Abstract
Crime scholars and practitioners have argued that police actions should be focused on high-risk crime places rather than spread thinly across the urban landscape. This review examines five randomized controlled trials of the effects of concentrating police enforcement efforts on crime hot spots. The findings of these evaluations suggest that focused police actions can prevent crime and disorder in crime hot spots. A meta-analysis of the effect sizes from the five experiments reveals a statistically significant mean effect size for hot spots policing interventions; this suggests overall reductions in citizen calls for service in the treatment hot spots relative to the control hot spots. These studies also suggest that focused police actions at specific locations do not necessarily result in crime displacement. Although these evaluations reveal that these programs work in preventing crime, additional research is needed to unravel other important policy-relevant issues such as community reaction to focused police enforcement efforts.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barr, R. & Pease, K. (1990). Crime placement, displacement, and deflection. In M. Tonry & N. Morris (Eds.), Crime and justice: A review of research, vol. 12 (pp. 277–318). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Berk, R., Smyth, G. & Sherman, L. (1988). When random assignment fails: Some lessons from the Minneapolis spouse abuse experiment. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 4, 209–223.
Bittner, E. (1970). The functions of the police in modern society. New York: Aronson.
Braga, A. (1997). Solving violent crime problems: An evaluation of the Jersey City police department’s pilot program to control violent places. Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International.
Braga, A. (2001). The effects of hot spots policing on crime. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 578, 104–125.
Braga, A. (2002). Problem-oriented policing and crime prevention. Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press.
Braga, A., Weisburd, D., Waring, E., Mazerolle, L. G., Spelman, W. & Gajewski, F. (1999). Problem-oriented policing in violent crime places: A randomized controlled experiment. Criminology 37, 541–80.
Brantingham, P. & Brantingham, P. (Eds.). (1991). Environmental criminology. 2nd edn. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
Buerger, M. (Ed). (1992). The crime prevention casebook: Securing high crime locations. Washington, DC: Crime Control Institute.
Buerger, M. (1993). Convincing the recalcitrant: An examination of the Minneapolis RECAP experiment. Ph.D. diss., Rutgers University. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International.
Caeti, T. (1999). Houston’s targeted beat program: A quasi-experimental test of police patrol strategies. Ph.D. diss., Sam Houston State University. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International.
Clarke, R. V. & Felson, M. (Eds.). (1993). Routine activity and rational choice. Advances in criminological theory (vol. 5). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Press.
Clarke, R. V. & Harris, P. (1992). Auto theft and its prevention. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research, vol. 16 (pp. 1–54). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Clarke, R. V. & Weisburd, D. (1994). Diffusion of crime control benefits: Observations on the reverse of displacement. Crime Prevention Studies 2, 165–184.
Cohen, L. & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review 44, 588–605.
Criminal Justice Commission. (1998). Beenleigh calls for service project: Evaluation report. Brisbane, Queensland, AUS: Criminal Justice Commission.
Cornish, D. & Clarke, R. V. (1987). Understanding crime displacement: An application of rational choice theory. Criminology 25, 933–947.
Duval, S. & Tweedie, R. (2000). A nonparametric “trim and fill” method of accounting for publication bias in meta-analysis. Journal of the American Statistical Association 95, 89–98.
Eck, J. (1993). The threat of crime displacement. Criminal Justice Abstracts 25, 527–546.
Eck, J. (1997). Preventing crime at places. In University of Maryland, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Eds.), Preventing crime: What works, what doesn’t, what’s promising (pp. 7-1–7-62). Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Eck, J. (2002). Preventing crime at places. In L. Sherman, D. Farrington, B. Welsh & D. L. MacKenzie (Eds.), Evidence-based crime prevention (pp. 241–294). New York: Routledge.
Eck, J. & Weisburd, D. (1995). Crime places in crime theory. In J. Eck & D. Weisburd (Eds.), Crime and place (pp. 1–34). Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice Press.
Farrington, D. & Petrosino, A. (2001). The Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Group. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 578, 35–49.
Green, L. (1996). Policing places with drug problems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Greene, J. A. (1999). Zero tolerance: A case study of police practices and policies in New York City. Crime and Delinquency, 45 171–81.
Hesseling, R. (1994). Displacement: A review of the empirical literature. Crime Prevention Studies 3, 197–230.
Hawley, A. (1944). Ecology and human ecology. Social Forces 23, 398–405.
Hawley, A. (1950). Human ecology: A theory of urban structure. New York: Ronald Press.
Hope, T. (1994). Problem-oriented policing and drug market locations: Three case studies. Crime Prevention Studies 2, 5–32.
Hunter, R. & Jeffrey, C.R. (1992). Preventing convenience store robbery through environmental design. In R. Clarke (Ed.), Situational crime prevention: Successful case studies (pp. 194–204). Albany, New York: Harrow and Heston.
Kelling, G., Pate, A., Dickman, D. & Brown, C. (1974). The Kansas City preventive patrol experiment: A technical report. Washington, DC: Police Foundation.
Lipsey, M. & Wilson, D. B. (2001). Practical meta-analysis. Applied social research methods series (Vol. 49). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Pease, K. (1991). The Kirkholt project: Preventing burglary on a British public housing estate. Security Journal 2, 73–77.
Pierce, G., Spaar, S. & Briggs, L. 1988. The character of police work: Strategic and tactical implications. Boston, MA: Center for Applied Social Research, Northeastern University.
Repetto, T. (1976). Crime prevention and the displacement phenomenon. Crime & Delinquency 22, 166–77.
Rosenthal, R. (1994). Parametric measures of effect size. In H. Cooper & L. Hedges (Eds.), The handbook of research synthesis (pp. 231–244). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Shadish, W., Robinson, L. & Lu, C. (2003). ES: Effect size calculator. St. Paul, MN: Assessment Systems Corp http://www.assess.com).
Shaw, J. (1995). Community policing against guns: Public opinion of the Kansas City gun experiment. Justice Quarterly 12, 695–710.
Shaw, C. & McKay, H. (1942). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sherman, L. (1990). Police crackdowns: Initial and residual deterrence. In M. Tonry & N.Morris (Eds.), Crime and justice: A review of research, vol. 12 (pp. 1–48). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sherman, L. (1997). Policing for crime prevention. In University of Maryland, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Eds.), Preventing crime: What works, what doesn’t, what’s promising (pp. 8-1–8-58). Washington, District of Columbia: Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
Sherman, L. (2002). Fair and effective policing. In J. Q. Wilson & J. Petersilia (Eds.), Crime: Public policies for crime control (pp. 383–412). Oakland, CA: Institute for Contemporary Studies.
Sherman, L. & Rogan, D. (1995a). Deterrent effects of police raids on crack houses: A randomized controlled experiment. Justice Quarterly 12, 755–782.
Sherman, L. & Rogan, D. (1995b). Effects of gun seizures on gun violence: “Hot spots” patrol in Kansas City. Justice Quarterly 12, 673–694.
Sherman, L. & Weisburd, D. (1995). General deterrent effects of police patrol in crime hot spots: A randomized controlled trial. Justice Quarterly 12, 625–648.
Sherman, L., Buerger, M. & Gartin, P. (1989a). Repeat call address policing: The Minneapolis RECAP experiment. Washington, District of Columbia: Crime Control Institute.
Sherman, L., Gartin, P. & Buerger, M. (1989b). Hot spots of predatory crime: Routine activities and the criminology of place. Criminology 27, 27–56.
Skogan, W. & Hartnett, S. (1997). Community policing, Chicago style. New York: Oxford University Press.
Skogan, W. & Frydl, K. (Eds.). (2004). Fairness and effectiveness in policing: The evidence. Committee to Review Research on Police Policy and Practices. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Taylor, R. & Gottfredson, S. (1986). Environment design, crime, and prevention: An examination of community dynamics. In A. J. Reiss & M. Tonry (Eds.), Communities and crime (pp. 387–416). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Turner, H., Boruch, R., Petrosino, A., Lavenberg, J., DeMoya, D. & Rothstein, H. (2003). Populating an international web-based randomized trials register in social, behavioral, criminological, and education sciences. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 589, 203–223.
Tyler, T. (2000). Social justice: Outcomes and procedures. International Journal of Psychology 35, 117–125.
Tyler, T. (2001). Public trust and confidence in legal authorities: What do majority and minority groups members want from the law and legal institutions? Behavioral Sciences and the Law 19, 215–235.
Weisburd, D. (1997). Reorienting crime prevention research and policy: From causes of criminality to the context of crime. Research report. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.
Weisburd, D. & Braga, A. (2003). Hot spots policing. In H. Kury & J. Obergfell-Fuchs (Eds.), Crime prevention: New approaches (pp. 337–354). Mainz, Germany: Weisser Ring.
Weisburd, D. & Eck, J. (2004). What can police do to reduce crime, disorder, and fear? Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 593, 42–65.
Weisburd, D. & Green, L. (1994). Defining the street level drug market. In D. MacKenzie & C. Uchida (Eds.), Drugs and crime: Evaluating public policy initiatives (pp. 61–76). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Weisburd, D. & Green, L. (1995a). Policing drug hot Spots: The Jersey City DMA experiment. Justice Quarterly 12, 711–736.
Weisburd, D. & Green, L. (1995b). Measuring immediate spatial displacement: Methodological issues and problems. In J. Eck & D. Weisburd (Eds.), Crime and place (pp. 349–361). Monsey, NY: Criminal Justice.
Weisburd, D., Sherman, L. & Petrosino, A. (1990). Registry of randomized experiments in criminal sanctions, 1950-1983. Los Altos, CA: Sociometrics Corporation, Data Holdings of the National Institute of Justice.
Weisburd, D., Maher, L. & Sherman, L. (1992). Contrasting crime general and crime specific theory: The case of hot spots of crime. Advances in Criminological Theory, vol. 4 (pp. 45–69). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Weisburd, D., Lum, C. & Perosino, A. (2001). Does research design affect study outcomes in criminal justice? Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 578, 50–70.
Weisburd, D., Mastrofski, S., McNally, A.M., Greenspan, R. & Willis, J. (2003). Reforming to preserve: Compstat and strategic problem solving in American policing. Criminology and Public Policy 2, 421–456.
Werthman, C. & Piliavin, I. (1967). Gang members and the police. In D. Bordua (Ed.), The police: Six sociological essays (pp. 56–98). New York: Wiley and Sons.
Wilson, D. B. (2001). Meta-analytic methods for criminology. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 578, 71–89.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Braga, A.A. Hot spots policing and crime prevention: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. J Exp Criminol 1, 317–342 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-005-8133-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-005-8133-z