Evaluating the usefulness of functional distance measures when calibrating journey-to-crime distance decay functions

✍ Scribed by Josh Kent; Michael Leitner; Andrew Curtis

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 391 KB
• Volume: 30
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0198-9715
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2004.10.002

✦ Synopsis

This research evaluates the usefulness of applying functional distance measures to criminal geographic profiles using mathematically calibrated distance decay models. Both the travelpath (i.e., shortest distance) and temporally optimized (i.e., quickest travel time) functional distance measures were calculated based on the impedance attributes stored within a linearly referenced transportation data layer of several parishes in Louisiana. Two different journey-tocrime distance decay functions (i.e., negative exponential, and truncated negative exponential) were mathematically calibrated for ''best fit'', based on the distribution of distances between homicide crime locations and offenderÕs residences. Using the calibrated distance decay functions, geographic profiles were created for a localized serial killer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A probability score was calculated for every point within the study area to indicate the likelihood that it contained the serial offenderÕs residence. A comparison between the predicted