It’s no riddle, choose the middle: the effect of number of crimes and topographical detail on police officer predictions of serial burglars’ home locations

This study examines the effect of the number of crimes and topographical detail on police officer predictions of serial burglars? home locations. Officers are given 36 maps depicting three, five, or seven crime sites and topographical or no topographical details. They are asked to predict, by markin...

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VerfasserInnen: Bennell, Craig (Verfasst von) ; Snook, Brent (Verfasst von) ; Taylor, Paul 1981- (Verfasst von) ; Corey, Shevaun (Verfasst von) ; Keyton, Julia (Verfasst von)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: 2007
In: Criminal justice and behavior
Jahr: 2007, Band: 34, Heft: 1, Seiten: 119-132
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Zusammenfassung:This study examines the effect of the number of crimes and topographical detail on police officer predictions of serial burglars? home locations. Officers are given 36 maps depicting three, five, or seven crime sites and topographical or no topographical details. They are asked to predict, by marking an X on the map, where they thought each burglar lived. After making their predictions on half of the maps, officers randomly receive either no training or training in one of two simple decision-making strategies. The accuracy of predictions at baseline and retest is measured as the distance between the predicted and actual home locations, and these accuracy scores are compared to a commonly used geographic profiling system. Results show that training significantly improved predictive accuracy, regardless of the number of crime locations or topographical detail presented. In addition, trained participants are as accurate as the geographic profiling system.
ISSN:1552-3594
DOI:10.1177/0093854806290161