Crime and Region

•Offenders tend to be concentrated in particular regions.

•Crimes tend to occur in particular areas.

The Chicago School

• Cities have distinctive neighbourhoods.

• Divided Chicago into 5 zones, drawn at 2 mile intervals, radiating outwards in concentric circles from the central business district.

• Found zone 1 has the the highest rate of delinquents.

• Characterised by a high population turnover and a mixture of different cultures.

• This is where accommodation is cheapest.• People move out to higher income areas

once they have become established.

Zone 1 has:-

• Little social cohesion

• Little sense of community

• Weak mechanisms of social control

Evaluation

• When applied to a number of different cities similar results were produced.

• The rate of delinquents corresponds closely to economic factors.

Croydon

• Terrence Morris (1957) found area offender rates reflected local authority housing policies.

• Concentrations of delinquents were found on estates where the council had housed ‘problem families’.

Offences

• In traditional cities offences tend to be clustered in and around the city centre.

• In residential districts offence rates tend to be highest in low-income, inner-city areas and in high-income areas which are close to areas with high offending rates.

Explanations

• Most offences occur a short distance from the offenders’ homes.

• Patricia and Paul Brantingham (1984) suggest we have cognitive maps in our heads which contain the places we are familiar with.

• They go on to suggest that most offenders will commit crimes in areas they are familiar with.

Evaluation

• Much research supports the connection between familiarity, cognitive maps and offence location eg Rengert and Wasilchick, 2000, Carter and Hill, 1979 in America and Wiles and Costello, 2000, in Sheffield.

• Low offender rates and high offence rates areas tend to occur in high-income neighbourhoods close to areas regularly used by offenders.

Shaw and McKay’s Theory of Social Disorganisation

• High population turnover and cultural heterogeneity led to social disorganisation which results in weak social control.

Evaluation

• May explain crime and region in America.

• Does not fit all British examples.

Wilson’s Broken Windows

• Informal mechanisms of social control tend to break down when buildings are left in a state of disrepair.

• Graffiti spreads, vandalism grows.

• Law-abiding members leave the community.

Evaluation

• Fails to explain how the disorder which tips a neighbourhood into decline starts in the first place.