Burglary Victimization Research Articles

Repeat burglary victimization in Malawi and the influence of housing type and area-level affluence

There is little research on repeat victimization in developing countries. This article reports the first study of repeat domestic burglary victimization in Malawi. Secondary analysis of data from a large multipurpose survey finds burglary to be highly concentrated. The influence of housing type – measured here as the building materials used – and area-level affluence is explored. Homes constructed of permanent materials, indicative of greater wealth, experienced higher rates of repeat victimization than those made of mud and thatch. This pattern is most pronounced in less affluent areas, although the variation in risk is less than that reported in comparable studies. Implications for preventing repeat burglaries in resource-limited settings are discussed.

Them Again?

Burglary victimization is associated with a temporary elevated risk of future victimization for the same property and nearby properties. Previous research suggests that often the initial and subsequent burglaries involve the same offenders. This paper tests this assertion, using data on detected residential burglaries during the period 1996—2004 in The Hague and its environs, in the Netherlands. It demonstrates that pairs of detected burglaries occurring in close proximity in space and time are much more likely to involve the same offenders than pairs that are not so related. Topics for future research and implications for the detection of burglaries are addressed.

Repeat burglary victimisation: a tale of two theories

Research consistently demonstrates that crime is spatially concentrated. Considering repeat burglary, studies conducted across a variety of countries and for different periods of time demonstrate that events also cluster in time. Two theories have been proposed to explain patterns of repeat victimisation. The first suggests that repeat victimisation is the consequence of a contagion-like process. If a home has been burgled on one occasion, the risk to the home is boosted, most likely because offenders will return to exploit good opportunities further (e.g. to steal replaced items or those left behind). In contrast, the second suggests that repeat victimisation may be explained by time-stable variation in risk across homes and a chance process. Different offenders independently target attractive locations for which risk is flagged. Understanding the contribution of the two explanations is important for both criminological understanding and crime reduction. Hitherto, research concerned with repeat victimisation has adopted a top-down methodology, analysing either victimisation or offender data. In this paper, results are reported for a simple micro-simulation experiment used to examine patterns of victimisation under conditions where the contributions of both theoretical mechanisms are varied. The findings suggest that increasing the heterogeneity of target attractiveness can generate spatial concentrations of crime not dissimilar to those discussed above, but that a contagion-like process is (also) required to generate the time course of repeat victimisation. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Near-Repeat Patterns in Philadelphia Shootings

Research from property crime studies has identified a near-repeat phenomenon, where the risk of repeat burglary victimization is transmitted from a burgled location to nearby locations for a limited amount of time. This article explores the potential for near-repeat patterns to exist in another crime type, specifically the incidence of shootings. Using new tools developed to quantify the spatio-temporal patterns of near-repeats, a study in Philadelphia, U.S.A. finds that there are elevated patterns of near-repeat shootings within 2 weeks and one city block of previous incidents. The elevated risk of a shooting during this period is found to be 33 per cent greater than expected. It is speculated that possible reasons include coercion, retaliation and escalation. Given that the study takes place against the backdrop of a police operation to mitigate retaliatory shootings, the potential for using this information to influence crime prevention policy is discussed.

Repeat burglary victimisation: Analysis of a partial failure

The extent to which criminal offending is disproportionately committed against the same households and individuals is noted, highlighting the consequential crime reduction possibilities. The demonstrated communicability of burglary risk across households located nearby extends those possibilities. A burglary reduction project in Knowsley, Merseyside, England is described in outline. This was initially a partial implementation failure. Where implemented, the risk of subsequent burglary victimisation was much lower than where it was not implemented. This could not be accounted for in terms of officer experience or time of burglary. A subsequent initiative using Police Community Support Officers as implementers yielded significant burglary reductions in the street segments where they were active. The Merseyside work illustrates the viability of burglary reduction by concentration on those recently burgled and nearby households.

Trends in Fear of Crime in a Western Canadian City: 1984, 1994, and 2004

Criminologists have shown much interest in the distribution, causes, and consequences of fear of crime, but few studies have examined trends in fear. Using data from the Winnipeg Area Study from 1984, 1994, and 2004, and official crime data from the Winnipeg Police Service, we examine trends in fear of crime and compare them to reported crime. Fear of crime is evaluated by using an index compiled from five offence-specific indicators that asks how worried people are about becoming victims of theft, burglary, armed robbery, fraud, and sexual assault. Bonferonni procedures and regression methods are used to assess differences in fear of crime. The results show that respondents report low levels of fear of crime over the 20-year period. The results also indicate a lack of correspondence between fear of crime and official measures of crime. These findings challenge the use of fear of crime measures by policy makers seeking to evaluate criminal justice initiatives.

SIZE OF HOUSEHOLD FIREARM COLLECTIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR SUBCULTURES AND GENDER*

Recent work (Cook and Ludwig, 2003) has linked local firearm density to increased burglary victimization risk. The current work investigates within‐household gun density or household firearm collection size. Previous work has suggested two subcultures of gun owners: protection‐minded and sport‐ or hunting‐minded. It also has identified gender gaps in reporting any household guns and in the number reported. None of the earlier work, however, has controlled for selection into gun‐owning household status. This limitation raises potential questions about earlier findings. The current research controls for selection. If the two subcultures thesis is correct, protection‐minded owners should report smaller household firearm collections. The expected impact is observed in one national survey and is partially replicated in a second. Gender gaps seemed more independent than previously suggested. This study is the first to provide evidence of two partially overlapping subcultures of gun owners even after controlling for selection into gun‐owning household status. Practical implications for burglary risk may exist.

Space–Time Patterns of Risk: A Cross National Assessment of Residential Burglary Victimization

Using epidemiological techniques for testing disease contagion, it has recently been found that in the wake of a residential burglary, the risk to nearby homes is tem- porarily elevated. This paper demonstrates the ubiquity of this phenomenon by analyzing space-time patterns of burglary in 10 areas, located in five different countries. While the precise patterns vary, for all areas, houses within 200 m of a burgled home were at an elevated risk of burglary for a period of at least two weeks. For three of the five countries, differences in these patterns may partly be explained by simple differences in target density. The findings inform theories of crime concentration and offender targeting strategies, and have implications for crime forecasting and crime reduction more generally.

When Does Repeat Burglary Victimisation Occur?

Research consistently demonstrates that past victimisation is among the best predictors of future risk. Using recorded domestic burglary crime data from Victoria, Australia, analyses were conducted to examine temporal patterns of repeat burglary victimisation. The analyses focus on both time elapsed between incidents at the same location and the time of day that events occur, the latter previously unexamined in the literature. The time-course of revictimisation is as found hitherto: revictimisation occurs swiftly and the risk of repetition decays over time. Considering the time of day, in line with routine activities theory, the majority of incidents (first or follow-up events) occurred during the day. More interestingly, the results suggest that, relative to repeat burglaries that occur months after the first offence, those that occur within 7 days are more likely to occur at the same time of the day as the antecedent event. Moreover, the time course of revictimisation appears to vary for burglaries that occur at different times of the day. The results are discussed in relation to routine activities theory and with respect to their implications for crime reduction.

Assessing the needs of older burglary victims: a link nurse scheme

Distraction burglary is a type of burglary where the method of entry is by a trick rather than the typical forced entry. Research suggests this type of event can contribute to a decline in health amongst victims aged over 65 years. This article describes a scheme that employed a district nurse to work in partnership with the police to address the health and social care needs of older victims of distraction burglary living in the London Borough of Islington.

Neighborhood Crime Victimization, Drug use and Drug Sales: Results from the “Fighting Back” Evaluation

A fundamental premise of the “Fighting Back” program was the existence of a direct causal relationship between drug use and crime. Using data from the evaluation of the program and spatial hierarchical models, we examine whether drug use and the presence of visible drug sales lead to elevated levels of three types of crime: assault, burglary, and theft. Our analysis controls for neighborhood disadvantage, racial and Hispanic concentration, percent renter occupied, and population density. For crime victimization rates by neighborhood, we find that for burglary, neighborhood disadvantage, the presence of visible drug sales, and drug use are related to victimization. None of the control variables demonstrate a significant impact on burglary victimization. For assault, only neighborhood disadvantage and visible drug sales are statistically significant, and for theft, only visible drug sales influence the rate of criminal activity. Considering the Fighting Back intervention, there are no differences in changing crime patterns of reported burglary, assault, and theft from 1983 through 1995 and no differences in the pattern of changing crime victimization rates for 1997 to 1999 between the Fighting Back and comparison sites. Possible reasons for the lack of effects of drug use prevention programs in crime reduction and possible alternative strategies are also discussed.

Residential Burglaries and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Context in London, Ontario: Global and Local Regression Analysis*

The main aim of this article is to analyze the relationships between the spatial patterns of residential burglaries and the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods in London, Ontario. Relative risk ratios are applied as a measure of the intensity of residential burglary. The variation in the risks of burglary is modeled as a function of contextual neighborhood variables. Following a conventional (global) regression analysis, spatial variations in the relationships are examined using geographically weighted regression (GWR). The GWR results show that there are significant local variations in the relationships between the risk of residential burglary victimization and the average value of dwellings and percentage of the population in multifamily housing. The results are discussed in the context of four hypotheses, which may explain geographical variations in residential burglary. The practical implication of the GWR analysis is that different crime prevention policies should be implemented in different neighborhoods of the city.

La déclaration de la victime au tribunal : évaluation de l’expérience du Palais de Justice de Montréal

In October 1987, an experimental program was introduced in the Montreal Law Courts, inviting victims of crime and personal attack, as well as victims of burglary, to inform the Court of the consequences they suffered because of these acts; the program was called the Déclaration de la victime. An evaluative study of this experiment was initiated at the same time. The article presents some results : the response of the victims when offered the opportunity of taking part in the judicial debate, the content of the declarations, their use by the members of the Court, their possible influence on the proceedings and on the judicial decisions.

Evidence-Based Crime Prevention: Conclusions and Directions for a Safer Society

In an evidence-based society, government crime prevention policy and local practice would be based on interventions with demonstrated effectiveness in preventing crime - using what works best. Systematic reviews are the most comprehensive method of assessing the effectiveness of crime prevention measures and, in an evidence-based society, they would be the source that governments would turn to for help in the development of policy. This article summarizes the main findings of a project of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Group to advance knowledge on what works to prevent crime for a wide range of interventions, organized around four important domains: at-risk children, offenders, victims, and high-crime places. The full conclusions are published in the forthcoming book, Preventing Crime: What Works for Children, Offenders, Victims, and Places. The good news from this first wave of reviews is that most of the interventions are effective in preventing crime and, in many cases, produce sizeable effects. This includes social-skills training for children, cognitive-behavioural therapy and incarceration-based drug treatment for offenders, face-to-face restorative justice conferences involving victims and offenders, prevention of repeat residential burglary victimization, hot spots policing, closed-circuit television surveillance, and improved street lighting. Acting on the evidence from these systematic reviews could contribute to a safer society, both now and in the long run. Alongside the Campbell Collaboration effort to prepare and maintain systematic reviews for use by policy makers, practitioners, and the general public, a program of research into new crime prevention and intervention experiments needs to be initiated.

Prevalencia de sucesos violentos y de trastorno por estrés postraumático en la población mexicana

To report the rate of exposure to different violent events, their demographic correlates, the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the impact on quality of life. The National Survey of Psychiatric Epidemiology is representative of the Mexican urban population aged 18 to 65. The survey was undertaken in 2001 and 2002 using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI- 15) computerized version. The statistical analyses take into account the multistage, stratified, and weighted sample design. Kaplan-Meier and logistic regressions were performed. Sixty-eight percent of the population has been exposed to at least one stressful life event. Exposure varies by sex (rape, harassment, and sexual abuse are more frequent in women; accidents and being a victim of burglary among men) and by age (more frequent in children, adolescents, young adult women, and the elderly). By sex, 2.3% of women and 0.49% of men present PTSD. Rape, harassment, kidnapping, and sexual abuse are the events most associated with PTSD. The results suggest the need to increase treatment coverage to attend the consequences of violence, taking into consideration the important gender and age variations.

Household Crimes and Domestic Order: Keeping the Peace in Colonial Calcutta, c. 1770–c. 1840

During the early years of British expansion in Bengal, from the 1770s to the 1840s, British courts ruled on at least three dozen domestic violence cases. In the process of ruling on crimes in which native women were victims of burglary, rape, and murder at the hands of European men, judges on the Supreme Court of Calcutta became intimately involved with enforcing domestic peace and containing the social threat posed by interracial conjugal relationships between lower-class European soldiers and merchants and the native women with whom they cohabited or married. While high-ranking, upper-class men may have also physically abused native women with whom they were intimate, these relationships were rarely the subject of judicial scrutiny. Through criminal trials of domestic crimes or ‘intimate violence’, British judges and magistrates, who were among the highest status positions in the civil service, managed the sexual and familial transgressions of lower-ranking European soldiers, merchants and civil employees, thereby ‘making empire respectable,’ while simultaneously enabling lower-ranking men to enjoy continued sexual access to local women.

Burglary Victimization in England and Wales, the United States and the Netherlands: A Cross-National Comparative Test of Routine Activities and Lifestyle Theories

This study examines factors relating to burglary incidence in England and Wales, the United States, and the Netherlands. Negative binomial regression models are developed based on routine activities theory. Data are drawn from national victimization surveys of about the same time: the 1994 British Crime Survey, the 1994 National Crime Victimisation Survey, and the 1993 Police Monitor, respectively. Relative to the two European countries, US households have more idiosyncratic patterns of burglary victimization. Despite differences across the three data sets, several similar effects emerge of variables tapping lifestyle characteristics on burglary victimization. Four variables had significant effects in the same direction in two or more countries where the third country showed a non-significant effect in the same direction. These were age, lone parent household status, urbanization, and the presence of security measures in the home. Some variables had significant effects in opposite directions according to country: rented accommodation was associated with higher burglary rates in the UK but lower rates in the Netherlands; household affluence was linked with higher rates of burglary in the UK and lower rates in the United States.

Geocoding crime and a first estimate of a minimum acceptable hit rate

Spatial crime analysis relies not only on accurate geocoding but also the achievement of a high level of geocoding success. Geocoding is the task of converting locations, such as the addresses of burglary victims, into grid coordinates and is a task performed regularly by many crime analysts. Data sources include police offence and incident databases where the quality of geographical references can vary. The reality of dealing with this real world data means that achieving a completely successful geocoding process is rare and few crime analysts can get a hit rate (the percentage measure of success) of 100%. This paper seeks the answer to a seemingly simple question: what is an ‘acceptable’ minimum geocoding hit rate for crime data? This paper uses a number of different crime patterns and Monte Carlo simulation to replicate a declining geocoding hit rate to answer this question. Reduced crime rates of mapped points, aggregated to census boundaries, are compared for a statistically significant difference. The result indicates 85% as a first estimate of a minimum reliable geocoding rate, and this result is applicable to many address-based, point pattern datasets beyond the crime arena.

A Tale of Two Ivory Towers. A Comparative Analysis of Victimization Rates and Risks between University Students in the United States and England

Based on victimization surveys of two random samples of students who live on campus at comparable universities in the United States and England, we examined the extent and nature of on-campus student victimization and students' on-campus risk of experiencing violence, theft, and burglary during an academic year. On-campus victimization rates for students who live on English campuses are overall significantly higher than those who live on US campuses. Guided by lifestyle-routine activity theories, our comparative results from multivariate logit models predicting the likelihood of being an on-campus victim of violence, theft, and burglary reveal that there are more differences than similarities as to which variables significantly predict the probability of being victimized in each country respectively.

A Tale of Two Ivory Towers. A Comparative Analysis of Victimization Rates and Risks between University Students in the United States and England

Based on victimization surveys of two random samples of students who live on campus at comparable universities in the United States and England, we examined the extent and nature of on-campus student victimization and students' on-campus risk of experiencing violence, theft, and burglary during an academic year. On-campus victimization rates for students who live on English campuses are overall significantly higher than those who live on US campuses. Guided by lifestyle-routine activity theories, our comparative results from multivariate logit models predicting the likelihood of being an on-campus victim of violence, theft, and burglary reveal that there are more differences than similarities as to which variables significantly predict the probability of being victimized in each country respectively.