How far from home offenders travel

: an international comparison of crime trips in homicide, rape, burglary, and robbery cases / Pekka Santtila ... [et al.]. - [S.l.] : Poliisiammattikorkeakoulun Tutkimuksia, 2004. - 67 p. ; 26 cm.
The police has at its disposal information concerning offence and offender home locations. This information could be used to predict a search area in which the police should look for offenders rendering investigations more effective in situations where no direct link between the victim and the offender exists.
This book compares offender travel patterns in homicides, rapes, residential burglaries as well as commercial robberies in three different European countries providing answers to the following questions:
  • What are the typical travel distances from home to offence locations of offenders in these crime types?
  • Do the travel distances in these offences differ in different countries?
  • Are crime features availabie to the police at the beginning of an investigation related to the travel distances of the offenders?
The book offers an example of a way in which the police may be better able to make use of the information they already have available to detect offences. The results of the project highlight a way in which crime analysis can be used directly in crime investigations. Also, the results give guidance to police organisations planning to implement automated decision-support systems.

Indice

Preface 3
Abstract 6
1. Introduction 8
2. Method 15
2.1 Distance decay functions 16
2.2 Data collection in different countries 18
2.3 Method for Finland 19
2.4 Method for Sweden 22
2.5 Method for Italy 25
2.6 Method: Summary 26
3. Results 27
3.1 Spatial behaviour in difficult-to-solve homicides 27
3.1.1 Finnish sample of difficult-to-solve homicide cases 27
3.1.2 Italian sample of difficult-to-solve homicide cases 31
3.1.3 Comparison of Finnish and Italian results concerning difficult-to-solve homicides 34
3.2. Spatial behaviour in difficult-to-solve rapes 35
 
3.2.1 Finnish sample of difficult-to-solve rapes 35
3.2.2 Italian sample of difficult-to-solve rapes 38
3.2.3 Comparison of Finnish and Italian results concerning difficult-to-solve rapes 41
3.3. Spatial behaviour in residential burglaries 42
3.3.1 Finnish sample of residential burglaries 42
3.3.2 Swedish sample of residential burglaries 45
3.3.3 Comparison of Finnish and Swedish results concerning residential burglaries 47
3.4 Spatial behaviour in commercial robberies 48
3.4.1 Finnish sample of commercial robberies 48
3.4.2 Italian sample of commercial robberies 51
3.4.3 Swedish sample of commercial robberies 54
3.4.4 Comparison of Finnish, Italian, and Swedish results concerning commercial robberies 56
4. Conclusions 58
References 62