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Applied Geographical Profiling

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Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Synonyms

Geo-forensic Analysis; Geographical Offender Profiling; Journey to Crime

Overview

Geographical offender profiling (GP) is the practical application of various geographical, criminological, and psychological principles to typically estimate the most likely area of an offender’s home base (e.g., the offender’s residence) or anchor point (e.g., place of work or frequent activity) based on the location of their criminal activity (e.g., crime sites) (Rossmo 2000). The output of a GP analysis can inform ongoing investigative strategy in several ways (Rossmo 2000): suspect prioritization, patrol saturation, neighborhood canvasses, police information systems, and DNA searches, to name but a few (for further strategies used, see Knabe-Nicol and Alison 2011). This entry aims to introduce the reader to the environmental criminological and psychological basis of geographical profiling, discuss state-of-the-art journey to crime (JTC) research, and advocate the further integration of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, BC, Canada

    Alasdair M. Goodwill

  2. Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Jasper J. van der Kemp

  3. National Police Services Agency, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands

    Jan M. Winter

Authors
  1. Alasdair M. Goodwill
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  2. Jasper J. van der Kemp
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  3. Jan M. Winter
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alasdair M. Goodwill .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

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Goodwill, A.M., van der Kemp, J.J., Winter, J.M. (2014). Applied Geographical Profiling. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_207

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_207

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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