World's Top Crime Researchers Present Latest Findings At UC Symposium

The newest ideas in assessing and combating crime will be the focus this week, when the University of Cincinnati’s criminal justice department plays host to the 11^th International Symposium on Environmental Criminology and Crime Analysis.

The symposium, being held in the United States for only the third time, will feature more than 50 researchers representing Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, India, Japan,  New Zealand, Norway, South Africa and the United States. They will be bringing to town new ideas that are helping communities around the world with issues relating to crime.

Daylong sessions are scheduled for Friday, June 20 and Saturday, June 21 at the Kingsgate Conference Center on the UC campus. A schedule of presentations is included below.

Presentations and discussions will take place among the world’s leading researchers in this field, hosted by the University of Cincinnati’s criminal justice department, the national leader in criminal justice research.

Among the topics on the symposium’s agenda are community-oriented policing and crime mapping, two approaches central to Cincinnati’s current campaign to reverse rising crime in the city. Three members of the Cincinnati Police Department will be attending the symposium as observers.

UC’s geography department, a frequent partner with criminal justice faculty for work in this field, is also helping to host the symposium, which is being supported by the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services and the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences.

The presentation schedule is as follows:

FRIDAY, JUNE 20

9 a.m. -- Crime concentration

Presentations:

• Preventing Domestic Violence
• The Hotspot Matrix as a Framework for the Spatio-Temporal Targeting of Crime Reduction
• Dealing with Geographic Outliers: Reconciling Repeat Victimization of Place and Hot Spots

10:30 a.m. -- COPS Problem Solving

Presentations:

• A Traffic Scheme to Impede Drug Dealing in Private Apartment Complexes
• The New COPS Problem-Solving Web Site
• The COPS Problem-Solving Guides Series

1 p.m. -- Evaluation

Presentations:

• An Evaluation of the CCTV Scheme at Oslo Central Railway Station
• Disposing of Stolen Goods in Canberra
• Assessing the State of Crime Prevention Research

2:15 p.m. -- Crime Analysis

Presentations:

• New Perspectives in Crime Mapping and Analysis
• Constructing Geographic Areas for Analyzing Homicide Rates in Small Populations
• The Journey to Homicide: Using Gis to Understand the Convergence of Victim, Offender and Place
• Patterns of Computerized Crime Mapping Diffusion Among Municipal Police Departments in New Jersey

SATURDAY, JUNE 21

9:30 a.m. -- Crime Analysis

Presentations:

• Computer Simulation as a Tool for Environmental Criminologists
• Simulating Crime Events and Crime Patterns Using the Routine Activity Theory
• Policing in a Hurricane: Social Vulnerability and Calls to the Police
• The Problem Analyst: Current Work in the United States

11 a.m. -- Drugs

Presentations:

• An Eclectic Approach to Studying Mid-Level Drug Dealing Enterprises
• Differential Control of Place: An Analysis of Third-Party Policing and Traditional Drug-Control Tactics
• Drug-Free Zones in Portland, Oregon: Implications for Police Practice and Policy

1:30 p.m. -- Design Issues

Presentations:

• Building Up the Evidence Base on Crime Prevention: A Holistic Evaluation of Alley Gating in Merseyside, NW England
• Designing to Reduce Opportunities for Crime and Nuisance: An Architectural Application of Environmental Criminology
• Residentialism: Making Public Housing Projects Safer in France

2:45 p.m. -- Theory

Presentations:

• Offending Persistence and Versatility: Implications for Situational Crime Prevention
• Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis of Vehicle Theft: Issues and Results
• Situational Crime Prevention: An Example of Kuhn's Paradigm?

4:15 p.m. -- ‘Rational’ Offending

Presentations:

• Decisions to Desist from Marijuana Use: A Rational Choice Analysis
• The Process of Co-Offending
• Some Reflections on the Journey to Crime