Why does crime happen at certain places?

Charlotte Gill, Ph.D.Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy,

Dept of Criminology, Law & Society, Fairfax VA

Why does a crime happen?

Lack of supervision and guardianship

• Informal/human– No structured activities

for youth– Neighbors don’t look

out for each other– No place managers

• Formal/mechanical– Poor street lighting– No/unmonitored CCTV

Low collective efficacy (‘neighborliness’)

• neighbors don’t trust or look out for each other

• people in transition (moving in and out, not connected to the place)

• easy to get in and out quickly

Environment: Poor design• Building design and

visibility problems• Store layout (placement

of easy to steal items)• Poor definition of space

(e.g. public vs. private property; inside/outside school)

• Lack of access control (e.g. gates, card access)

Environment: Policy violations

• Code violations• Trash, graffiti, junk says

“nobody cares about this place”

• Alcohol sales to minors• Noise complaints• Public transit policies

(e.g. bus/rail pass restrictions)