Studies about hot spots of crimes have found that crimes are clustered; few places have many crimes. There is a consensus among criminologists that opportunities for crimes are important when explaining hot spots, at some places, there are more opportunities than at other places. The same applies for hot spots of robberies. Most studies done on the subject are quantitative, relatively little is done using a qualitative approach. Furthermore, little research is done in a Swedish or Scandinavian context. To fill these research gaps this study use participant observations to research five hot spots of robberies in Malmö. The research will try to answer which characteristics are important to explain why the places are hot spots and what the similarities and differences there between the places are. This will be analyzed using the Routine Activity Theory and the Crime Pattern Theory. The findings suggest that place-specific things are important to explain why the places are hot spots, but when using the theories several places are similar.

The current study examines firearms’ impact on the relationship between illegal drug markets and homicide. At the county-level, Iowa and Virginia are analyzed using crime data from the National Incident Based Reporting System. More specifically, gun availability is tested as a mediator for county drug crime rates and homicide counts. Variable selection and prediction is based on routine activity and social disorganization theories. I argue that social disorganization allows the context for which criminal opportunity presents itself through routine activities. I posit gun availability mediates a positive relationship between illegal drug markets and homicide, with differences between urban and rural communities

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Human trafficking, the cruel and inhumane crime that it is, exploits the lives of millions of people around the world. My study explores the common vulnerabilities that exist for victims of cross-national human trafficking. First, I analyze literature discussing individual and country- level victim demographics to identify characteristics that predict recruitment or abduction into human trafficking. Using the 2017 Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative, I demonstrate the applicability of Cohen and Felson's 1979 Routine Activity Theory (RAT) to explain the vulnerabilities to victimization further. More specifically, I use VIVA to assess the methods of control and types of exploitation utilized by domestic and international traffickers. A sociological study that combines the work of RAT and VIVA in relation to human trafficking victimization is yet to exist, therefore I am seeking to fill this research gap. The overarching goal of this study is to form a victim profile through cluster analysis and logistic regression in order to locate the unique patterns of victimization. My findings demonstrate that there is a significant relationship between the three clusters formed, the methods of control used by the perpetrator (physical, psychological, and economic abuse), and the types of exploitation suffered by the victim (sexual and labor exploitation). / Master of Science / Human trafficking is the abduction and exploitation of individuals, in which victims are manipulated into sex or labor trafficking in unfamiliar environments without compensation. Trafficking occurs beyond national borders, therefore I look at victims originating from all over the globe. The literature I utilize looks at individual-level demographics and national-level characteristics. I then use a database to link certain social and theoretical elements of these demographics and characteristics to the methods of control and types of exploitation traffickers enforce upon their victims. Overall, this study forms a victim profile and locates the unique patterns of trafficking victimization through multiple data applications. My thesis concludes with findings on clusters that combine age, gender, recruiter relations, literacy rates, and trafficking laws and regressions that link these clusters to physical, psychological, and economic control as well as sexual and labor exploitation.

I explore the relationships between hate group activity, community factors, and the likelihood of hate crime occurrence within a county area. I integrate considerations raised by Routine Activity and Social Control theorists as well as current hate crime literature to frame my concept of the hate manager, an agent of social control that utilizes hate crimes as a means of enacting extralegal self-help for hate groups. I explore the relationship between hate managers and hate crime by testing a model relating hate group activity and hate crime occurrences by location. Next, I correlate hate crime occurrences with hate group activity at the county level for the state of Virginia using public data. I find that a hate group's presence holds greater predictive power than nearly any other factor for hate crime likelihood. My findings illustrate the nature of hate crime as a means of social control; whereby hate groups act as a parochial order and maintain hierarchical relations between offenders and victims through means of disciplinary crimes. I conclude by outlining suggestions for future research into the role of the hate manager. / Master of Science / In my thesis, I ask the question of how hate groups methodically encourage where hate crimes occur. I do this by creating the concept of the hate manager. Hate managers are figures which influence would-be criminals into their illegal acts. They do this by stoking the fears necessary for them to act outside legal boundaries in reaction to some feeling of threat, an act known as self-help. Hate crimes, I argue, are a form of self-help where the feeling of threat is directed towards individuals belonging to some marginalized group. By looking at data collected by various agencies in the state of Virginia, I discover that the presence of a hate group in a county is a stronger predictor for such acts than any other factor for hate crime likelihood. By doing so, I demonstrate that hate crimes are a form of social control. That is, I argue that hate groups maintain a sense of order or ranking by means of illegal and disciplinary self-help in the form of hate crimes. I conclude my thesis by outlining suggestions for future exploration of the hate manager’s role.

Malmskillnadsgatan i Stockholm har trots sitt centrala läge mitt i Stockholm där mycket folk är i rörelse runtom, blivit synonymt med kriminella aktiviteter och blivit en gata som folk anser vara dyster och oattraktiv. Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka hur aspekter inom den bebyggda miljön påverkar aktivitet och trygghet i gatumiljöer samt hur de påverkar människors upplevelse av gatumiljön. Fokus kommer att ligga på Malmskillnadsgatan och det upprustningsprojekt som Vasakronan, tillsammans med Stockholms stad, har utfört. För att uppfylla syftet har en fallstudie av Malmskillnadsgatan gjorts i form av dokumentanalys, platsbesök och intervjuer med brukare samt en anställd på Vasakronan. Arbetet har utgått från ett teoretiskt ramverk där kopplingen mellan bebyggd miljö, attraktivitet och aktivitet samt bebyggd miljö och trygghet har analyserats. De teorier som använts är Gehls perspektiv på attraktiva gatumiljöer. Ewing och Handys fem kvaliteter för ett aktivt gatuliv, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), Broken window theory samt Routine activity theory.  Dokumentanalysen visade att en kombination av brist på utbud av aktivitet, oattraktiv och stängd arkitektur och gatans läge jämfört med omkringliggande gator bidrog till att skapa låg naturlig genomströmning och lågt flöde på gatan. Platsbesöket visade att gatan har förbättrats utifrån flera av de teorier som nämnts i det teoretiska ramverket. De tidigare stängda fasaderna har öppnats upp och införandet av aktivitet i bottenvåning, främst i form av restaurangverksamhet, har bidragit till ett större flöde. Brukarintervjuerna visade att en klar majoritet tyckte att Malmskillnadsgatan blivit mer attraktiv och trygg efter ombyggnationen, dock främst enbart vid fastigheten Hästskon 12. Flera respondenter tycker att övriga delar av gatan fortfarande är oattraktiva och otrygga och bilden av att gatan dör ut på kvällar och helger finns fortfarande kvar. Arkitekturen och införandet av restaurangverksamhet nämndes främst som faktorer som fått gatan att bli mer attraktiv. Flödet av människor som dessa skapat var den främsta orsaken till att flera av respondenterna kände sig trygga. Förslag på ytterligare förbättringar var större variation i aktivitetsutbudet, mer aktiva bottenvåningar på övriga delar av gatan samt bättre belysning. / Malmskillnadsgatan in Stockholm, despite its central location in the heart of Stockholm with a lot of people moving around, has become synonymous with criminal activities and has been perceived as a gloomy and unattractive street. This study aims to investigate how aspects of the built environment affect activity and safety in urban environments, as well as how they influence people's perception of the street environment. The focus will be on Malmskillnadsgatan and the redevelopment project carried out by Vasakronan, in collaboration with the City of Stockholm. To fulfill the purpose, a case study of Malmskillnadsgatan has been conducted through document analysis, site visits, and interviews with users and an employee of Vasakronan. The study is based on a theoretical framework that analyzes the connection between the built environment, attractiveness, and activity and between the built environment and safety. The theories used include Gehl's perspective on attractive street environments, Ewing and Handy's five qualities for vibrant street life, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), the Broken Window theory, and the Routine Activity Theory. The document analysis revealed that a combination of a lack of activity offerings, unattractive and closed architecture, and the street's location compared to surrounding streets contributed to the low natural flow and low activity on the street. The site visit showed that the street has improved according to several of the theories mentioned in the theoretical framework. The previously closed facades have opened up, and the introduction of activities on the ground floor, mainly in the form of restaurants, has contributed to increased flow. User interviews indicated that a clear majority felt that Malmskillnadsgatan had become more attractive and safer after the redevelopment, primarily in the vicinity of Hästskon 12. However, several respondents still found other parts of the street unattractive and unsafe, and the perception that the street dies out in the evenings and on weekends persists. The architecture and the introduction of restaurant activities were primarily mentioned as factors that made the street more attractive. The flow of people they created was the main reason several respondents felt safe. Suggestions for further improvements included greater variety in the range of activities, more active ground floors in other parts of the street, and better lighting.

This thesis makes two contributions to environmental criminology. The first contribution is a rational choice event model for mobile phone thieves. This is based on interviews with 40 mobile phone thieves. In addition, the deterrent effects of 23 designs of phone are assessed. Comparisons are made between the responses of offenders and non-offenders; and between experienced offenders and less experienced offenders. The results show that mobile phone thieves make discerning choices about which model of phone to steal at the point of theft. The factors affecting handset choice reflect Clarke s (1999) CRAVED characteristics. Mobile phone thieves are differentially deterred by a variety of design solutions, the most effective of which reduce the resale value of stolen handsets. In contrast with offenders, non-offenders are more easily deterred, and statistically significantly more deterred for five of the 23 designs presented in this thesis; do not appreciate the importance of resale value; and are not so aware of the possibilities for circumventing or neutralising security technology. The differences between offender and non-offender responses mean that offenders are arguably best placed to assess product use and misuse in the process of designing-out crime. The second contribution of this thesis is a Mobile Phone Theft Index which controls for phone availability in the absence of handset sales data. Mobile phone theft is arguably a form of pollution (Roman and Farrell, 2002) and can, therefore, be controlled using traditional pollution control instruments (Farrell and Roman, 2006). Informing the public of their risk of victimisation according to handset ownership would make security a marketable aspect of handset design, incentivising industry to decrease theft rates. Industry action to date shows evidence of obstructionism and pre-regulatory initiatives (Newman, 2004) meaning that a novel instrument such as the Index is necessary to alter the current status quo where industry costs UK society an estimated £1.2 billion per year (Mailley and Farrell, 2006).

Prostitution är ett komplext, världsomfattande samhällsproblem som kan leda till flertalet negativa konsekvenser för den utsatta. I Sverige har köp av sexuella tjänster varit kriminaliserat sedan år 1999 och den svenska regeringen lägger stor vikt vid bekämpandet av prostitution. Trots detta är prostitution ett utbrett problem i Sverige. Flertalet kartläggningar indikerar att fenomenet ökar, framförallt via internet, samt att det tycks gå ner i åldrarna. Tidigare forskning inom området visar att svårigheter med att motverka problemet bland annat beror teknologins framväxt, attityder och normer i samhället och brist på resurser inom rättsväsendet. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka svårigheter med att förebygga prostitution ur yrkesverksammas perspektiv, samt vad som kan göras för att förbättra det förebyggande arbetet. Genom kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer och en tillämpning av rutinaktivitetsteorin besvaras studiens frågeställningar. Resultatet visar att bristen på personal och kompetens, den ökade tillgängligheten via internet samt porrens påverkan på attityder och normer försvårar motverkandet av prostitution. Därtill visas att ytterligare åtgärder krävs, bland annat tidiga insatser gällande utbildning samt en omarbetning av sexköpslagen. / Prostitution is a complex, worldwide societal problem that can lead to several negative consequences for the victim. In Sweden, the purchase of sexual services has been criminalized since 1999, and the Swedish government allocates great importance to combat prostitution. Despite this, prostitution is a widespread problem in Sweden. Various studies indicate that the phenomenon is increasing, primarily via the internet, and that prostitution seems to be declining with age. Previous research in the field shows that difficulties in counteracting the problem are partly due to the development of technology, attitudes and norms in society and a lack of resources in the judicial system. The purpose of the present study is to investigate difficulties in preventing prostitution from the perspective of professionals, as well as what can be done to improve the preventive work. Through a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews and an application of the routine activity theory, the research questions are answered. The results show that the lack of personal with relevant skills, the increased accessibility via the internet and the impact of porn on attitudes and norms make it more difficult to counteract prostitution. In addition, it is shown that further measures are required, including early efforts regarding education and a adjustment of the Sex Purchase Act. / <p>2021-01-13</p>