ABSTRACT
When P. and P. Brantingham introduced the idea of nodes of crime, they joined others in asking a seemingly simple question: “Why do some people and places suffer a lot of crime and others almost none?” (1993b: 3). They continued by asking: “What in the surrounding environment influences whether someone decides to commit a crime?” (1993b: 3), noting that the search for suitable crime opportunities takes place “near the criminal's usual travel paths between major routine activity nodes” (1993b: 5, emphasis added). A couple of years later, when theorizing the potential to categorize urban sites into crime generators, crime attractors, crime-neutral areas, and fear generators, they noted that “People commit offences close to the central places (nodes) in their lives … People are also victimized close to the central places in their lives” (Brantingham and Brantingham, 1995: 10, emphasis added). They went on to point out that “criminal events cluster near major traffic arteries and near major intersections” (1995: 11), the “areas around edges often experience high crime rates” (1995: 12), crimes “cluster on the street near the subway station or bus stop” (1995: 13), and that “zones of anonymity often occur along or near arterial and collector roads” (1995: 14).
