Exploring the Spatial Configuration of Places Related to Homicide Events

Acknowledgements This research effort benefited from the input of a variety of individuals who made both substantive and technical contributions. George Rengert, a consultant on the project, provided valuable insights regarding initial patterns of triangles and suggestions regarding the analysis plan that produced them. Deborah Weisel's question about the impact of repeat victimization on triangle type was the impetus for our analysis of the spatial configuration of the three events (dots, lines and triangles section). Also, we are indebted to Jerry Ratcliffe for his initial suggestion to use actual distance rather than social distance to classify the triangles. Two anonymous reviewers contributed comments that improved the final report. In addition, we thank all the individuals who provided interesting and thoughtful feedback on presentations of the data analysis over the last two years. The work could not have been completed without the technical contributions of two ESRI-Vienna staff members. James Cardona of ESRI wrote the Avenue® program to measure the distance from an address in one file to an address in another file using a common identification field. The script is able to measure both Euclidean and Street distance (if Network Analyst Extension is available). Jo Fraley provided valuable information regarding the symbolization capabilities in ArcGIS 9.0® and wrote the ArcGIS® program to read a data matrix and draw lines between the origin and destination areas. Finally, the authors appreciate Chief Charles Ramsey's support for the research and granting us access to homicide and base layer data housed at the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. As always any errors in the document are the sole responsibility of the authors.