridge for a Criminological Gap: Eight Stages of the Origin and Evolution of Environmental Criminology (From 1800 to 1900).

Abstract

Environmental criminology is the study of criminality, victimization, and the built environment in relation to specific locations and the ways in which people and groups intentionally or unintentionally influence one another through the spatial organization of their activities. The strengths of environmental criminology include its rejection of the root-causes approach and its demonstration of the advantages of a situational perspective; its challenge to the conventional view that some ‘evil’ condition generated the crime; and its improvement in our understanding of criminal events and prevention. This paper tracks the development of environmental criminology by collecting its key stages in one place. The environmental perspective encompasses a wide range of methodologies, despite consistent criteria and qualities. Different levels of analysis, inquiry strategies and explanation models address crime patterns and the environment. This paper will examine the historical roots of the environmental perspective on crime from 1800 to 1900. This process will highlight academics’ contributions to environmental criminology. The paper begins with a review of the origin of the ecological viewpoint on crime, then summarizes the work that has formed environmental criminology, and finally reviews the literature.