The burglar as a space explorer in his own neighborhood

Abstract

This paper describes how an area’s social and spatial composition influences burglary rates in built-up environments. A more adequate understanding of the relationship between the area’s social and spatial composition requires data about burglars’ home addresses and about the homes they have intruded. For consideration, exemplary investigation data of 39 burglars caught operating in the Dutch town of Haarlem were obtained from the regional authorities. In 32 of the 39 cases the burglar lived within a radius of 3 km away from the homes they burgled. In most cases, the burglars operated in those areas in their neighborhood that were spatially most segregated and that had the most broken up street network. As this initial investigation suggests, burglars have a detailed practical knowledge of the areas in which they operate. Apparently, their know-how results not just from information about their victims and their neighbors’ presence, but also from information on comprehensive spatial conditions. The more burglars living in an area, the higher the burglary rates. However, the burglaries take place in the spatially most segregated part of the burglars’ own neighborhood.