Risky Facilities: Crime Concentration in Homogeneous Sets of Establishments and Facilities

By John E. Eck University of Cincinnati Ronald V. Clarke Rutgers University and Rob T. Guerette Florida International University

The fact that crime is heavily concentrated on particular people, places and things has important implications for prevention. It suggests that focusing resources where crime is concentrated will yield the greatest preventive benefits. Researchers have therefore begun to develop concepts intended to guide prevention that capture different aspects of this concen- tration. These include “repeat offenders” – who commit a disproportionate amount of total recorded crime (Spelman, 1994); “hot spots” – places with high rates of crime (Sherman et al., 1989; Weisburd et al., 1992); “crime generators” – places that are high in crime because they are exceptionally busy (Brantingham and Brantingham, 1995); crime attractors” – places that contain many suitable crime targets without adequate protection (Brantingham and Brantingham, 1995); “repeat victims” – who suffer a series of crimes in a relatively short period of time (Farrell and Pease, 1993); and “hot products” – wh