ABSTRACT
There are three basic elements of a journey that are of interest to criminologists. The first is the starting point or reference point we measure the journey from. The second is the direction the criminal moves in and the final element is the distance of the crime scene from the reference point. These are the three elements of the journey to crime. When many such journeys are aggregated, they form the spatial crime patterns of metropolitan and rural regions. In other words, in order to understand crime patterns, one must understand the components of the many journeys of which they are composed. Each of these basic elements of the journey to crime will be discussed in turn beginning with the starting point or reference point we measure the journey to crime from.
