Antisocial and prosocial activities at crime hot spots: Rethinking conventional paradigms

Abstract

Numerous studies emphasise that crime hot spots are antisocial activity nodes where disorder and crime are prevalent. However, researchers to date have not considered prosocial activities at crime hot spots, and how such activities compare to those at other streets in a city. We examine both antisocial and prosocial activities at crime hot spots and non-hot spots using unique quantitative and qualitative data collected in Baltimore City, Maryland, USA. We find, not surprisingly, that crime hot spots are places where antisocial activities such as adults loitering, people smoking tobacco, signs of drug activities and loud noise are much more common than on non-hot spot streets. However, we also find that crime hot spots evidence much higher levels of prosocial activities, including children playing outside, adults out on the street with their children or groups of adults socialising outside. These outcomes remain after taking into account a series of possible confounding factors. In concluding, we argue that scholars and practitioners need to reconsider how they imagine life at crime hot spots if they are to fully understand and prevent crime in urban areas. While crime and other antisocial activities tell part of the story at crime hot spots, it is not the whole story, and failing to recognise this hinders our ability to understand crime hot spots, as well as our efforts to improve them.