“Place or Character” of a Business: Environmental Criminology and Negligent Security Litigation

Abstract

This paper describes the use and application of environmental criminology and social science methods in court cases involving allegations of negligent security. Negligent security is an area of premises liability that involves claims against business owners for damages or injuries on their property due to a lack of security precautions against reasonably foreseeable criminal actions. For decades, courts have embraced the view that the “place or character” of a business may invite criminal conduct and various jurisdictions have asserted that business owners may be under a duty to protect patrons against third-party criminal conduct. Yet, courts have struggled to define precisely how the place or character of a business would make a crime reasonably foreseeable. The paper explains the ways in which courts utilize crime and noncrime data in negligent security cases and discusses the affinities between environmental criminology and expert evidence in the courts. In doing so, the paper highlights the practical application, legal utility, and explanatory power of criminological theories and social science knowledge in the U.S. civil court system.