Environmental criminology in the big data era
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370819877753 |
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370819877753
European Journal of Criminology
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370819877753
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Environmental criminology
in the big data era
Thom Snaphaan
Wim Hardyns
Ghent University, Belgium
Abstract
This study examines to what extent new and emerging data sources or big data have been
empirically used to measure key theoretical concepts within environmental criminology. By
means of a scoping review, aimed at studies published between 2005 and 2018, insight is provided
into the characteristics of studies that used big data sources within environmental criminology.
The type and extent of big data sources used, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of these
data sources, are synthesized. After the selection procedure, 84 studies were included for further
analysis. Although the number of studies increased each year, there has been a remarkable increase
in the number of studies since 2014. The findings suggest that most studies used administrative
data or user-generated content as one type of research data. However, innovative data sources
(automated and volunteered data) have gained in importance in recent years. Also, most studies
are of a descriptive or predictive nature, predominantly conducted by computational (social)
scientists. Since these approaches pay little to no attention to mechanisms that bring about social
outcomes, an alternative philosophical framework is proposed. We put forward a scientific
realist approach as a solution to integrate data-driven and theory-driven research. This approach
responds to recent calls to move towards an ‘analytical criminology’. The results are discussed
within this framework, and translated into avenues for future research.
Keywords
Analytical criminology, big data, data sources, environmental criminology, scoping review
Introduction
Two relatively new and interconnected developments are currently emerging in favour of
environmental criminology. The first development is occurring within the field of envi-
ronmental criminology itself, and in particular the criminology of place. This field of
interest is attracting increased attention and the units of analysis under study are gradually
Corresponding author:
Thom Snaphaan, Department of Criminology, Criminal Law and Social Law, Ghent University,
Universiteitstraat 4, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Email: Thom.Snaphaan@UGent.be
877753EUC0010.1177/1477370819877753European Journal of CriminologySnaphaan and Hardyns
research-article2019
Article
2021, Vol. 18(5) 713–734
shifting towards smaller units (Bruinsma, 2016; Oberwittler and Wikström, 2009). The
second development is that we have evolved into a data-rich era and big data are getting
more and more attention from scholars and practitioners from almost all (scientific) disci-
plines, exploring the proposed advantages of this innovative development (De Mauro
et al., 2015). The common denominator is that both developments originate from techno-
logical and methodological innovations (Ridgeway, 2017; Weisburd et al., 2009).
The general aim of this study is to ‘map’ the state of the art regarding big data sources
that are available and have the potential to measure theoretical concepts within environ-
mental criminology. This is highly relevant, because the key opportunity of big data is
the availability of new sources of data that can potentially complement, replace, improve,
and add to existing datasets, refine existing statistical composition, and produce more
timely outputs (Kitchin, 2015). Big data enhance the suite of data (sources) available for
analysis and enable new approaches and techniques, complementary to conventional
‘small’ data sources, approaches, and techniques (Kitchin, 2014). This contemporary
evolution to a new paradigm requires the unravelling of the opportunities and threats of
big data for environmental criminology, because, as Solymosi and Bowers (2018: 218)
state, ‘it is important to be always looking out for emerging data and approaches to use
for research’.
In this study, the theoretical background is twofold, because we assess the added
value of (1) big data within (2) environmental criminology. Accordingly, in what fol-
lows, we will first briefly describe what environmental criminology is and which theo-
retical concepts we consider in this study. Second, we will untangle and operationalize
the catch-all term ‘big data’ and provide a taxonomy of big data sources. Both introduc-
tory sections are necessary to perform adequately and understand the scoping review.
Then, in the methodological section, we will further elaborate on how we conducted the
scoping review. Subsequently, the results of a descriptive-analytical and a content analy-
sis of the included studies are presented. Lastly, we will present concluding remarks,
points of discussion, and avenues for future research.
Environmental criminology
Environmental criminology is defined by Paul and Patricia Brantingham (1991: 2) as the
field in criminology that ‘argues that criminal events must be understood as confluences
of offenders, victims or criminal targets, and laws in specific settings at particular times
and places’. From this perspective, all behaviour is the result of a person–environment
interaction (see Lewin’s equation: Behavior = f(Situation), and Situation = f(Person,
Environment)) (Lewin, 1936; Wikström and Treiber, 2015). Contemporary definitions
stress the spatial concentration of crime (for example, Bruinsma and Johnson, 2018: 7);
however, the temporal dimension should not be overlooked, therefore modifications to
the definition are added in square brackets:
Environmental criminology is thus about the study of (1) the how and why of the spatial [and
temporal] concentration of crime, victims, or offenders as a consequence of the physical and
social characteristics of spaces, and their interaction, and (2) the how and why of the physical
and social characteristics of locations that influence offender’s decision-making regarding
possible specific crimes at specific places [and at specific times].
714 European Journal of Criminology 18(5)
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