Crime In Public Space Research Articles

Understanding the position of urban spatial configuration on the feeling of insecurity from crime in public spaces

Introduction: Many studies have discussed crime and the feeling of insecurity in the public space. These studies produce diverse findings from various variables and different objects. However, the urban spatial configuration is still left unexplored in the study of insecurity from crime in the public space. The purpose of this study is to discuss the position of urban spatial configuration elements on the feeling of insecurity from crime in the public space evidenced by international literature.Methods: This study uses a systematic review method by evaluating studies published between 1970 and 2021.Results and Discussion: The results of this study state that studies on crime and feeling of insecurity in public spaces in urban planning and urban design context mainly evaluated the design features (crime prevention through environmental design) and Socio-demographics at micro–meso scale in the built environment. In contrast, urban spatial configuration variable or macro scale still underexplored. Studies have shown that issues will occur if policy-making and planning in urban areas ignore individual perceptions of feeling insecure regarding crime at macro scale. The findings of this study become a research gap for further studies. This study suggests that more researchers should evaluate the feelings of insecurity from crime in public spaces on a macro scale, namely the urban spatial configuration dimension, including city size, development type, the distribution pattern of population and job, degree of clustering, and landscape connectivity.

Gender-based differences in fear of crime in public spaces: An investigation of a safe district in Istanbul

Gender-based differences in fear of crime in public spaces: An investigation of a safe district in Istanbul

An Analysis of Factors Affecting Fear of Crime in Public Space

An Analysis of Factors Affecting Fear of Crime in Public Space

The Influence of Intra-Daily Activities and Settings upon Weekday Violent Crime in Public Spaces in Manchester, UK

People ebb and flow across the city. The spatial and temporal patterning of crime is, in part, reflective of this mobility, of the scale of the population present in any given setting at a particular time. It is also a function of capacity of this population to perform an active role as an offender, victim or guardian in any specific crime type, itself shaped by the time-variant activities undertaken in, and the qualities of, particular settings. To this end, this paper explores the intra-daily influence of activities and settings upon the weekday spatial and temporal patterning of violent crime in public spaces. This task is achieved through integrating a transient population dataset with travel survey, point-of-interest and recorded crime data in a study of Great Manchester (UK). The research deploys a negative binomial regression model controlling for spatial lag effects. It finds strong and independent, but time-variant, associations between leisure activities, leisure settings and the spatial and temporal patterning of violent crime in public space. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and empirical implications of these findings.

The \u2018Exposed\u2019 Population, Violent Crime in Public Space and the Night-time Economy in Manchester, UK

The daily rhythms of the city, the ebb and flow of people undertaking routines activities, inform the spatial and temporal patterning of crime. Being able to capture citizen mobility and delineate a crime-specific population denominator is a vital prerequisite of the endeavour to both explain and address crime. This paper introduces the concept of an exposed population-at-risk, defined as the mix of residents and non-residents who may play an active role as an offender, victim or guardian in a specific crime type, present in a spatial unit at a given time. This definition is deployed to determine the exposed population-at-risk for violent crime, associated with the night-time economy, in public spaces. Through integrating census data with mobile phone data and utilising fine-grained temporal and spatial violent crime data, the paper demonstrates the value of deploying an exposed (over an ambient) population-at-risk denominator to determine violent crime in public space hotspots on Saturday nights in Greater Manchester (UK). In doing so, the paper illuminates that as violent crime in public space rises, over the course of a Saturday evening, the exposed population-at-risk falls, implying a shifting propensity of the exposed population-at-risk to perform active roles as offenders, victims and/or guardians. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and policy relevance of these findings.

Politi og arkitekters forebyggingslogikker: Forståelser av kriminalitetsforebyggende arbeid i offentlige rom

AbstractThis article focuses on crime prevention through architecture, environmental design and other situational modifications to public space. Today’s crime control is characterized by a continuously expanding focus on prevention and the proliferation of new contributions to preventive work. In the literature, the situational crime prevention approach is an acknowledged and well-known field in which strategies have been used to reduce crime in public spaces for decades. In Norway, however, this remains an area of crime prevention with little empirical data. The current study therefore attempts to fill this gap in Norwegian research. Based on interviews with architects and police personnel, the article explores these actors interpret and understand prevention through architecture, environment and physical design. The main aim is to examine approaches to crime prevention in public spaces in regards to safety, security, risk and social control.

Espacio público y vendedores informales afrocolombianos en Cali, Colombia

El 25.5% de todos los afrodescendientes en Colombia residen en la ciudad de Cali, lo que representa el 26% de la población total de la ciudad. De esta manera, Cali es una de las ciudades con mayor población afrocolombiana del país. La ciudad ha sido el principal centro de atracción para las poblaciones migrantes de la costa del Pacífico Sur de Colombia en la que prevalece la población afrocolombiana. La venta informal en Cali es llevada a cabo principalmente por migrantes rurales y/o desplazados internos. En este artículo, me interesa saber si los afrocolombianos sufren una mayor marginalidad y discriminación como vendedores ambulantes que los auto identificados como mestizos y blancos o si, por el contrario, ambos grupos enfrentan niveles similares de discriminación. Por lo tanto, propongo averiguar si los cuerpos negros están marcados por discursos de indeseabilidad y crimen en los espacios públicos de esta ciudad. Adicionalmente, este fenómeno es entendido por los académicos urbanos, así como por el gobierno de Cali como una lucha de clases. Esta comprensión ratifica la invisibilidad de los cuerpos racializados negros en los discursos de igualdad. Muchos autores afirman que el problema actual en Colombia de reconocer la composición racial diversa de los vendedores informales y entender estas luchas sólo a través de las clases impide un discernimiento bien pensado de las realidades sociales y económicas que enfrentan los cuerpos racializados en los espacios públicos.

Rapid assessment of “eve teasing” (sexual harassment) of young women during the commute to college In India

Many countries have taken action in recent times to address harassment in the work place and violence in the home, but little attention has been paid to sexual harassment in public places, specifically during women’s journey to work and school. In developing countries, many more women are seeking education and employment than previously, which has increased the opportunity for sexual harassment in public places. In India, the study location, this harassment is known as “eve teasing”. Eve teasing includes cat calling, lewd remarks, and inappropriate sexual contact such as rubbing and fondling. Tolerance of such incidents could lead to more severe forms of abuse and encourage more individuals to participate. Necessary as laws are, they cannot bring about immediate changes in widespread public behaviors, particularly those, such as eve teasing, that are deeply rooted in the culture of a country. To date there is no systematic research on sexual harassment in public places to assist public authorities and town planners with the development of security measures, especially for college-going women in cities and towns in India. Rapid assessment methodology has been used increasingly, especially in the field of public health, to assist decision-making about appropriate interventions for social problems by examining issues within social and cultural contexts in space and time. This paper provides a case study of rapid assessment of so-called “eve teasing” of female college students in Chennai, India. Three methods were employed in this rapid assessment of the problem— focus group discussions with college students, interviews with police officers from stations nearby the campuses and safety audits of the campus surroundings. This small exploratory study of eve teasing in India succeeded in promoting understanding of the problem and in providing many suggestions for reducing it. These latter included an extensive inventory of precautions for students, particularly female students to take in order to protect themselves from eve teasing, and a list of preventive suggestions for other stakeholders—the police, local municipalities, transport agencies and the colleges themselves. The study has wider implications for the study of routine precautions, for crime in public space and for the use of rapid assessment techniques in Crime Science.

Elderly Victimization and Fear of Crime in Public Spaces

Drawing upon environmental criminology principles and fear of crime literature, this article investigates the types of outdoor places where most crimes against the elderly happen as well as the types of places most feared by them. The study employs an analysis of secondary data, crime mapping, fieldwork, and interviews with residents in a senior housing area in Stockholm, Sweden. Results show that most crime victims were exposed to theft, and all incidents took place in the environment close to the senior housing. Elderly perceived safety follows a “distance decay” from the residence, the safest places being the areas immediately outside the entrance of the senior housing, while the least safe are the deserted areas close to the petrol station. Findings also show that for those who are fairly mobile, the fact that they avoid some places does not necessarily mean their mobility is restricted, as previously expected, but it makes them walk farther.

Fear of Crime in Public Spaces: From the View of Women Living in Cities

This paper relates to “fear of crime” in public open spaces from the point of women living in cities. Fear of crime, in general terms, can be described as a feeling of “fear” and “insecurity” derived from a feeling of a person who senses his/her personal security to be under the threat. This fear of crime is a fact which has a considerable impact of the daily lifes of urban dwellers directly or indirectly by causing urban open spaces such as public parks, squares, plazas, streets not be used; causing routes preferred to travel between working places and dwelling places be changed; and causing roads and streets chosen for commerce be altered. According to the scientific researches, it has been detected that elders and women are more exposed to fear of crime in cities. Consequently, women have to prefer to stay closed and safeguarded places and to avoid urban streets, parks, plazas, public transportation vehicles and areas, especially in the evenings; they feel insecure while walking on the streets and even at their homes; they restrict the right to freedom of movement of their children in the city; and they have to take measures in public open spaces for the reason of this anxiety. This situation restrains the personal involvements of women in public life of the city.Discussing the reasons for fear of crime in public open spaces, in this paper, it is aimed to focus this fact from the point of women. To conclude, it is examined the reasons and degrees of fear of crime; measures taken due to this fact; and handicaps which restrains the personal involvements of women in public life of the city.

Effectiveness and Social Costs of Public Area Surveillance for Crime Prevention

Video surveillance, or closed-circuit television (CCTV), has become a highly popular and prevalent method of preventing crime in public space in many countries across the world. Although it often dominates the policy focus, questions have been raised about its effectiveness and social costs, as well as how it compares to alternative surveillance measures. A theoretical and programmatic understanding of surveillance draws attention to other widely used surveillance measures that perform a crime prevention function in public places. These include improved street lighting, security guards, place managers (e.g., bus drivers and parking lot attendants), and defensible space (i.e., changes to the built environment). This article reviews the research evidence on the effectiveness of the full range of public area surveillance measures and examines related social costs. It also serves to broaden the view of public area surveillance beyond the current narrow focus on CCTV.

'I don't relax until I'm home' Women's fear of violent crime in public space in Cork

Cork women's fear of violent crime is found to have a strong spatial expression but it is also seen to be variable with social context. Patterns of Fear of Violent Crime (FOVC) in the city centre are outlined and some social complexities are considered. A conceptualisation of passive and reactionary FOVC is not favoured. Rather, following Koskela's (1997) consideration of 'bold women', consideration is given to whether these patterns may point to a more proactive negotiation of such feelings in context.

Approaching/departure: effacement, erasure and ‘undoing’ the fear of crime

This paper contributes to contemporary debates about the geographies of gendered fear of crime by examining the way in which a group of young women negotiate fear of crime in public space by creating affective distance between themselves and the approaching menace of fear. These distances are presented here as lacunae that young women construct in order to promote feelings of safety in public spaces. Bringing Sara Ahmed’s work on the circulation of affect and Jacques Derrida’s notion of erasure (or sous-rature) into a dialogue with each other, and building on a Heideggerian phenomenological understanding of fear as dynamic, this paper argues that constructing lacunae enables young women to undo the approach of signifiers of fear in public space, which in turn enables them to contest dominant discourses of the gendered nature of fear of crime. Such erasure also has implications for the politics of safe-keeping. This paper complicates conventional understandings of safe-keeping by highlighting how, in the pursuit of safety, erasures based on classed, raced, or gendered ‘othering’ manifest themselves and it highlights the importance, not only of attending to silences and absences used to promote feelings of safety, but also to the politics of these in the pursuit of safe-keeping.

Analyzing the Activity Spaces of Low-Income Teenagers: How Do They Perceive the Spaces Where Activities Are Carried Out?

ABSTRACT:This study models the relationship between adolescents’ perceived safety of places where they engage in their daily activities, socioeconomic characteristics, and the actual crime rates of corresponding activity places. The Teen Activity and Transportation Enterprise (TATE) project was an exploratory research and outreach project carried out at Feinstein High School in Providence, Rhode Island. Students developed activity lists that revealed how they spent their time outside of school and home, and used activity mapping techniques to differentiate urban areas perceived to be safe and unsafe. A mixed regression model was developed to measure perceived safety as the dependent variable. The independent variables included place-based characteristics such as crime rates, distance of an activity from home, time of day the activity took place, and gender. The researchers found that all factors except race and income were significantly related to perceived safety. Independent of time of day, females felt significantly less safe. Frequency of visits, duration, and distance from home were positively correlated with safer locations. Travel by car was associated with unsafe locations. Students were aware of and affected by the level of crime in public spaces in their communities. This sensitivity and awareness should lead researchers and planners to include teenagers’ views when planning and designing public places.

Addressing Fear of Crime in Public Space: Gender Differences in Reaction to Safety Measures in Train Transit

Research has identified several factors that affect fear of crime in public space. However, the extent to which gender moderates the effectiveness of fear-reducing measures has received little attention. Using data from the Chicago Transit Authority Customer Satisfaction Survey of 2003, this study aims to understand whether train transit security practices and service attributes affect men and women differently. Findings indicate that, while the presence of video cameras has a lower effect on women's feelings of safety compared with men, frequent and on-time service matters more to male passengers. Additionally, experience with safety-related problems affects women significantly more than men. Conclusions discuss the implications of the study for theory and gender-specific policies to improve perceptions of transit safety.

Effects of Closed Circuit Television Surveillance on Crime

This Campbell systematic review examines the effects of closed circuit television (CCTV) on property crime and violent crime. The review reports on whether using CCTV results in crime displacement, and also assesses whether using CCTV leads to the spread of crime prevention benefits.The authors found 44 evaluations. The studies were from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Norway and Sweden. Most of the studies (34) were from the United Kingdom.CCTV has a modest impact on crime. Effectiveness varies across settings. Surveillance is more effective at preventing crime in car parks, and less effective in city and town centers, public housing, and public transport. CCTV appears most effective in car parks at reducing vehicle crimes such as thefts from cars or stealing cars. The effectiveness of CCTV surveillance is greater when camera coverage of an area is high. CCTV surveillance does not have an effect on levels of violent crime.In all six of the CCTV car park studies, CCTV surveillance was an element in a broader package of crime prevention measures, such as extra security guards, better lighting, and fencing. It is not possible to assess the independent effects of each of these different components. The available evidence does not allow a conclusion as to whether CCTV leads to a displacement of crime or a diffusion of crime prevention benefits to other areas.AbstractBackgroundIn recent years, there has been a marked and sustained growth in the use of CCTV to prevent crime in public space in the U.K., United States, and other Western nations. In the U.K., CCTV is the single most heavily funded crime prevention measure operating outside of the criminal justice system. A key issue is how far funding for CCTV has been based on high quality scientific evidence demonstrating its efficacy in preventing crime. There is concern that this funding has been based partly on a handful of apparently successful schemes that were usually evaluated with less than rigorous designs, done with varying degrees of competence, and done with varying degrees of professional independence from government. Recent reviews that have examined the effectiveness of CCTV against crime have also noted the need for high quality, independent evaluation research.ObjectivesThe main objective of this review is to assess the available research evidence on the effects of CCTV surveillance cameras on crime in public space. In addition to assessing the overall impact of CCTV on crime, this review will also investigate in which settings, against which crimes, and under what conditions it is most effective.Search strategyFour search strategies were employed to identify studies meeting the criteria for inclusion in this review: (1) searches of electronic bibliographic databases; (2) searches of literature reviews on the effectiveness of CCTV in preventing crime; (3) searches of bibliographies of CCTV studies; and (4) contacts with leading researchers. Both published and unpublished reports were considered in the searches. Searches were international in scope and were not limited to the English language.Selection criteriaStudies that investigated the effects of CCTV on crime were included. For studies involving one or more other interventions, only those studies in which CCTV was the main intervention were included. Studies were included if they had, at a minimum, an evaluation design that involved before‐and‐after measures of crime in experimental and control areas. There needed to be at least one experimental area and one reasonably comparable control area.Data collection & analysisNarrative findings are reported for the 44 studies included in this review. A meta‐analysis of 41 of these 44 studies was carried out; the requisite crime data was missing in other 3 studies. The “relative effect size” or RES (which can be interpreted as an incident rate ratio) was used to measure effect size. Results are reported for total crime and, where possible, property and violent crime categories using (mostly) official data. In the case of studies that measure the impact of CCTV programs on crime at multiple points in time, similar time periods before and after are compared (as far as possible). The review also reports on displacement of crime and diffusion of crime prevention benefits.Main resultsThe studies included in this systematic review indicate that CCTV has a modest but significant desirable effect on crime, is most effective in reducing crime in car parks, is most effective when targeted at vehicle crimes (largely a function of the successful car park schemes), and is more effective in reducing crime in the U.K. than in other countries.Reviewers’ conclusionsWe conclude that CCTV surveillance should continue to be used to prevent crime in public space, but that it be more narrowly targeted than its present use would indicate. Future CCTV schemes should employ high‐quality evaluation designs with long follow‐up periods.

Effects of Improved Street Lighting on Crime

Improved street lighting serves many functions and is used in both public and private settings. The prevention of personal and property crime is one of its objectives in public space, which is the main focus of this systematic review.There are two main theories of why improved street lighting may cause a reduction in crime. The first suggests that improved lighting leads to increased surveillance of potential offenders (both by improving visibility and by increasing the number of people on the street) and hence to increased deterrence of potential offenders. The second suggests that improved lighting signals community investment in the area and that the area is improving, leading to increased community pride, community cohesiveness, and informal social control. The first theory predicts decreases in crime especially during the hours of darkness, while the second theory predicts decreases in crime during both daytime and nighttime.Results of this review indicate that improved street lighting significantly reduces crime. This lends support for the continued use of improved street lighting to prevent crime in public space. The review also found that nighttime crimes did not decrease more than daytime crimes. This suggests that a theory of street lighting focusing on its role in increasing community pride and informal social control may be more plausible than a theory focusing on increased surveillance and increased deterrence. Future research should be designed to test the main theories of the effects of improved street lighting more explicitly, and future lighting schemes should employ high quality evaluation designs with long‐term followups.AbstractBackgroundImproved street lighting is intended to serve many purposes, one of them being the prevention of crime. While street lighting improvements may not often be implemented with the expressed aim of preventing crime – pedestrian safety and traffic safety may be viewed as more important aims – and the notion of lighting streets to deter lurking criminals may be too simplistic, its relevance to the prevention of crime has been suggested in urban centers, residential areas, and other places frequented by criminals and potential victims.ObjectivesThe main objective of this review is to assess the available research evidence on the effects of improved street lighting on crime in public space. In addition to assessing the overall impact of improved street lighting on crime, this review will also investigate in which settings, against which crimes, and under what conditions it is most effective.Search strategyFour search strategies were employed to identify studies meeting the criteria for inclusion in this review: (1) searches of electronic bibliographic databases; (2) searches of literature reviews on the effectiveness of improved street lighting in preventing crime; (3) searches of bibliographies of street lighting studies; and (4) contacts with leading researchers. Both published and unpublished reports were considered in the searches. Searches were international in scope and were not limited to the English language.Selection criteriaStudies that investigated the effects of improved street lighting on crime were included. For studies involving one or more other interventions, only those studies in which improved street lighting was the main intervention were included. Studies were included if they had, at a minimum, an evaluation design that involved before‐and‐after measures of crime in experimental and control areas. There needed to be at least one experimental area and one reasonably comparable control area.Data collection & analysisNarrative findings are reported for the 13 studies included in this review. A meta‐analysis of all 13 of these studies was carried out. The “relative effect size” or RES (which can be interpreted as an incident rate ration) was used to measure effect size. Results are reported for total crime and, where possible, property and violent crime categories using (mostly) official data. In the case of studies that measure the impact of improved street lighting programs on crime at multiple points in time, similar time periods before and after are compared (as far as possible). The review also addresses displacement of crime and diffusion of crime prevention benefits.Main resultsThe studies included in this systematic review indicate that improved street lighting significantly reduces crime, is more effective in reducing crime in the United Kingdom than in the United States, and that nighttime crimes do not decrease more than daytime crimes.Reviewers’ conclusionsWe conclude that improved street lighting should continue to be used to prevent crime in public areas. It has few negative effects and clear benefits for law‐abiding citizens.

SURVEILLANCE FOR CRIME PREVENTION IN PUBLIC SPACE: RESULTS AND POLICY CHOICES IN BRITAIN AND AMERICA

Research Summary:The present study assessed the comparative effectiveness of two forms of surveillance in preventing crime in public space: formal surveillance, in the form of closed‐circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras, and natural surveillance, in the form of improved street lighting. Based on the highest quality available research evidence on these two measures—from systematic reviews incorporating meta‐analytic techniques—it was found that they are equally effective in reducing crime. More detailed analyses showed that improved street lighting was more effective in reducing crime in city centers, that both were more effective in reducing property crimes than violent crimes, and that both measures were far more effective in reducing crime in Britain than in America.Policy Implications:The results of this study lend support for the continued use of CCTV and improved street lighting to reduce crime, but they suggest that they need to be targeted more narrowly on property crimes. A policy that combines the two interventions may produce a greater yield in reduced crime rates, but this may be limited to vehicle crimes in car parks. Improved street lighting is an effective form of surveillance to reduce crime in public space, and it may attract less public resistance than CCTV surveillance cameras (in America at least). Lessons from the British studies to help improve the effectiveness of the two measures in America are explored.

Evidence-based Crime Prevention: The Effectiveness of CCTV

An evidence-based approach to preventing crime calls for the use of the highest-quality available evidence on the efficacy of a crime prevention program type and the use of the most rigorous methods to analyze this evidence. This article reports on the findings of a systematic review—incorporating meta-analytic techniques—of the highest-quality available research evidence on the effects of CCTV on crime in public space. CCTV had a significant desirable effect on crime, with an overall reduction in crime of 21 per cent in experimental compared to comparable control areas. CCTV was most effective in reducing crime in car parks, most effective when combined with improved street lighting and targeted at vehicle crimes, and more effective in reducing crime in the UK than in North America.

Effects of Closed-Circuit Television on Crime

This article reports on the findings of a systematic review--incorporating meta-analytic techniques--of the available research evidence on the effects of closed-circuit television (CCTV) on crime in public space. A number of targeted and comprehensive searches of the published and unpublished literature and contacts with leading researchers produced twenty-two CCTV evaluations that met our criteria for inclusion in this review. CCTV had a significant desirable effect on crime, although the overall reduction in crime was a rather small 4 percent. All nine studies showing evidence of a desirable effect of CCTV on crime were carried out in the United Kingdom. Conversely, the other nine studies showing no evidence of any desirable effect of CCTV on crime included all five North American studies. CCTV was most effective in reducing crime in car parks. It had no effect on violent crimes but had a significant desirable effect on vehicle crimes.