Criminology & Remote Sensing

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Social Structure theories:

 

Social disorganization

Social disorganization theory is based on the work of Henry McKay and Clifford R. Shaw of the Chicago School. Social disorganization theory suggests that neighborhoods plagued with poverty and economic deprivation tend to experience high rates of population turnover.  With high turnover, informal social structures often fail to develop. Informal structures often include deep rooted community norms that regulate cultural behaviors and help with implemtation of shared values and collective advocacy. When communities lack these societal structures it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain social order.

 

How remote sensing can help in analysis:

• Identify rates of population turnover using GIS and remote sensing software such as ArcGIS, ERDAS, and IDRISI

• Identify impoverished community development and formulate patterns

• Remotely identify high rates of poverty geographically by neighboorhood while accounting for variables that might otherwise go unnoticed

 

Social ecology

 Many studies have found that crime rates are associated with poverty, disorder, high numbers of abandoned buildings, and other signs of community deterioration.  As working and middle class people leave deteriorating neighborhoods, the most disadvantaged portions of the population still remain. This will often cause a "concentration effect," which may cause neighborhoods to be isolated from the mainstream of society and become prone to violence as new deviant values often transpire.

 

How remote sensing can help in analysis:

• Identify concentrated crime patterns through GIS

• Compare and contrast those who are disadvantaged to those who are advantaged geographically theough satelite imagery

• Identify long term degredation of communities through satelite imagery and compare it to geographically referenced crime statistics

 

Strain theory

Strain theory, developed by American sociologist Robert Merton, suggests that mainstream culture, especially in the United States, is saturated with dreams of opportunity, freedom, and prosperity or "the American dream". Most people buy into this dream, and it becomes a powerful cultural and psychological motivation.  Merton recognized a dichotomy between what society expected of its citizens and what those citizens could actually achieve. If the social structure of opportunities is unequal and prevents the majority from realizing the dream, some of those dejected will turn to illegitimate means (crime) in order to realize it. Others will retreat or drop out into deviant subcultures (gang members, "hobos": urban homeless drunks and drug abusers).

 

How remote sensing can help in analysis:

• Map out concentrations of those disadvanteged using GIS

• Aid in identifying correlations between resources, population, and deviance

• Identify community structures and their availability to those who are disadvantaged using satelite imagery and transportation accesibility maps

 

Routine Activity Theory

Routine activity theory, developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence Cohen, draws upon control theories and explains crime in terms of crime opportunities that occur in everyday life. Routine Activity Theory suggests that a crime opportunity requires specific elements that converge in time and place. These elements include: a motivated offender, suitable target or victim, and  lack of a capable guardian. A capable guardian at a place, such as any random street, could include security guards or even ordinary pedestrians who would witness the criminal act and possibly intervene or report it to police. A motivated offender consists of any indivdual with some motivation to commit a crime. A suitable target is anything or any perosn who represents a viable opportunity for attack.

 

How remote sensing can help in analysis:

• Identify places through geograpgical analysis that lack in a "capable guardian" using satelite imagery

• Identify places that may suggest the likelyhood of a "suitable target" using satelite imagery

• Use the above information to identify possible "motivated offenders"

 

 

                          For more information on criminological theories, visit the following pages:

 

 

    About.com

 

   Wikipedia.com