Mapping harmspots: An exploration of the spatial distribution of crime harm

Abstract

Recent attention to the use of harm indices to weight crime counts in mapping analysis has led to the development of “harm spot” maps. Early studies have shown that harm spots (i.e., clusters of harm-weighted crimes) follow geographic patterns similar to (unweighted crime) hot spots, although harm spots have been found to be moderately more spatially concentrated than hot spots. This research explores how the spatial distribution of harm spots using police-recorded crime data for Washington, DC differs from raw unweighted crime. The results suggest harm spots are diffused away from the city center into more residential areas. However, this is largely an effect of the distribution of violent crime, rather than the distribution of property crime. This implies opportunities for more serious offenses could be higher in residential areas, or areas further from where most crime typically occurs, and that different social ecological processes underlie the spatial distribution of more – versus less – serious crime. Implications for theory, policy, and research are discussed.