Crime on the Concrete Campus: An Examination of Crime Patterns Around the Georgia State University Campus

Abstract

This study examines patterns of crime around the Georgia State University (GSU) campus from January 2007 to July 2012. Since moving into the renovated Bolling Jones Building on Ivy Street in 1947, GSU has gradually built a campus by purchasing surrounding land and buildings in downtown Atlanta. Following the introduction of the Main Street Master Plan in 1997, the university has expanded into areas farther away from its core at the intersection of Peachtree Center Avenue (previously Ivy Street) and Decatur Street. With the university's expansion and opening of residence halls within walking distance of the core academic buildings, crime on and surrounding campus has gained more attention in the local media. This study examines the influence of routine activity and social disorganization theories on the GSU campus and its surrounding area. Hotspot analysis is performed using geocoded data from the GSU and Atlanta police departments with a one-mile buffer around a central location on the GSU campus. This research provides analysis at two scales (repeat places and kernel density estimation), and highlights the potential for collaboration between university researchers and the GSU and Atlanta police departments.

Keywords:

• campus crime
• hot spots
• Atlanta

Additional information

STEVEN P. ERICSON is an instructor in the Department of Geography, University of Alabama, 204 Farrah Hall, Box 870322, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487–0322. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include cultural geography, urban geography, and sports geography.