Properties, victims, and locations previously targeted by offenders have an increased risk of being targeted again within a short time period. It has been suggested that often the same offenders are involved in these repeated events and, thus, that offenders' prior crime location choices influence their subsequent crime location choices. This article examines repeated crime location choices, testing the hypothesis that offenders are more likely to commit a crime in an area they previously targeted than in areas they did not target before. Unique data from four different data sources are used to study the crime location choices of 3,666 offenders who committed 12,639 offenses. The results indicate that prior crime locations strongly influence subsequent crime location choices. The effects of prior crime locations are larger if the crimes are frequent, if they are recent, if they are nearby, and if they are the same type of crime.

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu In this paper, we use a recent policy change in the Netherlands to study how changes in search requirements for the older unemployed affect their transition rates to employment, early retirement and sickness/disability benefits. The reform, becoming effective on January 1st 2004, required the elderly to formally report their job search efforts to the employment office in order to avoid a (temporary) cut in benefits. Before the new law was passed, unemployed were allowed to stop all search activity at the moment they turned 57.5. Estimating various duration models using difference-in-difference and regression discontinuity approaches, we find that for several groups of individuals that were affected by the policy change, the stricter search requirements did significantly increase their entry rate into employment. However, we also find evidence of a higher outflow to sickness/disability insurance schemes, a presumably unwanted side-effect of the policy change. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SJEL Classification: C31, J26, J64, J68

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According to crime pattern theory, offenders are likely to select crime locations within their awareness space. Previous studies have shown that offenders often commit crimes within their current and former residential areas and in areas they previously targeted. However, offenders’ awareness spaces obviously consist of more locations that potentially influence their crime location choices. This study examines the importance of the residential areas of offenders’ family members. Most offenders visit their families at least occasionally and consequently get familiar with the areas in which their families live. It is hypothesized that family members’ residential areas are at increased risk of being targeted. Unique data were used to reconstruct residential histories of the parents, siblings, and children of 7,910 offenders who committed 19,420 offenses. The results of discrete spatial choice models showed that residential areas of family members are indeed at increased risk of being targeted. Current familial residential areas had stronger and more consistent effects than had former familial residential areas. Effects were strongest for the residential areas of offenders’ children compared with those of their parents and siblings. The residential areas of male and female family members affected the crime location choices of male and female offenders equally.

Why is it that some offenders get arrested quickly, while others manage to evade arrest much longer or are never arrested at all? What characterizes serial offenders who continue to escape arrest? To be able to answer these questions, arrested (identified) offenders must be compared with never arrested (unidentified) offenders. DNA data offer a unique opportunity to compare crime series of identified offenders with crime series of unidentified offenders. In this paper, data from the Dutch DNA database are used to study whether the geographical dispersion of the crime locations of serial offenders influences the probability of arrest. Results show that the probability of arrest decreases with increasing geographical dispersion, measured as the number of police regions in which the offender's crimes have been committed.

Objectives: Compare the spatial offending patterns of arrested offenders to that of non-arrested offenders, in order to assess selection bias in arrest data. Method: Data used for this study are from the Dutch DNA database for criminal cases. DNA allows reliable linkage of serial crimes committed by the same offender, whether or not the offender has ever been arrested. Spatial offending patterns of arrested and non-arrested offenders are measured by calculating the mean intercrime distance (MICD) of the offense locations. Survival analysis is performed to study whether the MICD has an influence on the duration until arrest. Results: No large differences are found between the MICD of arrested offenders and the MICD of non-arrested offenders. The MICD does not affect the duration until arrest. Conclusions: Because no differences in the MICDs are found between the arrested and non-arrested offenders, arrest data are probably less selective than has been suspected in the past, and results based on these data are unlikely to be strongly biased.

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