Place Matters

Over the last two decades, there has been increased interest in the distribution of crime and other antisocial behavior at lower levels of geography. The focus on micro geography and its contribution to the understanding and prevention of crime has been called the 'criminology of place'. It pushes scholars to examine small geographic areas within cities, often as small as addresses or street segments, for their contribution to crime. Here, the authors describe what is known about crime and place, providing the most up-to-date and comprehensive review available. Place Matters shows that the study of criminology of place should be a central focus of criminology in the twenty-first century. It creates a tremendous opportunity for advancing our understanding of crime, and for addressing it. The book brings together eighteen top scholars in criminology and place to provide comprehensive research expanding across different themes.

David Weisburd is a Distinguished Professor at George Mason University, Virginia and Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. He also holds a joint appointment as the Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the Hebrew University Faculty of Law in Jerusalem. He serves as the Chief Science Advisor at the Police Foundation in Washington DC and is Chair of its Research Advisory Committee. Weisburd is an elected Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and of the Academy of Experimental Criminology. He is the recipient of many prestigious honors and awards including the Stockholm Prize in Criminology 2010, the American Society of Criminology's Sutherland Award in 2014, and the 2015 Israel Prize in Criminology. He has also been selected as the recipient of the American Society of Criminology's 2017 August Vollmer Award.

John E. Eck is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. He has conducted research on policing, crime places, and crime prevention since 1977. He is a former Research Director for the Police Executive Research Forum. There, he studied investigative operations, police anti-drug strategies, and helped field test and develop a problem-oriented approach to policing. Eck's Ph.D. dissertation (University of Maryland, 1994) developed the idea of 'place management'. He joined the faculty of the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati in 1998.

Anthony A. Braga is the Don M. Gottfredson Professor of Evidence-Based Criminology at Rutgers University and a Senior Research Fellow in the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard University, Massachusetts. Between 2007 and 2013, Braga served as the Chief Policy Advisor to Commissioner Edward F. Davis of the Boston Police Department. His work with the Boston Police Department on its Safe Street Teams program was recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police with its Community Policing Award (2011) and Excellence in Law Enforcement Research Award (2011).

Cody Telep is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society at George Mason University, where he worked at the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. His research interests include evaluating policing innovations, police legitimacy, evidence-based policy, and experimental criminology. He is the Secretary-Treasurer for the American Society of Criminology's Division of Policing.

Breanne Cave is a doctoral candidate at George Mason University, Virginia and a member of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy. Her research interests focus on policing, crime and place, research translation, and security issues. She was awarded the Presidential Fellowship and Dean's Challenge Award at George Mason University. Prior to beginning her studies at George Mason, she served for four years with the United States Marine Corps.