Extending Offender Mobility

Environmental criminology brings together a range of theories and areas for study. One of these domains is the study of offender mobility: how offenders move to (and sometimes from) crime sites, how they select their targets, where they start, the distance they cover, and the direction they move in. Inspired by routine activity theory, rational choice perspectives, and pattern theory, as well as principles of human ecology and foraging behavior, offender mobility studies have come to a...
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Environmental criminology brings together a range of theories and areas for study. One of these domains is the study of offender mobility: how offenders move to (and sometimes from) crime sites, how they select their targets, where they start, the distance they cover, and the direction they move in. Inspired by routine activity theory, rational choice perspectives, and pattern theory, as well as principles of human ecology and foraging behavior, offender mobility studies have come to a number of recurrent findings. However, most of these studies use similar data samples and settings, as they deal with local offenders operating in urban neighborhoods. This book extends this line of research by examining another sample in another setting. Through the study of so-called 'itinerant crime groups' in Belgium, the mobility of a sample of foreign offenders is investigated in a nation-wide setting. Mobility patterns of these offenders are studied through a variety of methods and techniques, including quantitative and qualitative analyses of crime statistics, case files, and offender interviews. (Series: Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy [IRCP] - Vol. 43)