Hot Dots in Hot Spots: Examining Repeat Victimizaiton, Executive Summary

摘要

Numerous research studies have shown that crime clusters in geographic areas known as hot spots and on specific places and persons within those clusters. These 'hot dots' within the hot spots reflect the accumulation of multiple crimes on the same people and 'places--recognition that some people and places account for a disproportionate amount of crime. Indeed, the presence of hot dots may in fact make hot spots hot. Known as repeat victimization, the 'hot dot' phenomenon is an important and pervasive criminological phenomenon which presumably can be targeted to reduce aggregate crime. Repeat victimization has been studied extensively in Great Britain, beginning in the 1980s, and across a range of crime types. By the mid-1990 the concept of repeat victimization was so well-established that British police forces were held accountable for repeat victimization as a measure of police performance. The British studies have shown that being victimized is a good--if not the best --single predictor of being victimized again and that subsequent victimization tends to occur very quickly. Awareness of repeat victimization in the United States is not well-established. Indeed, very little is known about the incidence, concentration and variations of repeat victimization and its relationship to crime hot spots.