Does crime in places stay in places? Evidence for crime radiation from three narrative reviews

Abstract

One of the most facts about crime is that it concentrates at a few proprietary places: addresses, facilities, and land parcels. Do these crime-places radiate crime into their surroundings? Intuitively, crime radiation seems likely. And it may come in three forms: radiation from facilities that do not contain crime but make their environments crime-prone (cold dot radiation); radiation from facilities containing a great deal of crime (hot dot radiation); and radiation from places containing consensual illegitimate activity that direct offender foraging (veiled dot radiation). If radiation is common, then addressing crime-provoking places is essential for crime reduction. But researchers (with one exception) have not addressed crime radiation directly. There are three bodies of research which may provide indirect evidence of radiation: 1) the land use and crime research; 2) the near repeat victimization studies, and 3) the diffusion of crime control benefits research. We conducted narrative reviews of each to determine if radiation is likely. Each review shows evidence consistent with crime radiation. But each review reveals uncertainty about whether it is radiation or something else creating the findings. We conclude by offering a set of hypotheses for direct tests of the radiation conjecture.