Cities
Volume 82, 2018, Pages 10-18

Examining the relationship between neighborhood environment and residential locations of juvenile and adult migrant burglars in China (Article)

Liu L.* , Feng J. , Ren F. , Xiao L.
  • a School of Geographical Sciences, Center of GeoInformatics for Public Security, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510275, China, Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0131, United States
  • b Center of Integrated Geographic Information Analysis, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China, Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-simulation, Guangzhou, 510275, China
  • c MS GIS Program, University of Redlands, Redlands, CA 30074, United States
  • d Center of Integrated Geographic Information Analysis, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China, Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo-simulation, Guangzhou, 510275, China

Abstract

Residential location of offenders has been an important topic in the crime literature. However, prior research on offender residence pays little attention to the factor of age. Coupled with the rapid urbanization in China, many Chinese have moved from rural areas to urban areas and many burglaries are committed by these migrants, especially adult migrants. They need to choose their residences once they move to a new place. This study aims to examine the characteristics of neighborhood environment of migrant burglars’ residential locations and how they differ by age in a large city in China. The conceptual framework is based on social disorganization theory. In general, the spatial pattern of juvenile migrant burglars varies largely from those of adult migrant burglars. Juvenile migrant burglars mainly concentrate in urban areas including urban villages, while a large number of adult migrant burglars reside in urban villages and suburban villages. The results of a series of zero-inflated negative binomial regression models reveal that a neighborhood with high residential instability is likely to attract more juvenile migrant burglars, while a socially disorganized neighborhood tends to include more adult migrant burglars. The residential characteristics of adult migrant burglars mostly agree with social disorganization theory. These findings can have important implications for burglary prevention and neighborhood safety. © 2018

Author Keywords

Residential location Social disorganization theory Burglar Age migrant Neighborhood environment

Index Keywords

urban area China immigrant neighborhood crime adult residential location
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85046805596&doi=10.1016%2fj.cities.2018.04.014&partnerID=40&md5=4d4fbb992135560269dbce07e7b9c09a
DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2018.04.014
ISSN: 02642751
Cited by: 7
Original Language: English