Does the mobility of foreign offenders fit the general pattern of mobility?

Abstract

Research on offender mobility is directed to three main elements: distance, anchor points, and direction. Previous research in geographic criminology revealed that: (1) the journey to crime is limited in distance and follows a distance decay pattern; (2) the home of the offender plays a central role as the starting point of crime trips; and (3) the direction of their trip influenced by the opportunities to commit their crimes. The findings are more or less accepted as 'laws' in the field. However, research on offender mobility is often limited by its method, data and sample of arrested offenders. This study investigated in contrast a sample of arrested foreign offenders (East-Europeans) who stayed temporarily in Belgium. They lack the spaceawareness and routine activities of residential offenders. Using multiple methods and data including police statistics, case file analysis and offender interviews, we investigated the travelling patterns of these offenders both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings demonstrated that: (1) the degree of distance decay is much more moderate than generally found in the literature; (2) the official living address plays hardly any role at all as an anchor point; and (3) these offenders travel outward opportunity structures that are different from routine activities patterns of Belgium offenders. Overall, our findings indicate that offender mobility does not fit the accepted general pattern or 'laws' as assumed in previous research.

A study on the journey to homicide and offender characteristics in Spain

“…Although studies on homicide have not addressed this relationship, the study by Van Daele et al. (2012) found that in foreign criminals, the perception of what is far away may be distorted, with no mental barrier of being on a long journey, leading them to travel a greater distance without being aware of it.…”

“…Recent studies focus on the potential differences between national and foreign offenders, which have been found to be associated with different types of homicide (e.g., Vatnar, Friestad, & Bjorkly, 2019). Regarding the possible influence of the country of origin on movement, the study by Van Daele, Vander Beken, and Bruinsma (2012) found that foreign criminals travelled twice as far than nationals. It is worth noting that many of these foreign offenders did not perceive the journey made as being particularly long, reflecting the fact that perceptions of the distance travelled are something that vary between individuals, and in the case of foreigners, it may be influenced by a less developed mind map that gives them a somewhat distorted perception of the near–far distance dichotomy.…”

Are mobile offenders less likely to be caught? The influence of the geographical dispersion of serial offenders’ crime locations on their probability of arrest

“…Whether or not the relationship between geographical dispersion and arrest rate is linked to the organization of police investigations, our findings may have consequences for the interpretation of the results of studies on offender mobility. Most importantly, because less geographically dispersed offenders have a greater probability of being arrested and thus a greater probability of being present in official police data, studies based on official arrest data might underestimate the geographical range of offenders, and might therefore also underestimate the distance that offenders travel between their homes and the locations of the crimes they perpetrate (see also Van Daele et al, 2012).…”

An appreciative inquiry into foreign national prisoners’ participation in prison activities: The role of language

“…Previous studies on foreign nationals are often characterised by deficit-based and problem-oriented discourses, for instance, by focusing on their crime trips (Van Daele et al, 2012) or pains of imprisonment (Ugelvik and Damsa, 2018;Warr, 2016).…”