Crime on Public Transport

Abstract

Overview: This entry examines how crime concentrates and is potentially specialized within and around the public transport system. It begins by defining public transport for the purposes of this discussion and outlines why this is an area of importance. It also discusses some of the reasons why there is a paucity of evidence into crime on public transport and the unique challenges this system poses for identifying and analyzing concentrations of crime. It describes how public transport networks provide a number of unique settings (places and times) across which crime and disorder can occur. These include in and around stations and stops and on board moving vehicles.The public transport network brings increased accessibility to places, and this creates distinctive patterns of offending. This entry reviews the international evidence for the manifestations of crime in these situations and considers the theoretical reasons and explanations for such events and the extent to which these may be specialized. It then examines the prevention opportunities offered by the crime concentrations and specializations identified and some emerging trends and future avenues for research.

Perceptions of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) at Australian Railway Stations

“…This particularly relates to land uses that have the tendency to generate crime, such as prisons, pubs, bottle shops (off-licenses), pharmacies, seedy hotels, vacant lots/buildings, and cash converters/pawn shops (Newton 2014). This also has been observed in relation to public transport with regard to bus stops (Loukaitou-Sideris 1999;Loukaitou-Sideris et al 2001).…”

Above and below: measuring crime risk in and around underground mass transit systems

“…Whilst a number of studies have examined crime in and around transit systems (for good overviews see Smith and Clarke, 2000;Smith and Cornish, 2006;and Newton, 2014), few have explicitly explored this for theft. There are perhaps three key and inter-related issues evident in the literature, namely that; the presence of transit systems can influence and shape crime patterns in urban areas; transit stations may act as attractors and or generators of crime; and that transit stations serve as risky facilities.…”

“…Crime generators are subtly different, as the presence of a large number of people (offenders and victims) brought together at the same time and place can generate unplanned but often favourable crime opportunities (Brantingham and Brantingham, 1995). On public transit both are possible (Smith and Clarke, 2000;Burrell, 2007, Newton, 2014, and the main distinction tends to be time of day and type of offence. Low level sexual assaults and thefts tend to occur in crowded situations during peak travel times (a possible crime attractor) whereas violent crimes are more likely to occur in more isolated settings with lower passenger densities (a potential crime generator).…”

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“…This particularly relates to land uses that have the tendency to generate crime, such as prisons, pubs, bottle shops (off-licenses), pharmacies, seedy hotels, vacant lots/buildings, and cash converters/pawn shops (Newton 2014). This also has been observed in relation to public transport with regard to bus stops (Loukaitou-Sideris 1999; Loukaitou-Sideris et al 2001).…”