Measuring crime: a new paradigm

PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory study is to expand on a previously developed crime harm index – the California Crime Harm Index (CA-CHI) – by discussing the development of the CA-CHI and presenting a comparison of the distribution of crime count and harm in a large Western city in the United States.Design/methodology/approachThis study used descriptive analyses, spatial univariate mapping and bivariate choropleth maps to analyze the distribution of Part I crime counts and harm.FindingsResults of the analysis show that while there was some variation in the distribution of crime count and harm city wide, spatial mapping and statistics reveal that the geographical distribution of crime count and harm across census tracts are largely consistent.Research limitations/implicationsMinor discrepancies between the distribution of crime count and harm indicate the potential for the CA-CHI to inform law enforcement practices. However, the distributions remain largely similar at the census tract level. There is room for further development of the CA-CHI to better distinguish between the distribution of crime harm and volume.Originality/valueNo other study has used spatial mapping techniques like bivariate choropleth mapping to examine the distribution of crime volume and crime harm based on the CA-CHI in any location in California.