Spatial Is Special: A Socio-Geographic Profile of Offenders in the City of Tswane, South Africa

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to improve knowledge on the spatial origin and development of criminal offenders within the Tshwane municipality. A preliminary socio-demographic profile of offenders residing within Tshwane is compiled based on a written survey of a sample of 75 offenders. The importance of residential location in defining the socio-demographic profile of offenders is investigated through the use of location quotients (LQs). The study revealed that the sample of offenders tended to reside in suburbs that exhibited offender rates between 11-28% higher than the municipality as a whole. In the context of exposure to criminal elements, economic offenders were found to be more prone to the deleterious effects of suburbs than violent or sexual offenders. The study motivates that location is an important risk factor for criminal offending in South Africa.

Crime Specialization in Rural British Columbia, Canada

“…Further, crime location quotients were used in studies of drug use and homelessness in which the LQC was used to identify "neighborhoods where people living in poverty and lowincome rental housing are concentrated" (Dickson-Gomez, Cromley, Convey, and Hilario 2009: 3). Most recently, the LQC was used to assess the relationship between areas with a high alcohol-outlet density and violence in urban areas (Pridemore and Grubesic 2012), "to investigate the importance of location in the socio-demographic profiling of offenders" (Breetzke 2008), and for the identification of disproportionately criminal areas and "evaluating the deviation of impact of a particular type of criminal activity in a district" (Beconytė, Eismontaitė, and Romanovas 2012: 136) in Vilnius, Lithuania. The relationship between crime and gated communities has also been explored using a location quotient in Tshwane, South Africa (Breetzke and Cohn 2013).…”

Unemployment, business cycles, and crime specialization: Canadian provinces, 1981–2009

“…In a South African context, Breetzke (2008) applied to location quotient to define a profile of offenders in the City of Tswane. Using a survey of offenders, Breetzke (2008) investigated the influence of residential location in the context of offending profiles. He was able to find that violent offenders had residential concentrations different than economic (property) offenders—the former were more clustered and the latter more random; he also found that sexual offenders had an even greater degree of residential clustering.…”

“…He was able to find that violent offenders had residential concentrations different than economic (property) offenders—the former were more clustered and the latter more random; he also found that sexual offenders had an even greater degree of residential clustering. With regard to the profiles of these offenders, Breetzke (2008) found that violent offenders tended to come from suburbs that had offending rates (violent, economic, and sexual) similar to the entire City of Tswane, whereas economic offenders emerged from suburbs with violent and economic offending rates significantly higher than the municipal rates.…”

“…In a South African context, Breetzke (2008) applied to location quotient to define a profile of offenders in the City of Tswane. Using a survey of offenders, Breetzke (2008) investigated the influence of residential location in the context of offending profiles.…”

A Spatial Analysis of Property Crime Rates in South Africa

“…In contrast to most of the above‐mentioned works, there are some studies that consider geographical proximity between localities when examining crime in South Africa (Breetzke and Horn, 2006; Breetzke, 2008, 2010, 2012; Hiropoulos and Porter, 2014; Breetzke, 2018; Breetzke and Edelstein, 2019; Breetzke et al ., 2019). For instance, Breetzke (2010) fits spatial autoregressive models to test the theory of social disorganisation regarding crime levels in neighbourhoods of the city of Tshwane.…”