Standard sociology and criminology have not been sufficiently sensitive to the unique characteristics that places have. It has been implicitly assumed that one place (be it a neighborhood, census track, or metropolitan area) is interchangeable with another, given certain demographic and economic variables. This article attempts to recast environmental criminology within a sociological framework known as the “sociology of place.” The unequal spatial distribution of crime makes it an ideal candidate for analysis within this sociological framework: crime is universal, yet spatially concentrated; targets everyone, yet not everyone equally; is socially constructed, yet has a very real physical reality to it. The article addresses the important linkage between crime and place.
BaldryChris. 1999. Space—The final frontier. Sociology33 (3): 535-53.
2.
BarkerRoger. 1968. Ecological psychology: Concepts and methods for studying the environment of human behavior. Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press.
3.
BellMichael Mayerfeld. 1997. The ghosts of place. Theory and Society26:813-36.
4.
BernascoWim. 2010. A sentimental journey to crime: Effects of residential history on crime location choice. Criminology48 (2): 389-416.
5.
BrantinghamPaulBrantinghamPatricia. 1984. Patterns in crime. New York: Macmillan.
6.
BrownBarbaraPerkinsDouglasBrownGraham. 2004. Incivilities, place attachment and crime: Block and individual effects. Journal of Environmental Psychology24 (3): 359-71.
7.
BuergerMichael.1993. Reexamining the Minneapolis repeat complaint address policing (RECAP) experiment, 1986-1987. [Computer file]. Minneapolis: Crime Control Institute [producer], 1993. Ann Arbor: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1994.
8.
BurgessErnest W.1916. Juvenile delinquency in a small city. Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology6:724-28.
9.
ChapinF. Stuart. 1974. Human activity patterns in the city: Things people do in time and space. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
10.
FritzonKatarina. 2001. An examination of the relationship between distance travelled and motivational aspects of fire setting behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology21 (1): 45-60.
11.
GierynThomas F.2000. A space for place in sociology. Annual Review of Sociology26:463-96.
12.
HopeTim. 1995. Community crime prevention. In Building a safer society: Crime and justice. Vol. 19, edited by TonryMichaelFarringtonDavid P., 21-89. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
JessopBobBrennerNeilJonesMartin. 2008. Theorizing sociospatial relations. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space26:389-401.
15.
KentSusan. 1984. Analyzing activity areas: An ethnoarchaeological study of the use of space. Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press.
16.
LerschKim M.HartTimothy. 2011. Space, time, and crime. Durham: Carolina Academic Press.
17.
LobaoLindaSaenzRogelio. 2002. Spatial inequality and diversity as an emerging research area. Rural Sociology67 (1): 497-511.
18.
LowS.AltmanI.1992. Place attachment: A conceptual inquiry. In Place attachment, edited by AltmanI.LowS., 1-12. New York: Plenum.
19.
MichelsonWilliam. 1970. Man and his urban environment: Sociological approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
20.
NewmanOscar. 1972. Defensible space. New York: Macmillan.
21.
NewmanOscar. 1996. Creating defensible space. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
22.
PalenJ. John. 2012. The urban world. Boulder: Paradigm.
23.
PorterLouise E.AlisonLaurence J.2006. Behavioural coherence in group robbery: A circumplex model of offender and victim interactions. Aggressive Behavior32:330-42.
24.
QueteletA.1835. Sur l ’homme et le d’eveloppement de ses facult’es, ou Essai d’une physique sociale [A treatise on man and the development of his faculties]. Paris: Bachelier.
25.
SampsonRobertRaudenbushS. W.EarlsE.1997. Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science277:918-24.
26.
SchwarzMaureen T.2009. Emplacement and contamination: Mediation of Navajo identity through excorporated blood. Body & Society15 (2): 145-68.
27.
ShawClifford R.1929. Delinquency areas. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
28.
ShawClifford R.McKayHenry D.1931. Social factors in juvenile delinquency. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
29.
ShermanLawrence. 1995. Hot spots of crime and criminal careers of places. In Crime and place: Crime prevention studies, edited by EckJohnWeisburdDavid, 35-52. Monsey, NY: Willow Tree Press.
30.
ShermanLawrence. 1998. Policing for crime prevention. In Preventing crime: What works, what doesn’t, what’s promising, edited by ShermanLawrence W.GottfredsonDeniseMacKenzieDorisEckJohnReuterPeterBushwayShawn, A Report to the United States Congress, Prepared for the National Institute of Justice. http://www.ncjrs.gov/works/index.htm (accessed October 17, 2012).
31.
SkoganW. G.1990. Disorder and decline: Crime and the spiral of decay in American neighborhoods. New York: Free Press.
32.
SmithPhilip. 1999. The elementary forms of place and their transformation: A Durkheimian model. Qualitative Sociology22 (1): 13-36.
33.
TaniSirpa. 2002. Whose place is this space? Life in the street prostitution area of Helsinki, Finland. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research26 (2): 343-59.
34.
TaylorRalphGottfredsonStephenBrowerSidney. 1985. Attachment to place: Discriminant validity and impacts of disorder and diversity. American Journal of Community Psychology13 (5): 525-42.
35.
TickamyerAnn R.2000. Space matters! Spatial inequality in future sociology. Contemporary Sociology29 (6): 805-13.
36.
TitaGeorge E.CohenJacquelineEngbergJohn. 2005. An ecological study of the location of gang “set space.”Social Problems52 (2): 272-99.
37.
TunnellKenneth D.2006. Living off crime. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
38.
UrryJohn. 2001. The sociology of space and place. In The Blackwell companion to sociology, edited by BlauJudith, 3-15. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers.
39.
WainwrightJoelBarnesTrevor J.2009. Nature, economy, and the space-place distinction. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space27:966-86.
40.
WelshBrandonFarringtonDavid. 2004. Surveillance for crime prevention in public space: Results and policy choices in Britain and America. Criminology & Public Policy3 (3): 497-526.
41.
WhiteR. C.1932. The relations of felonies to environmental factors in Indianapolis. Social Forces10 (4): 498-509.
42.
WhyteWilliam F.1943. Street corner society. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
43.
WilsonJames Q.KellingGeorge L.1982. Broken windows: The police and neighborhood safety. Atlantic Monthly, March, 29-38.
