Michigan State University Libraries - Criminal Justice Resources

Criminal Justice Resources :
Crime Mapping

Web Sites

CAPSE: Crime Mapping and Analysis
http://www.geography.hunter.cuny.edu/capse/projects/nij/crime.html
This site, run by the Center for Applied Studies of the Environment, is dedicated to the collection and dissemination of information pertaining to crime mapping and analysis. It includes information about mapping software, other groups involved with crime mapping, links to useful sites, and an extensive bibliography on crime mapping.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Justice Technology Information Network (JUSTNET) Crime Mapping Training
http://www.nlectc.org/cmap/
(Last checked 05/02/08)

National Institute of Justice's Mapping & Analysis for Public Safety
Formerly called Crime Mapping Research Center
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/maps/
Over the last decade the criminal justice community has begun to reap the valuable analytic benefits of geographic information systems (GIS) technology. The powerful technology enhances the ability of researchers and practitioners to identify hot spots, analyze spatial patterns of crime and criminal behavior, and to share disparate data sets across jurisdictional boundaries. In 1997, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) established the Mapping and Analysis for Public Safety (MAPS) program, formerly known as the Crime Mapping Research Center (CMRC). The goal of this program is to promote research, evaluation, development, and dissemination of GIS technology for criminal justice research and practice. We provide many beneficial services such as grant funding, annual conferences, information on training centers, publications, research, and more.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Police Foundation Electronic Library
http://www.policefoundation.org/docs/library.html
Offers links to Crime Mapping News, a quarterly newsletter for GIS, crime mapping, and policing; and Crime Mapping Publications, occasional papers written by the staff of the Police Foundation Crime Mapping Laboratory
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Articles, Publications, Etc.

Crime Analysis and Crime Mapping Information Clearinghouse Bibliography
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=609
This COPS Office/Police Foundation document provides a comprehensive list of valuable crime analysis and mapping resources. It includes bibliographic and Internet resources that may be helpful to practitioners and researchers interested in the disciplines of crime analysis and crime mapping.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Crime Analysis Unit Developer Kit
http://www.crimeanalysts.net/caudk.htm
This collection of documents, publications, examples, and tools has been researched, collected, and made publicly available by the Crime Mapping & Analysis Program (CMAP) with the professional crime and intelligence analyst in mind. These products have been selected to meet the needs of crime analysts at every level of sophistication and at every point in their analytical unit development, from planning a unit from scratch to increasing your analytical firepower, through expanding the profession with internships. Download with software (370 MB) or without software (25 MB). U.S. public safety personnel may request a free CD. Source: Crime Mapping & Analysis Program (CMAP)
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Crime Mapping and the Policing of Democratic Societies
http://vera.org/publication_pdf/156_232.pdf
A publication of the Vera Institute of Justice. March 2002.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Crime Mapping News
http://www.policefoundation.org/docs/library.html#news
Volume 1, Number 1, Winter 1999 to date. The Police Foundation provides this quarterly newsletter for GIS, crime mapping, and policing.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Crime Mapping Related Resources Bibiliography
http://web.archive.org/web/20050312035554/http://www.jrsa.org/ibrrc/mapping/mapping_bibliography.html
Courtesy of the Justice Research and Statistics Association IBR Resource Center. Still available thanks to the Internet Archive.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

CrimeStat Spatial Statistics Program
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/crimestat.html/
CrimeStat is a spatial statistics program for the analysis of crime incident locations, developed by Ned Levine & Associates under the direction of Ned Levine, PhD, that was funded by grants from the National Institute of Justice (grants 1997-IJ-CX-0040, 1999-IJ-CX-0044, 2002-IJ-CX-0007, and 2005-IJ-CX-K037). The program is Windows-based and interfaces with most desktop GIS programs. The purpose is to provide supplemental statistical tools to aid law enforcement agencies and criminal justice researchers in their crime mapping efforts. CrimeStat is being used by many police departments around the country as well as by criminal justice and other researchers. The new version is 3.0 (CrimeStat III). The program inputs incident locations (e.g., robbery locations) in 'dbf', 'shp', ASCII or ODBC-compliant formats using either spherical or projected coordinates. It calculates various spatial statistics and writes graphical objects to ArcViewAE, MapInfoAE, Atlas*GISTM, SurferAE for Windows, and ArcView Spatial Analyst(c).
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Geographic Information Systems for Small and Medium Law Enforcement Jurisdictions: Strategies and Effective Practices
http://www.gcc.state.nc.us/gispage/ep1.htm
Publication by G. David Garson and Irvin B. Vann, Governor's Crime Commission, North Carolina, February 2001.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Geography of Crime: A Spatial Perspective of Murder in Austin
http://web.archive.org/web/20030628223409/
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/ustudent/gcraft/spring96/crime/index.html
This study was designed to research places in Austin, Texas, where geographic variations in the association between the place of murder and population, poverty, housing vacancy, and ethnicity. In other words, we wish to examine the relationship between the geographic unit of murder in census tracts, which is the dependent variable, in Austin, to the independent variables of percent population , percent poverty, percent vacancy, and percent black population per census tract. It is important to understand the correlations between living conditions, socio-economic and demographic factors to crime patterns which enables society to maintain quality of life and sense of well-being. Recent large-scale studies in the geography of crime involve: the mapping and distribution of crime patterns and comparisons of the distribution of crime offender rates with spatial variations amongst socio-economic or environmental indicators. Still available thanks to the Internet Archive.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Guidelines to Implement and Evaluate Crime Analysis and Mapping
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=614
This document serves as a guide for the processes of implementing and evaluating crime analysis and mapping. It is designed by the COPS Office / Police Foundation for use by law enforcement agencies that do not currently have the function in place as well as those that are looking to reevaluate and restructure their current crime analysis and mapping functions.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Integrating Community Policing and Computer Mapping
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=615
This document details a research project undertaken by the Police Foundation in an effort to identify the needs of the law enforcement field regarding crime mapping and analysis technologies. This COPS Office / Police Foundation document should be of interest to those seeking a better understanding of the state and needs of law enforcement agencies with respect to crime analysis and mapping.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Introductory Guide to Crime Analysis and Mapping
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=612
This guide was developed directly from the "Crime Analysis Mapping and Problem Solving" training course conducted by the Police Foundation. The purpose of this document is to convert the information presented in the training course into a succinct and readable report. It is intended to be a "starter" guidebook for someone just entering the field or as a reference manual for current law enforcement analysts. Publication by Rachel Boba, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, US Department of Justice, November 2001.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Manual of Crime Analysis Map Production
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/mime/open.pdf?Item=611
Through discussion and comprehensive examples, this COPS Office / Police Foundation manual provides guidelines for introductory-level crime analysis mapping. The document begins with a brief examination of the factors necessary to produce an effective map, follows with a discussion of the types of maps and design elements and concludes with five comprehensive examples that illustrate the process of crime analysis mapping. It should be of interest to those looking to produce effective and efficient maps for use in a law enforcement agency. Publication by Mary Velasco and Rachel Boba, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, US Department of Justice, November 2000.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Mapping and Crime Analysis Bibliography
http://www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu/capse/projects/nij/crime_bib1.html
Compilation by Charles Schwartz.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Mapping Crime: Principle and Practice
http://www.ncjrs.org/html/nij/mapping/pdf.html
http://www.ncjrs.org/html/nij/mapping/
Print Copies available and locations
This NIJ Research Report introduces the science of crime mapping to police officers, crime analysts, and other people interested in visualizing crime data through the medium of maps. Not a technical guide to software, Mapping Crime: Principle and Practice presents a broad approach and addresses the kinds of questions crime mapping can answer and how it can answer them. More than 110 colorful maps illustrate how geographic information systems (GIS) are used to analyze crime problems. The appendix lists 50 Internet resources related to crime mapping, including Web sites displaying crime maps, GIS and analysis software, hot spot identification methods, sources of census data, and virtual reality viewers. Keith Harries. December 1999. NCJ 178919.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Mapping Crime: Understanding the Hot Spots
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/209393.pdf
Crime mapping “hot spots” is an effective, but complex analysis method being used more and more by crime analysts, law enforcement, and other public service personnel to identify, analyze, and deploy resources to areas with high crime activity. Mapping Crime: Understanding Hot Spots describes the various types of hot spots, analysis techniques, crime theories, and spatial analysis software utilized. Research findings indicate that identifying hot spots requires multiple techniques as there is no single method to analyze all types of crime. This Special Report is designed mainly for researchers and technical crime analysts working in law enforcement. Written in text book style, each chapter in Mapping Crime: Understanding Hot Spots becomes more technical and progresses in sophistication. NIJ will soon be publishing a crime mapping Research for Practice, a shorter, less technical overview of crime mapping principles.
(Last checked 09/12/05)

Mapping Out Crime:
Providing 21st Century Tools for Safe Communities
http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/papers/bkgrd/crimemap/content.html
Describes how the federal government can help communities and police departments use information-age tools to reduce and prevent crime. Report of the Task Force on Crime Mapping and Data-Driven Management. U.S. Department of Justice and National Partnership for Reinventing Government. July 12, 1999.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Mapping the Path to Problem Solving
http://ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/jr000241b.pdf
This article explains how computer mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) are used in a variety of criminal justice and public safety settings, including law enforcement, collaborative enforcement and problem solving efforts, and corrections. Thomas Rich.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Mapping the Risks:
Assessing the Homeland Security Implications of Publicly Available Geospatial Information
http://www.rand.org/publications/MG/MG142/MG142.pdf
John C. Baker, Beth E. Lachman, David R. Frelinger, Kevin M. O’Connell, Alex Hou, Michael S. Tseng, David Orletsky, Charles Yost. Rand, 2004. Also available in print copy in the MSU Library Map Library.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Privacy in the Information Age: A Guide for Sharing Crime Maps and Spatial Data
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/188739.pdf
Publication by Julie Wartell and J. Thomas McEwen, Research Report, National Institute of Justice, July 2001.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Socioeconomic Mapping and Resource Topography (SMART) System
http://smart.gismapping.info
SMART is a geographic information system and Web-based mapping application that pinpoints local geographic areas of crime and delinquency and nearby governmental and community resources to prevent and control it. This tool was developed to assist Federal, state, and local decision makers in targeting areas of greatest need and allocate resources accordingly. Along with maps, SMART creates tables and graphs to chart a wide array of socioeconomic data, such as population, crime, housing, health, and mortality. Data sources include the U.S. Census Bureau and OJJDP's Statistical Briefing Book. Recent enhancements include the addition of:
(1) the ability to upload address files from an Excel spreadsheet, Access database, or comma delineated text files to be geo-coded and entered into the system for the user’s analysis
(2) public schools with contact information (National Center for Education Statistics)
(3) public juvenile residential placement facilities (Juvenile Residential Facility Census) Uniform Crime Report data (1994–2004), enabling user to conduct trend analysis.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

The Use of Computerized Crime Mapping by Law Enforcement: Survey Results
http://ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/fs000237.pdf
Presents the results from the nationwide Crime Mapping Survey, conducted by NIJ's Crime Mapping Research Center (CMRC). This NIJ Research Preview reveals the extent to which law enforcement agencies use geographical information systems (GIS) and why other agencies do not use GIS mapping technology. Although only 13 percent of respondents reported using any crime mapping technology, interest among law enforcement agency executives and planners appears to be growing. Cynthia A. Mamalian, Nancy G. LaVigne, and the staff of the Crime Mapping Research Center.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

The Use of Computerized Mapping in Crime Control and Prevention Programs
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/riamap.pdf
http://www.nlectc.org/txtfiles/riamap.html
Thomas F. Rich, National Institute of Justice Research in Action, July 1995, 21pp.
(Last checked 05/02/08)

Using Geographic Information Systems To Map Crime Victim Services:
A Guide for State Victims of Crime Act Administrators and Victim Service Providers
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/geoinfosys2003/
A 50 page report, jointly developed by OVC and the National Institute of Justice, gives State Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) administrators and victim service providers a powerful tool to assess needs, plan and expand programs, and operate more efficiently. In addition, this tool allows them to identify trends and patterns and allocate funding resources based on current data. Using geographic information systems (GIS), these maps could display the location of services and how or if services are accessed. The GIS technique allows VOCA administrators and other policymakers to visually evaluate data and modify their planning methodology. (OVC)
(Last checked 05/02/08)

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Ownership Statement Jon Harrison : Page Editor Criminal Justice Specialist Main Library Reference Michigan State University Libraries 100 Library E. Lansing, MI 48824-1048 Last revised 05/02/08

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