This article draws on and adds to the criminological debate surrounding the link between crime and immediate environmental conditions. The article describes and offers analysis of a piece of research conducted by one of the authors in Colne, a small town in Lancashire, England, which sought to examine the propositon that people who reside in a certain locality are more prone to engage in criminal activity. From analysis of press reports of criminal activity, we can see that the incidence of crime moved, during a period of years, from one area of the town to another. The arficle provides an explanation of why this happened and offers comment on the overall issue.
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