Crime pattern theory 9

Core idea

Crime clusters in places offender know through daily movement and familiarity

Key points

Offenders rely on awareness space, cognitive maps, mental templates

Important terms: nnodes, paths, edges, distance decay, crime attractors/generators

what it expalins best

Why crime happens in familiar places instead of random

useful example

Someone may offend near places they already travel to, home, school, work, shopping areas, since these are in their awareness spaces

main critcism

stronger on spatial patterns than criminal motivation

easy comparison

routine activies gives opportunity triangle

crime pattern theory explains why opportunities cluster where offenders move