Crime in the Urban Environment: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice
March 23, 2005
4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Auditorium, Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center
Speakers
Patricia Brantingham
Professor, School of Criminology
Director, Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies
Co-Director, Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies Laboratory
Paul Brantingham
Professor, School of Criminology
Co-Director, Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies Laboratory
Patricia Brantingham
Patricia Brantingham is director of the Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies (ICURS) and co-director of the ICURS Laboratory at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada. She is also a professor of criminology. Her research interests include pattern theory, environmental criminology, situational crime prevention, criminal justice planning, and policy evaluation.
Brantingham has received international recognition for her work on offender target selection processes and geography of crime. Her mathematical work on the distribution of crime in regard to the structure of neighborhoods is fundamental to environmental criminology.
Brantingham is the author/editor of numerous books and monographs as well as more than 100 articles and scientific papers. Her current research focuses on patterns of crime at shopping malls and transit systems, the distribution of crime on road networks, and location of crime in complex urban ecologies. She spent four years as director of program evaluation at the Department of Justice, Canada, in the mid-1980s.
Paul Brantingham
Paul Brantingham is professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada. In 1992, he served as director of the Simon Fraser Centre for Canadian Studies. He was associate dean of the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies during the 1980s.
Brantingham is the author/editor of more than 20 books and monographs, and more than 100 articles and scientific papers. He is best known for his research on crime analysis and prevention, including how the physical environment affects incidence and fear of crime. He was one of the co-developers of the primary/secondary/tertiary model of crime prevention. An expert in legal aid, Professor Brantingham has served as special consultant to the Canadian Department of Justice for more than 10 years. His current research focuses on victimization on college campuses, the geography of persistent offending, and the study of crime in complex urban ecologies. Professor Brantingham is a member of the California Bar Association.
Abstract
Crime occurs when a motivated offender, law, and target converge at a specific place in space and time. Environment—the characteristics of places, and the spatial and temporal separations between places—is a major component of the patterns of crime we observe at many different levels. Understanding of the environment makes it possible to understand crime patterns in cities and criminal activity patterns of individual criminals. Criminal offenders interact with the urban environment in much the same way that other people do. Models derived from environmental criminology can assist law enforcement officials, urban and community planners, and policy makers in solving crimes that have already occurred and in developing effective crime prevention strategies.