Effects of residential history on commercial robbers’ crime location choices

Abstract

Many offenders offend near their home. But what about their former homes? Extending crime pattern theory, and combining data on police recorded robberies with data on the residential histories of the robbers and with a database of postal code areas, we demonstrate that offenders are more likely to commit commercial robberies in their former residential areas than in otherwise similar areas they have never lived in. To investigate the role of the residential history in greater detail, we assess whether duration and recency of past and current residence differentially affect the choice of target areas. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and make recommendations for future research.