PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2012, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (4): 419-425.doi: 10.11820/dlkxjz.2012.04.004

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A Review of Research Methods for Spatiotemporal Distribution of the Crime Hot Spots

LU Juan1,2, TANG Guoan1, ZHANG Hong1, JIANG Ping2, WU Wei2   

  1. 1.Key laboratory of Virtual Geographic Environment of Ministry of Education, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China;
    2. Nanjing Public Security Bureau, Nanjing 210005, China
  • Received:2011-08-01 Revised:2011-10-01 Online:2012-04-25 Published:2012-04-25

Abstract: Crime is not distributed uniformly within the geographic time and space, and it shows significant spatial and temporal aggregation, which is called the "crime hot spots". Based on the understanding of crime hot spots, this paper reviews the current international development of research methods for the spatiotemporal distribution of crime hot spots in three aspects, including spatiotemporal patterns, cause analysis methods and spatiotemporal transfer and forecast. Finally, this paper summarizes the research about spatiotemporal distribution analysis of crime hot spots and made prospects of its future trends. On the whole, there have been relatively fewer related domestic research, so we should enhance some methods for crime analysis in combination of China's national conditions. In addition, some breakthroughs and innovations need to be made in the research methods for the spatiotemporal distribution of crime hot spots through in-depth research of the crime theory and the research in other fields as a reference.

Key words: crime, crime hot spots, research methods, spatiotemporal distribution