Place Matters

'Any serious criminologist needs to be thoroughly conversant with this outstanding book. Written by a team of leading scholars, it offers a criminology for the twenty-first century by showing that place is central to explaining and controlling crime.' Ron Clarke, Rutgers University, New Jersey

'At a time when the criminological imagination is often blunted by an allegiance to increasingly dated theories, a focus on place promises to illuminate fresh ways of thinking about crime and novel avenues for empirical investigation. More importantly, a place perspective offers one of the few hopes for criminologists to contribute to the daunting challenge of reducing crime and saving lives. Indeed, Place Matters should become a standard course text - a volume used to enrich how the next generation of scholars and practitioners understands crime and its prevention.' Francis T. Cullen, University of Cincinnati

'A brilliant and timely book ... The authors cover the state of the art and future research for place-based research in an easily digestible form. Place Matters will, no doubt, become an instant classic and should be required reading for students and scholars in criminology.' Martin A. Andresen, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia

'Place Matters ... provides an orienting overview of the last three-plus decades of research and theory on spatial crime dynamics and patterns, argues forcefully for placing such work squarely in the spotlight of mainstream criminological theory, and challenges the next generation of scholars to use the crime concentration constant as an organizing guidepost for further theoretical, practical, and policy advancement ... The volume is certain to inspire widespread discussion and reflection on the past, present and future of the field.' R. B. Taylor, Temple University, Philadelphia

'Place Matters is a thought-provoking and essential read for everyone interested in the role of micro-environments in crime causation and prevention.' Per-Olof H. Wikstrm, FBA, University of Cambridge

'The book ... does not stint on theory, drawing for example on the pioneering sociologist Durkheim, and raises some discomforting questions for all of us.' Mark Rowe, Professional Security Magazine Online (www.professionalsecurity.co.uk)

'In Place Matters: Criminology for the Twenty-First Century, 18 leading criminologists have teamed to produce an accessible, tightly written account of this extraordinarily important insight. The book is a great contribution to the literature, and deserves to be carefully studied and widely read. ... If scholars and law enforcement follow this research through to its natural conclusion, the results can be transformative. At the theoretical level, the research can bridge opportunity and social disorganization theories, which have hitherto provided radically different explanations for crime.' Joseph Margulies, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books (www.clcjbooks.rutgers....

David Weisburd is a Distinguished Professor at George Mason University, Virginia and Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. He also holds a joint appointment as the Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the Hebrew University Faculty of Law in Jerusalem. He serves as the Chief Science Advisor at the Police Foundation in Washington DC and is Chair of its Research Advisory Committee. Weisburd is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and of the Academy of Experimental Criminology. He is the recipient of many prestigious honors and awards including the Stockholm Prize in Criminology 2010, the American Society of Criminology's Sutherland Award in 2014, and the 2015 Israel Prize in Criminology. He has also been selected as the recipient of the American Society of Criminology's 2017 August Vollmer Award. John E. Eck is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. He has conducted research on policing, crime places, and crime prevention since 1977. He is a former Research Director for the Police Executive Research Forum. There, he studied investigative operations, police anti-drug strategies, and helped field test and develop a problem-oriented approach to policing. Eck's Ph.D. dissertation (University of Maryland, 1994) developed the idea of 'place management'. He joined the faculty of the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati in 1998. Anthony A. Braga is the Don M. Gottfredson Professor of Evidence-Based Criminology at Rutgers University and a Senior Research Fellow in the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard University, Massachusetts. Between 2007 and 2013, Braga served as the Chief Policy Advisor to Commissioner Edward F. Davis of the Boston Police Department. His work with the Boston Police Department on its Safe Street Teams program was recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police with its Community Policing Award (2011) and Excellence in Law Enforcement Research Award (2011). Cody Telep is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at George Mason University, where he worked at the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. His research interests include evaluating policing innovations, police legitimacy, evidence-based policy, and experimental criminology. He is the Secretary-Treasurer for the American Society of Criminology's Division of Policing. Breanne Cave is a doctoral candidate at George Mason University, Virginia and a member of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. Her research interests focus on policing, crime and place, research translation, and security issues. She was awarded the Presidential Fellowship and Dean's Challenge Award at George Mason University. Prior to beginning her studies at George Mason, she served for four years with the United States Marine Corps...

1. Crime places within criminological thought; 2. The concentration of crime at place; 3. Theories of crime and place; 4. The importance of place in mainstream criminology and related fields: influences and lessons to be learned; 5. Methods of place-based research; 6. Reducing crime at high crime places: practice and evidence; 7. Crime places in the criminological imagination.