Crime is a disease*, the cure is one thing, interdiction another

(* a line from a bad Sylvester Stallone film)

A problem with research is that it is never ending. As soon as you get more interested in a topic, there are many many items one could read to get a better handle on what to do.

Today's Post has an article about an increase in assaults and muggings in the Capitol Hill area, "Robberies Shake Up Residents, D.C. Police," subtitled "19 Are Reported On Capitol Hill In Recent Days."

I've written about this plenty in the past:

1. This is a (regular) seasonal increase;
2. Like Willie Sutton who robbed banks because that's where the money is, muggers go to walking communities where there are potential victims--in DC, Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle, and Georgetown are the prime locations for this kind of crime;
3. Muggers have improved their technology (cars, prearranged pickup points, multiple actors, weapons);
4. In order to improve their likelihood of success--one or two good samaritans can help apprehend a single mugger; not so when there are many muggers and weapons beside.

(3) and (4) come from my own experience trying to interdict criminals who had mugged a neighbor, and then processing what happened.

For the paper I wrote, one of the items I looked at is a paper by UCLA Professor Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, HOT SPOTS OF BUS STOP CRIME: THE IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ATTRIBUTES, published by the U of California Transportation Center, and later published in the Journal of the APA.

I highly recommend going through the references. There lies a goldmine of citations describing crime, how it happens, how place influences the likelihood of crime, etc.

I am almost afraid to start looking up the items for fear that I will get interested in a whole new area. Of course, I have listed other items on the right sidebar over the years on this issue.