Putting Fear of Crime on the Map

The impact of crime on society is well-known and well-documented. But fear of crime also takes a major toll, affecting individual mobility, neighborhood cohesion, and local economies, and is an increasingly important topic in criminology and other disciplines. In recent years, Geographic Information Systems technology has brought needed spatial dimensions to research into fear of crime. §Putting Fear of Crime on the Map reviews these efforts, chronicling the evolution of both research and technology. Fear of crime is defined as a complex system of avoidance behaviors that paradoxically helps create conditions favorable to crime, and the authors summarize approaches used in understanding the problem. In later chapters, data from two landmark studies examine new ways of conceptualizing and addressing fear of crime offered by GIS technology, and the authors present innovative GIS-based methods for reducing fear of crime, as well as in monitoring the effectiveness of law enforcement and community initiatives.§Key features of the book:§· Historical and current trends in fear of crime research.§· Analysis of fear of crime is a serious analytical and social problem.§· Social/environmental theories explaining fear of crime.§· Technical breakdown of Geographic Information Systems techniques used to map fear of crime.§· Findings from eight years of studies of fear of crime using GIS technology.§· Potential applications for fear mapping, and emerging areas for fear of crime research.§Putting Fear of Crime on the Map is a unique source of information for graduate and postgraduate researchers in criminology, and policy makers.