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This thesis investigates shopping behaviour, the incidence of crime and shoppers' perceptions of risk in Cardiff city centre, and the way in which they impact upon retail vitality and viability. As perceptions of risk influence spatial and temporal behaviour, the thesis investigates factors which shape shoppers' perceptions. A diverse array of methods was adopted to explore shopper behaviour, the incidence of crime and shoppers' perceptions of risk in Cardiff city centre. These included an extensive on-street questionnaire survey, an audit of the Police crime data for 1993, an environmental audit, and a series of in-depth interviews with Police, Planners and shoppers. Within Cardiff city centre, shopping activity was found to be concentrated within a clearly defined area, incorporating Queen Street and the St David's Centre. A micro-spatial analysis of shopping behaviour identified areas which were either functionally or spatially peripheral. As crime was deemed to influence shoppers' perceptions of risk, mapping of the various crime types within the retail core was undertaken, through the use of Crime Pattern Analysis. The spatial and temporal patterns of crime were found to be associated with features of the environment. Crime hot spots, experiencing high levels of activity were defined. Clusters of perceived insecurity within the retail core were identified with the Central Bus Station, Caroline Street and St Mary Street emerging as fear 'hot spots'. However, these islands of insecurity did not closely reflect the crime patterns. Stronger similarities were, however, found between fear and the spatial location of experience of crime, reinforced by the condition of the environment. Perceptions of risk were seen as the result of a complex inter-play of personal, external and environmental factors.

Identifying with the emerging school of environmental criminology, this research focuses on the <i>place</i> of crime, aiming to explore and understand spatial variations in vulnerability. <i>Residential crime</i> (crime against the household) is studied - specifically residential burglary, burglary in other premises and simple theft. Analysis of data collected from police crime records supports the assumption that most residential crime is opportunistic - committed in areas familiar to the offender. Analysis is primarily made at inter- and intra-<i>neighbourhood</i> levels. Eight neighbourhoods of contrasting socio-economic characteristics and crime levels within, and in surrounding areas of, Swansea are studied - using a questionnaire (to interview samples of households) and a site survey (to record design and location features of dwellings). Two (related) themes structure the research. (i) <i>Place as location</i>. Hypotheses are tested which explain the vulnerability of neighbourhoods, in terms of variables which may either create or foreclose opportunities for crime (namely neighbourhood identity, social cohesion, variability, occupance levels, dwelling design and location). It is concluded that these need to be applied selectively as explanations of vulnerability - the most general explanation is proximity to offender-residence. The importance of place-specific studies is emphasised. (ii) <i>Place as a centre of meaning</i>. The second set of hypotheses concentrate on reaction to crime - in terms of relations between perceptions of crime, satisfaction with the neighbourhood, perceived risk of, and worry about, being burgled and security consciousness. All the hypothesised relationships were found to exist, to varying degrees. The implications of these results are discussed with reference to a range of crime prevention measures which have the objective of reducing or removing opportunities for crime. Some recommendations on ways in which the public can be made better informed on the real risks of crime are made.

Following on from geography of crime studies, the thesis investigated the spatial aspects of policing, using a participant observational methodology. Conceiving the police as both labellers and shapers of space, the project explored how the policy construct knowledge of the city, identified police spatial constructions and also investigated the influential factors of police action. It was discovered that 'local knowledge' was primarily built up from personal experience and differed greatly between officers working in other roles due to their different experiences with the public. Due to a culture of limited communication, the officers tended to be reliant on informal flows of information to gain 'common knowledge'. The policy officers divided the city primarily between residential areas and public areas. Significant residential areas were labelled as 'problem estates' and/or 'vulnerable communities'. The officers distinguished public space by the different users of that space, conceiving areas which were used in a disorderly way as 'trouble spots' and labelling places which were used in a conflicting manner as 'vulnerable spots'. The shift supervisors had considerable influence over where the officers patrolled, sometimes instructing them to patrol certain 'law-abiding' streets in an attempt to reduce the public's fear of crime. Police management also determined the style of policing at particular police stations. However, most of the constables had substantial freedom to concentrate their patrolling time in, what they viewed were, significant communities and public places, the primary aim being 'to observe' - to detect crime and disorder. The officers' discretion also allowed the spatial-temporal context of an incident to be an influential determinant of police intervention. By deciding whether a behaviour was acceptable in time and place, the police officers had a significant impact upon the meanings attached to space.

This thesis examines the probation service in England and Wales as a site of regulation or governance. Firstly, and primarily, the thesis examines the changing approach of the probation service toward the regulation or governance of the offenders which it supervises. Specifically, it explores the contention that the dominant approach to offender governance in the probation service has shifted from one concerned primarily with rehabilitation or 'normalisation', to one which is primarily concerned with the management of risk. The secondary theme concerns the regulation or governance of the probation service itself. That is, it considers the extent to which the probation service has come to be subject to - as well as an instrument of - regulatory practices, focusing in particular on the implications of this development for the professional roles and status of those working within the service. These aspects of governance are subject to empirical investigation by means of a case study, which explores the implementation of the technology of risk/needs assessment by a number of area probation services. The main conclusion is that two relatively distinct 'modes of governance' - and, in parallel, two relatively distinct professional roles - are emerging. This 'bifurcation' of provision is based on a distinction between those offenders assessed as posing a serious risk of harm to the public, and those who are not. It is argued that, whilst these modes of governance need to be understood in the context of an emerging risk-based approach, they constitute different but complementary adaptations to the purported shift from 'old' to 'new' - or 'modern' to 'post-modern' - penal rationalities. The professional future of the probation service is discussed in the light of the developments described.

This thesis examines the nature and significance of property crime as practised by some of the poor in Cali, Colombia. Given that such crime represents the illegal appropriation of income in the form of goods or money, it is of interest to investigate the extent to which the poor win back in the sphere of crime what they lose in the sphere of production. Property crime in Cali is shown to affect all income groups with a similar frequency, yet in terms of the monetary losses involved it arguably has a greater prejudicial effect among low income groups. In adducing the reasons for this, the discussion is developed within an analytical framework which relates the forms of protection of property, developed by the state or by private initiative, to the character, ideology and organization of property crime among the poor criminals studied. The property of the wealthy in Cali is the best protected, and, given his available resources, it therefore becomes easier for the poor criminal to steal in low income neighbourhoods. In addition, the ideology of property crime often stimulates just this pattern of activity. Property crime as practised by the poor is not therefore highly organized, striking only at the wealth of the rich, but an unstable and fluidly organized phenomenon, often practised intermittently or in combination with other activities. Just as such crime is shown to be a problem for poor communities, so the fact that it does not generally represent a means of accumulating a substantial income for the criminal also contributes to the negative role which it plays for the poor. In reaching this conclusion, the discussion points to the need to refine and improve current analyses relating both to the role of the state in relation to crime and criminal justice; and to the nature and organization of property crime among the urban poor.

This is the first study of the Athenian juvenile justice system and, indeed, of any such system in Greece. The thesis concentrates on the operation of the juvenile court, the probation service and the role of the police in the formal and informal handling of delinquent and anti-social minors. In his proposals, the researcher reconceptualises the local justice system in a way which encourages the informal handling of petty offenders, the development of a range of community alternatives for the rising number of repeated and serious offenders and the enhancement of its links with the local community.

No description available.

No description available.