Crime Site Selection and Implications for Prevention Planning in Nigeria

Abstract

This article provides some suggestive evidence that crime risk increases at the intersection of offender awareness and victim unawareness spaces using data from a crime survey. This is evident as 31.7% of self-reported victimization occurs more than 10 min away from the victim's home. About 78.2% of personal theft and 0.20% of burglary (both including attempts) occurred outside the victim's immediate locality. These figures reveal a stronger link between victim movement and certain types of crime. Furthermore, they presumably give evidence that while personal theft occurs frequently, burglary only occurs in rather rare and specific circumstances at some distance from the victim's home. The study therefore concludes that it is the intersection of the offender's and the victim's movements at a time and in a given place that presents the opportunity for crime to occur. The study suggests that where both victim and offender have traveled short distances and/or are locals, community-related approaches may plausibly have roles to play in preventing crime. On the contrary, cautions to strangers, warnings to travelers, and external importation of guardianship as well as situational prevention measures are more appropriate crime prevention strategies when the victim is not local.