{"title":"A new college campus and crime: Focusing on crime opportunity and gentrification in downtown Orlando, Florida","authors":"Sungil Han , Jordan R. Riddell","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102302","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102302","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>The current study assesses the potential crime-related impact of the University of Central Florida building a new college campus (UCF-Downtown) as part of a larger plan to revitalize the traditionally disadvantaged downtown Orlando, FL area.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Orlando Police Department crime incident data were used to track homicide, robbery, assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny, and drug crime, and information about census block group gentrification related conditions were sourced from the American Community Survey. Weekly time-series analyses using data from January 2010 through December 2020 were conducted, and a spatial panel regression model using yearly data (2013–2019) included a gentrification measure to predict crime outcomes.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Models detected a slight, and temporary, upward trend in assault and drug crime in the area within a 1-mile radius of UCF-Downtown during its construction. There was also some evidence of an increase in burglaries in the UCF-Downtown campus area during the construction period, with all other analyses indicating there was no change in crime related to the new campus or gentrification.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>There was no widespread association between improvements made in downtown Orlando and crime, which suggests building the new campus was limited to temporary increases in assault, drug violations, and burglary during construction. Findings provide little support for the ability of a community reinvestment initiative in the form of a new college campus to reduce crime in the short term, and there may be temporary increases in crime opportunities during the construction of a new campus.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102302"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tarah Hodgkinson , Samantha Henderson , Martin A. Andresen , Carrie B. Sanders , Camie Condon , Tye Anthony
{"title":"To tent and protect: Homeless encampments as “protective facilities”","authors":"Tarah Hodgkinson , Samantha Henderson , Martin A. Andresen , Carrie B. Sanders , Camie Condon , Tye Anthony","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102299","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102299","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Post COVID-19, visible homelessness in the form of encampments has grown in cities across North America. Often these encampments are stereotyped as posing health and safety risks. In response to public outcry, many of these encampments have been forcefully removed by city employees and police. However, it is unclear if encampments are criminogenic or simply create that perception. In this study, we use encampment data collected by the <span><span>City of Brantford (2023)</span></span> and calls for service and incident data from the Brantford Police Service (2015–2022) to determine if the emergence of encampments results in an increase in crime and disorder in the surrounding areas. We use Thiessen Polygons to approximate encampment area influence. We then analyze changes in crime patterns over time in these areas using a structural break test, from the point of encampment emergence, to determine if encampments significantly increase the likelihood of crime and disorder as compared to previous years in the same areas. Findings suggest that encampments follow the same criminogenic place patterns of other types of facilities. Implications for policy are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102299"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Etienne Blais , David Décary-Hétu , Benoit Leclerc
{"title":"1200 paths and counting: A script analysis of firearms trafficking in the Province of Quebec, Canada","authors":"Etienne Blais , David Décary-Hétu , Benoit Leclerc","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102301","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102301","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>Based on the crime script approach, the main objective of this study was to identify steps involved in firearms trafficking in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Our analysis focused on actions performed by actors, facilitating conditions, obstacles and errors for each step of the firearms trafficking process.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>A deductive thematic analysis was conducted to build the firearms trafficking script with 76 investigation files, conducted between 1996 and 2020, that were provided by the Quebec State Police.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Firearms trafficking included six steps: (1) preparation; (2) acquisition of firearms; (3) storage of firearms; (4) search for customers; (5) transaction; and (6) exit. Since each step can be completed with different actions, a total 1200 combinations of actions could be used to traffic firearms. Results also indicated that several actors were involved at different steps of the script such as suppliers, middlemen, and vendors. Unregulated tools (e.g., hydraulic press, mold), materials and components (e.g., steel sheets, barrels) facilitated the fabrication of private firearms, while advertising firearms on social media was an error made by some suspects.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The dynamic and sequential nature of firearms trafficking was highlighted by our script analysis. Crime script analysis also proved to be a useful approach to predict potential crime displacement, plan program evaluation and implementation, and prioritize prevention measures involving multiple agencies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102301"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Classifying perpetrators of stalking-related behavior with latent class analysis","authors":"Takuro Suzuki","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102298","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102298","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Stalking often escalates from mild behaviors, such as surveillance, to severe forms involving violence, posing serious risks to victims. While identifying high-risk perpetrator classes is crucial for preventing victimization, research on perpetrator classification based on stalking behavior remains limited.</div></div><div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>This study used latent class analysis (LCA) to classify perpetrators by gender based on their stalking-related behavior (SRB) patterns from a Japanese population survey, and examined the risk levels and characteristics of each class.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Participants included 530 Japanese individuals (240 men and 290 women) aged 20–49 years whose non-marital romantic partner had expressed a desire for separation and no contact.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>LCA revealed four-class models for both men and women. For men, the classes identified were indirect seeker (71.9 %), direct pursuit (21.3 %), serious perpetrator (3.8 %), and mild perpetrator (3.0 %). For women, the classes were indirect seeker (68.2 %), direct pursuit (19.2 %), malicious defamation (10.5 %), and serious perpetrator (2.2 %). In both genders, serious perpetrators exhibited a higher likelihood of violence and suicide attempts, emphasizing the need for mental health assessments and appropriate care alongside violence prevention.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Future research should focus on exploring the diversity of high-risk perpetrators.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102298"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julien Chopin , Eric Beauregard , Amelie Pedneault
{"title":"When failure is the option: Unravelling sexual assault outcomes","authors":"Julien Chopin , Eric Beauregard , Amelie Pedneault","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102297","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102297","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate the concept of “criminal failure” in sexual crimes and the relevance of various theoretical frameworks for its understanding: individual offender's rational choice, environmental influences and routine activities, victimological characteristics from lifestyle theory, and crime interaction factors. We examined a sample of 1121 “failed” cases (i.e., attempted but not completed) and 1500 “successful” cases (i.e., completed) of sexual assault that occurred in France between 1990 and 2018. We used 32 predictors that mapped on the four theoretical frameworks and conducted bivariate followed by multivariate analyses. Multiple theoretical frameworks are relevant to understand criminal failure, which is a product of perpetrator, environmental, victimological, and interactional factors. Two distinct patterns are specifically associated with failure: lack of preparation and lack of social skills. In addition, failure was best understood not as a unitary concept, but as multifactorial by distinguishing between different types of failure, specifically: offender intentionally released the victim before completion, victim escaped or third party rescue. Finally, patterns of failure were different in sexual crimes against children compared to those against adults. Criminology should pay closer attention to failure in crime. This understudied area can yield important theoretical knowledge and practical implications regarding the prevention of sexual crimes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102297"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142416991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Veto players and gun violence in drug markets: Analysis based on field observations of eighty drug-selling spots on the Westside of Chicago","authors":"Patrick J. Burke","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102295","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102295","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>The study analyzed whether the number of drug-selling spots has an impact on shooting incidents in drug markets on the Westside of Chicago.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A theory of gun violence in drug markets was developed by building on veto players theory, and tested using a series of two-way fixed-effects Poisson regressions. The main variable of interest—drug-selling spots—comes from an original dataset comprised of eighty drug-selling spots identified through covert field observations. Controls included: the average age and average number of drug spot workers at the drug-selling spots, concentrated disadvantage, population, police anti-drug operations, and drug demand.</div></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><div>In support of the theory, the main statistical models and robustness tests consistently found that the larger the number of drug-selling spots in a given drug market, the higher the number of shooting incidents over time. Only the control for population remained consistently statistically significant across model specifications.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The study contributes to the drug market literature by offering a novel theory of drug market violence, as well as a replicable way for researchers to observe drug market activity without disturbing the natural behaviors of market participants. The operationalization of drug-selling spots as sub-factions of organized criminal groups also provides a novel approach to the study of drug market violence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102295"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Business disruptions due to social vulnerability and criminal activities in urban areas","authors":"Nick Drydakis","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102293","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102293","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the relationship between social vulnerability, illegal activities, and location-based business disruptions in Athens, the capital of Greece. The research utilises repeated cross-sectional data from 2008, 2014, and 2023, gathered from areas with high levels of criminal activity, reflecting the experiences of business owners and managers in these locations. The findings reveal that heightened levels of social vulnerability—including the presence of illicit drug users and homeless individuals—alongside illegal activities such as gang-related protection rackets and black-market operations, are associated with increased location-based business disruptions. These disruptions manifest in assaults on employees and customers, business burglaries, reputational damage, supply chain problems, and decreased turnover. The study also examines the impact of economic conditions in 2014 and 2023, when Greece's Gross Domestic Product was lower than in 2008, indicating an economic recession. The findings suggest that the economic downturn during these years further exacerbated location-based business disruptions. Conversely, enhanced public safety measures, such as increased police presence, law enforcement, and improved public infrastructure, were associated with a reduction in these disruptions. Furthermore, an interesting insight was that businesses with longer operating histories tend to experience fewer location-based disruptions, indicating that operating history might be perceived as a resilience factor. The study suggests that policy actions should focus on increasing police visibility, providing financial support to high-risk businesses, funding urban regeneration projects, maintaining public infrastructure, and delivering social services aimed at helping marginalised communities escape vulnerability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102293"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142416993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Offense specialization among outlaw motorcycle gang members: Comparing specialization metrics","authors":"Heather Wolbers, Timothy Cubitt, Anthony Morgan","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102296","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102296","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>We examine the extent of offense specialization among outlaw motorcycle gang affiliates across Australia using a multi-metric approach, and by doing so compare diverse measures of specialization.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The sample consisted of 19,633 offenses, committed by 2283 affiliates of outlaw motor cycle gangs (OMCGs), disaggregated into four offense categories: ongoing criminal enterprise, short-term instrumental, violence and intimidation, and other offenses against person. Six specialization metrics were employed to measure specialization among the full sample of affiliates and relevant subgroups.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Of the six metrics employed to measure specialization, five suggested a high degree of versatility in offending among OMCG affiliates. Results were inconsistent across metrics when examining levels of specialization among subgroups of OMCG affiliates, and across offense categories.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>OMCGs are highly versatile in their offending, demonstrating the importance of interventions targeting organized, violent and lower-level volume crime. However, different measures of specialization yielded inconsistent results and appeared to be measuring different constructs. The suitability of metrics is dependent on the nature of the data and research question of interest. Future specialization research should employ a multi-metric approach to thoroughly explore specialization and improve the ability for cross study comparisons.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102296"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142358999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Juvenile fatalities in law enforcement encounters","authors":"Scott E. Culhane, Jessie L. Wiser","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102292","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102292","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The use of deadly force by police is not typically associated with juveniles. However, a small percentage of cases do result in their deaths. Utilizing nationwide databases of fatalities involving law enforcement, 224 juvenile deaths were examined over a ten-year period. The majority of deaths were male and minorities. Most cases involved a weapon or the appearance of a weapon, with more than half of the youths having a firearm at the time of their death. Cases were mixed with respect to the suspect's “ flight status,” as many youths were not fleeing at the time of the incident. The circumstances of the deaths were examined for the neighborhood characteristics, such as educational attainment, youth poverty, juvenile population, and racial homogeneity of the area, as well as the situational factors involved at the time of the incident. The most predictive variable in all models was the percentage of Whites only population of the area. Analyses of these deaths shed light on the interactions police have with juveniles. Policy recommendations are included to reduce hostile police and juvenile interactions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102292"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142324111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
David B. Johnson , Joshua J. Robinson , Daniel C. Semenza , Alexi Thompson
{"title":"Where are the guns?","authors":"David B. Johnson , Joshua J. Robinson , Daniel C. Semenza , Alexi Thompson","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102289","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102289","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We test the effectiveness of several common gun prevalence proxy variables against what are arguably the best measures of gun prevalence: firearm sales and concealed carry permits. With a comprehensive count of gun sales and concealed carry permits (by county and year) in the states of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, we make two main observations: First, gun sales/concealed carry permits are positively correlated with federal firearm licenses (gun dealers) per mile. Second, gun sales/concealed carry permits are not significantly positively correlated with federal firearm licenses per capita or the proportion of gun suicides to total suicides. We then discuss why this occurs and the limitations of using legal gun sales as a gun prevalence measure. Last, we show how the competing measures differ in terms of their associations with gun homicide. We find our preferred measure to have a strong positive association with gun homicides while many others do not. Consequently, we advise researchers to use gun dealers as a measure of gun prevalence and specifically in a way that considers markets bleeding over arbitrary lines (e.g., county, city, or neighborhood). This will especially be the case if one is interested in small geographic areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102289"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142312549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}