Urban Crime Distribution in Isparta (Turkey): A Location Quotient Analysis

Abstract

Crime is an inseparable part of society and for the fact that place, time and society are inextricably interwoven implies that the conceptualization of the spatial aspect of crime is imperative. By adopting crime pattern and social disorganization theories, while using neighborhoods as the unit of analysis, we examined how crime behavior varies in an urban context. This was achieved by using Location Quotient of Crime (LQC) to identify and represent robbery, assault and threat agglomerations, as well as neighborhood in risk areas. The result of our analysis suggest that most neighborhoods had a relatively higher LQC for robbery, assault and threat crimes as compared to the city as a whole with quite a significant proportion of assault incidence in neighborhoods located near educational facilities. This paper also shows the usefulness of LQC in understanding crime behavior pattern at a micro level. A strong linkage between robbery, assault and threat crime incidents and key land use types were also established.