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Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice

No. 246: Suburb boundaries and residential burglars

Jerry Ratcliffe
ISBN 0 642 24291 7 ; ISSN 0817-8542 ; CRC 17/00-01
March 2003

Abstract

This paper examines the offender behaviour patterns of residential burglars to demonstrate why protected communities are less likely to provide the protection from outsiders that residents seek. In examining the home addresses of Canberra burglars and the addresses of their targets, the study finds that burglars do not, as expected, work in their own neighbourhood. In A.C.T. burglaries recorded in 1999 and 2000, most burglars (77%) travelled away from their home suburb to do their work, travelling an average of five kilometres to their target. There was no evidence that physical boundaries separating suburbs, such as more carriageways and parkland and fewer suburban entry points, acted as barriers inhibiting burglars' movement. Gated communities using similar external barriers are thus also unlikely to deter burglars. The implications of these findings for urban design and community crime prevention are further discussed.

This paper is taken from the report of research undertaken with the assistance of a grant from the Criminology Research Council.

Criminology Research Council

References