ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses centrographic measures to describe the spatial-temporal dynamics of reported rape. The descriptive and analytical utility of centrography is dependent upon the calculation of two important centrographic measures, namely, the mean center, which is analogous to the univariate mean or average, and the standard distance, a measure of dispersion analogous to the standard deviation. H. M. Rose and D. R. Deskins employed centrographic measures, in general, and the standard distance, in particular, for examining the spatial patterns of felony-murder in Detroit. The standard deviational ellipse (SDE), as suggested from its name, implies that a parameter of a distribution influences or dictates the shape or geometric form of the distribution. The mean center and standard distance allow one to assess the change in the average location and dispersion of a distribution; velocity, acceleration, and momentum pertain to the physics or the motion of a distribution; the SDE and associated measures pertain to the geometric change of a distribution.
