ABSTRACT
Moving past the assessment of risk of particular incidents and making plans for response and recovery, analysts are also deeply involved in identifying systemic aspects of modern hazards. There are many different factors that contribute to risk of harm from these dangers and form into definable patterns of harm. Criminologists, for example, talk about risky lifestyles, hot spots, drug markets, crime rates, and crime waves. These patterns become important considerations in the ways in which we approach explanations of the origins of crime and our analysis of how crime responds to prevention and law enforcement. Within these regularities, we can view the potential of crime or the concentration of criminality. In addition, we can use patterns to define the relationship that these behavioral outcomes have to characteristics of the offenders and victims that are involved in day-to-day interaction. Changes in society that come from shifting demographics, economic booms and busts, and movement of people through migration all affect the patterns of risk.
