Environmental Predictors of a Drug Offender Crime Script: A Systematic Social Observation of Google Street View Images and CCTV Footage

Authors

Victoria A. Sytsma, Queen's University - Kingston, Ontario
Nathan Connealy
Eric L. Piza, CUNY John Jay CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-19-2020

Abstract

The extent to which environmental context has been considered when developing crime scripts has been limited to descriptions of locations offenders visit during the crime. This research contributes a description of the environmental characteristics of an open-air drug market and identifies environmental facilitators and inhibitors toward offender actions during a drug selling crime script. CCTV camera footage is combined with Google Street View to determine if physical disorder, decay, and ‘crime generators’ characterize the drug market under study. Crime generators such as retail facilities and bars and liquor stores are environmental facilitators toward a drug selling crime script; and transit locations, corner stores, and public parks are environmental inhibitors toward the script.

Comments

Authors' post-spin. Version gf record published as Sytsma, V., Connealy, N. and Piza, E. (2020). Environmental Predictors of a Drug Offender Crime Script: A Systematic Social Observation of Google Street View Images and CCTV Footage. Crime & Delinquency. DOI: 10.1177/0011128720910961