Place and Crime: Integrating Sociology of Place and Environmental Criminology

Sangmoon Kim, Randy L. LaGrange, Cecil L. Willis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

Standard sociology and criminology have not been sufficiently sensitive to the unique characteristics that places have. It has been implicitly assumed that one place (be it a neighborhood, census track, or metropolitan area) is interchangeable with another, given certain demographic and economic variables. This article attempts to recast environmental criminology within a sociological framework known as the "sociology of place." The unequal spatial distribution of crime makes it an ideal candidate for analysis within this sociological framework: crime is universal, yet spatially concentrated; targets everyone, yet not everyone equally; is socially constructed, yet has a very real physical reality to it. The article addresses the important linkage between crime and place.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)141-155
Number of pages15
JournalUrban Affairs Review
Volume49
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2013

Keywords

  • environmental criminology
  • sociology of place
  • spatial distribution

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Place and Crime: Integrating Sociology of Place and Environmental Criminology'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this