Publications The placement of published work on the internet for distribution is not permitted because of copyright restrictions. However, if electronic or paper versions are not available to you please do not hesitate to contact me (e-mail or snail-mail) to request an offprint. "One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is
terribly important." -- Bertrand Russell. Books and Edited Volumes:
Andresen, M.A., P.J. Brantingham, and J.B. Kinney [eds.] (2010). Classics in Environmental Criminology. Co-published: Burnaby, BC, SFU Publications and Boca Raton, FL, CRC Press.
Edited Journal Issues/Sections and Other Volumes:
Andresen, M.A. (2012). Predictive Models and Geographic Profiling, Area Editor. In D. Weisburd and G. Bruinsma (eds.) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, in press.
Research Monographs:
Andresen, M.A. (2010). An Assessment of Increased Police Patrol in Lower Lonsdale. North Vancouver, BC: City of North Vancouver.
Andresen, M.A., A.A. Reid, and G.W. Jenion (2010). An Evaluation of CCTV at the Scott Road Skytrain Station. Surrey, BC: City of Surrey.
Andresen, M.A. and N.T. Boyd (2008). A Cost - Benefit and Cost - Effectiveness Analysis of Vancouver's Safe Injection Facility. Ottawa, ON: Health Canada.
Andresen, M.A. and P.J. Brantingham (2007). Hot Spots of Crime in Vancouver and their Relationship with Population Characteristics. Ottawa, ON: Department of Justice Canada.
Felson, M., M.A. Andresen, and R. Frank (2012). Mobility polygons and the geometry of co-offending. In M.A. Andresen and J.B. Kinney (eds.) Patterns, Prevention, and Geometry of Crime. New York, NY: Routledge, 3 - 15.
Kinney, J.B. and M.A. Andresen (2012). Editors' introduction. In M.A. Andresen and J.B. Kinney (eds.) Patterns, Prevention, and Geometry of Crime. New York, NY: Routledge, 1 - 2.
Andresen, M.A. (2010). The place of environmental criminology within criminological thought. In M.A. Andresen, P.J. Brantingham, and J.B. Kinney (eds.) Classics in Environmental Criminology. Co-published: Burnaby, BC, SFU Publications and Boca Raton, FL, Taylor & Francis, 5 - 28.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). Geospatial technology and crime analysis. In K. Hastings (ed.) Conference Proceedings of the GeoTec Event 2009. Vancouver BC, Canada.
Andresen, M.A., M. Felson, and R. Frank (2008). Co-offending by age of offenders, ICURS Fact Sheet Number 8.
Book Reviews:
Andresen, M.A. (2003). Review of: Radtke, K.W. and M. Wiesebron (eds.) (2002). Competing for Integration: Japan, Europe, Latin America, and their Strategic Partners. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Pacific Affairs 76(3): 447 - 448.
Andresen, M.A., M. Felson, and R. Frank (2012). The geometry of offending and victimization. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, in press.
Abstract: The crime mobility triangle summarizes the spatial divergence of three locations: the offender’s residence, the victim’s residence, and the location of the delinquent act itself. The farther these three locations are from one another, the greater the area covered by the mobility triangle. The original mobility triangle was not designed for cases with multiple offenders or multiple victims. Accordingly, the current paper defines the crime mobility polygon and its corresponding area. We calculate the areas contained within mobility polygons for 26 476 index crime incidents. These calculations demonstrate the influence of extra crime participants upon the area an incident covers. We find that not all crime classifications have substantial increases in their mobility area as the number of individuals increase.
Reid, A.A. and M.A. Andresen (2012). An evaluation of CCTV in a car park using police and insurance data. Security Journal, in press.
Abstract: A non-monitored Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) pilot project commenced at the Scott Road Skytrain Station Park and Ride in Surrey, BC in August 2009. The pilot project was implemented by the City of Surrey and scheduled for one year. This paper reports on an evaluation of the CCTV system with respect to its ability to reduce vehicle-related crime at the pilot site. Using police and insurance data, the evaluation considers the trends of vehicle-related crimes over several years in the City of Surrey and the northern district of the Corporation of Delta, BC. In general, there is little evidence of a significant drop in vehicle-related crime that can be attributed to the CCTV system. Moreover, we show that the results are dependent upon the methods used for evaluation; this is critical because we show that a more commonly used method (that we consider inappropriate) indicates a significant drop in vehicle-related crime.
Andresen, M.A. and E. Jozaghi (2012). The point of diminishing returns: an examination of expanding Vancouver’s Insite. Urban Studies, in press.
Abstract: North America’s only government-sanctioned supervised injection facility, Insite, has been subjected to substantial research. This research has found evidence for numerous public health benefits: decreased risky injection behaviour, decreased fatal overdoses, increased probability of initiating and maintaining addiction treatment, and cost-effectiveness. To date, a small number of costing studies have emerged with none of them investigating Insite expansions. We perform such an analysis and find that based on benefit-cost ratios Insite should be expanded. However, this expansion is dependent on altering injection drug user behaviour outside of Insite.
Andresen, M.A. (2012). International immigration, internal migration, and homicide in Canadian provinces. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, in press.
Abstract: The relationship between immigration and crime is politically charged and often fueled by the presence (or lack) of xenophobia. Many theoretical and empirical assessments of this relationship indicate that immigration does indeed lead to increased crime, but more recent (and very early) research investigating homicide calls this finding into question. The current analysis investigates the relationship between immigration and homicide using multiple measures of migration and Canadian provinces as the unit of analysis. It is found that the link between immigration and homicide is complex and dependent upon the measure of migration employed. Generally speaking, the results presented here are consistent with the more recent and very early research. Immigration, in and of itself, does not increase homicide. Rather it is the increase in the most criminogenic sub-population that matters, young males.
Frank, R., M.A. Andresen, and P.L. Brantingham (2012). Visualizing the directional bias in property crime incidents for five Canadian municipalitiess. Canadian Geographer, in press.
Abstract: There are three interconnected and fundamental elements that define the spatiality of crime: places, distances, and directions. Over the past 180 years, research has flourished for the first two fundamental elements with relatively little research on directionality. In this paper, we develop a visualization technique allowing for the display of the directional bias for a large number of offenders that aids in subsequent analysis. We show that a directional bias in criminal activity is present overall, but it is not monolithic. Consequently, urban form and understanding place play a strong role in criminal directional biases for moving through our environments.
Andresen, M.A. and W. Tong (2012). The impact of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on crime in Vancouver. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, in press.
Abstract: There is little research on exceptional events and crime. Exceptional events affect lifestyles and routines of large amounts of people: natural disasters, worldwide political meetings, and international sporting competitions. In this paper, we examine the impact of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on assault, theft, mischief, and prostitution in Vancouver neighborhoods. Overall, there is no evidence to support that the Olympic Games impacted all crime types and in all places. However, we do find increases in assault that relate to the Olympic Games in a few key neighborhoods. As with previous research, it appears the substantial increase in security personnel (police, military, etc.) mitigates the potential increase in crime.
Andresen, M.A. and M. Felson (2012). Co-offending and the diversification of crime types. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, in press.
Abstract: There is theoretical and empirical support for co-offending being important not only for understanding current offending, but also subsequent offending. The fundamental question is: why? In this paper, an aggregate analysis is performed that begins to answer this question. Disaggregating solo- and co-offending by single year of age (12 - 29 years) and crime type in a largely metropolitan dataset from British Columbia, Canada, 2002 - 2006, it is shown that the distribution of co-offences is significantly more varied than the distribution of solo-offences. This more varied distribution of co-offences favors property crimes during youth but fades as offenders age.
Andresen, M.A., G.W. Jenion, and A.A. Reid (2012). An evaluation of ambient population estimates for use in crime analysis. Crime Mapping: A Journal of Research and Practice 4(1): 8 - 31.
Abstract: Conventionally calculated crime rates are plagued with the selection of the population at risk of criminal victimization. Recent crime analysis research has employed a new measure of the population at risk, the ambient population, but this new measurement of the population at risk has not undergone much external evaluation. We use land use data to measure population attractors as an evaluation of the ambient population estimates. We find that land use is not a good predictor of population increases predicted by the ambient population.
Pereira, A.S., J.T. Jalles, and M.A. Andresen (2012). Structural change and foreign direct investment: globalization and regional economic integration. Portuguese Economic Journal 11(1): 35 - 82.
Abstract: This paper investigates flows of inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and FDI-to-GDP ratios in a sample of 62 countries over a 30 year time span. Using several endogenous structural break procedures (allowing for one and two break points), we find that: 1) the great majority of the series have structural breaks in the last fifteen years, 2) post-break FDI and FDI/GDP ratios are substantially higher than the pre-break values, and 3) most breaks seem to be related to globalization, regional economic integration, economic growth, or political instability. Static and dynamic panel-data analyses accounting for and/or addressing endogeneity, simultaneity, nonstationarity, heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence show that FDI is negatively related to exchange rate volatility and GDP per capita, but positively related to some regional integration agreements, trade openness, GDP, and GDP growth. Most notably, the European Union is the only regional economic integration unit found to consistently have significant and positive effects on FDI.
Frank, R., M.A. Andresen, and M. Felson (2012). The geodiversity of crime: evidence from British Columbia. Applied Geography 34: 180 - 188.
Abstract: Crime mapping has established central tendencies, e.g., that crime trips tend to be certain lengths. But this is only one half of the convergence that leads to a crime. Crime mobility research, however, considers the simultaneous movements of both offenders and victims. In this paper, we consider the geodiversity of crime mobility: there are variations in the amount of area covered by various crimes depending on the variations of criminal opportunity. Extending the crime mobility research to consider co-offending, co-victimization, and area covered rather than typologies, we find strong evidence for geodiversity in crime. This geodiversity varies across crime types within a single municipality as well as across municipalities within a single crime type.
Frank, R., M.A. Andresen, and P.L. Brantingham (2012). Criminal directionality and the structure of urban form. Journal of Environmental Psychology 32(1): 37 - 42.
Abstract: Spatial criminology has three interrelated elements: place, distance, and direction. Though directionality has had theoretical support for many years, very few empirical verifications of this component of crime have emerged. In this article, we investigate the strength of directionality by comparing a simulated randomized dataset and a large incident-based dataset of repeat offenders. We find strong evidence for a strong presence of directionality in criminal spatial decision-making. This aspect of the spatiality of crime must be considered in any attempts to understand the etiology of crime.
Andresen, M.A. and M. Felson (2012). An investigation into the fundamental regularities of co-offending for violent and property crime classifications. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 54(1): 101 - 115.
Abstract: Co-offending research has generated two fundamental regularities. First, co-offending is most prevalent during youth and then decreases as offenders age. Second, the average number of offenders per criminal incident is also highest in youth and decreases as offenders age. These regularities, and co-offending in general, are often explained with reference to a developmental approach: youth spend more time in groups than adults for their activities and crime is simply one of those activities. We investigate these empirical regularities by single year of age, 12 - 29 years with a detailed crime classification in a large sample from British Columbia. These empirical regularities prove to be far from monolithic, being less notable for a number of violent crime classifications as offenders age.
Andresen, M.A. (2011). The impact of accession to the European Union on violent crime in Lithuania. European Sociological Review 27(6): 759 - 771.
Abstract: Research on Russia's transition from a centrally-planned to a free market economy indicates that socio-economic adjustment led to increases in violent crime. This study assesses the impact of accession to the European Union on the levels and trends of violent crimes in Lithuania using panel data representing Lithuanian municipalities (2001 - 2006) and fixed effect models. The levels and trends of violent crime in Lithuania are impacted: the levels of violent crime increase, but the subsequent trends are decreasing. However, the decreasing trends in violent crime will not offset the increased levels of violent crime within any short period of time. Consequently, countries considering, or in the process of, economic integration need to be aware of the potential increase in violent crime that may occur.
Frank, R., M.A. Andresen, C. Cheng, and P.L. Brantingham (2011). Finding criminal attractors based on offenders' directionality of crimes. Proceedings of the European Intelligence and Security Informatics Conference, 86 - 93.
Abstract: According to Crime Pattern Theory, individuals all have routine daily activities which require frequent travel between several nodes, with each being used for a different purpose, such as home, work or shopping. As people move between these nodes, their familiarity with the spatial area around the nodes, as well as between nodes, increases. Offenders have the same spatial movement patterns and Awareness Spaces as regular people, hence according to theory an offender will commit the crimes in their own Awareness Space. This idea is used to predict the location of the nodes within the Awareness Space of offenders. The activities of 57,962 offenders who were charged or charges were recommended against them were used to test this idea by mapping their offense locations with respect to their home locations to determine the directions they move. Once directionality to crime was established for each offender, a unique clustering technique, based on K-Means, was used to calculate their Cardinal Directions through which the awareness nodes for all offenders were calculated. It was found that, by looking at the results of various clustering parameters, offenders tend to move towards central shopping areas in a city, and commit crimes along the way. Almost all cluster centers were within one kilometer of a shopping center. This technique of finding Criminal Attractors allows for the reconstruction of the spatial profile of offenders, which allows for narrowing the possible suspects for new crimes.
Andresen, M.A. (2011). Estimating the probability of local crime clusters: the impact of immediate spatial neighbors. Journal of Criminal Justice 39(5): 394 - 404.
Abstract:Purpose: To investigate the importance of immediate spatial neighbors when investigating local crime patterns. Methods: Local indicators of spatial association are used to identify local crime clusters. The classification scheme of these local crime clusters is then modeled in a multinomial logistic regression. Results: The results show that immediate spatial neighbors are important for understanding local crime patterns. Though (positive) spatial autocorrelation has long been known to be present with crime data, this analysis suggests that negative spatial autocorrelation (if present) has a significantly different implication. Generally speaking, when predicting a local crime cluster type, the immediate spatial neighbors are more important for correct prediction. As such, a low local crime area that is surrounded by high crime areas presents itself as a high crime area in the regression results. Conclusions: Therefore, efforts to understand the criminal nature of an area must not consider that area in isolation.
Andresen, M.A. (2011). The ambient population and crime analysis. Professional Geographer 63(2): 193 - 212.
Abstract: This article uses an alternative measure of the population at risk, the ambient population (provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory), in crime rate calculations. It is shown through a variety of statistical analyses at two different scales of aggregation that this alternatively calculated crime rate is not always related to the conventionally calculated crime rate. The implications of this finding are that past theoretical testing and policy formation may have been based on spurious results, showing the importance of remaining current with the developments of geographic information science technologies and data availability when undertaking a spatial analysis of crime.
Andresen, M.A. and N. Malleson (2011). Testing the stability of crime patterns: implications for theory and policy. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 48(1): 58 - 82.
Abstract: Recent research in the "crime at places" literature is concerned with smaller units of analysis than conventional spatial criminology. An important issue is whether the spatial patterns observed in conventional spatial criminology focused on neighborhoods remain when the analysis shifts to street segments. In this paper, we employ a new spatial point pattern test that identifies the similarity in spatial point patterns. This test is local in nature such that the output can be mapped showing where differences are present. Using this test, we investigate the stability of crime patterns moving from census tracts to dissemination areas to street segments. We find that general crime patterns are somewhat similar at all spatial scales, but finer scales of analysis reveal significant variations within larger units. This result demonstrates the importance of analysing crime patterns at small scales and has important implications for further theoretical development and policy implementation.
Andresen, M.A. (2010). The geography of the Canada - United States border effect. Regional Studies 44(5): 579 - 594.
Abstract: The Canada - United States border effect is a heavily researched area. Despite the plethora of this research, very few regional analyses have emerged. This lack of regional analyses is curious because this limited research has shown a strong geographical component to the border effect. This paper contributes to the border effect literature by resolving the border effect through proper economic and statistical specification. Rather than the border representing a strong friction between Canada and the United States, it is shown that most provinces experience an insignificant or positive effect from the border.
Andresen, M.A. (2010). A cross-industry analysis of intra-industry trade measurement thresholds: Canada and the United States, 1988-1999. Empirical Economics 38(3): 793 - 808.
Abstract: The measurement of intra-industry trade allows for the separation of horizontal from vertical intra-industry trade using thresholds to categorize different types of trade. Using product-level data on Canada--United States international trade and corresponding cross-industry determinants, this study tests the sensitivity of these thresholds finding that previous studies may have incorrectly specified the measurement of intra-industry trade.
Andresen, M.A. (2010). Canada - United States interregional trade: quasi-points and spatial change. Canadian Geographer 54(2): 139 - 157.
Abstract: Interregional trade between Canada and the U.S. has undergone significant change since the inception of free trade. However, the magnitude of that change for all regions involved has only been alluded to given the lack of an appropriate measure. This paper introduces the concept of a quasi-point and employs a spatial point pattern test to measure the degree of change in the interregional trade of Canadian provinces within Canada and the U.S. states. It is found that the degree of change in the interregional trade flows is related to the degree of change in the provincial tariff rates.
Andresen, M.A. and G.W. Jenion (2010). Ambient populations and the calculation of crime rates and risk. Security Journal 23(2): 114 - 133.
Abstract: In the past, crime rate calculations have favored one denominator for spatially-referenced crime rates, the residential population. Dominantly, this practice is the result of cost and time constraints on research. This paper uses freely available spatially-referenced population data, the LandScan Global Population Database, that provides an alternative measure of the population at risk in crime rate calculations, the ambient population. Calculated crime rates using the residential and ambient populations exhibit a weak statistical relationship. This provides a strong positive implication for the use of these data such that their utilization may give a more precise depiction of victimization, particularly when considering violent crime. Consequently, it is argued that ambient-based (violent) crime rates should be used to supplement the conventional residential-based (violent) crime rates.
Andresen, M.A. (2010). Geographies of international trade: theory, borders, and regions. Geography Compass 4(2): 94 - 105.
Abstract: As old as civilization itself, international trade is fundamentally important to the economic well-being of nations and their regions. As with any other economic activity, international trade has a geography. Despite this geographic nature of international trade, it is a relatively unexplored topic by economic geographers. This is not to say that economic geographers do not investigate international economic activity, only that they do not study the more general processes of international trade. In this paper, I review three facets of international trade that imply the importance of geography undertaken by economists and geographers: theory, borders, and regions. Recent theoretical research implicates the importance of geography as an integral component of trade theory; the political geography of trade (borders) is shown to have differential effects in different regions; and the formation of regional trading blocs reveals that geography is still important for understanding international relationships. All three of these facets are fundamentally geographical. It is argued here that the discipline of economic geography must broaden its scope in order to apply a geographical imagination to the understanding of international trade.
Andresen, M.A. and M. Felson (2010). Situational crime prevention and co-offending. Crime Patterns and Analysis 3(1): 3 - 13.
Abstract: The crime prevention literature often contrasts "social prevention" and "situational prevention". Social prevention focuses on reforming individuals through social policies. Situational prevention seeks instead to reduce crime by altering the settings or conditions in which we carry out daily routines and avoids trying to change offender dispositions. Yet offender dispositions are not their only "social" feature. Much crime, especially at young ages, is "co-offending" carried out in very small groups. In addition, offenders at diverse ages socialize in settings that lead to illegal acts in nearby times and places. Such settings are amenable to situational measures. Interestingly, situational crime prevention can alter the size, composition, timing, location, and informal supervision of small group activities and routines. This widens the range of crime reduction possibilities, while undermining the assertion that situational prevention is "non-social".
Andresen, M.A. (2010). Diurnal movements and the ambient population: an application to municipal level crime rate calculations. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 52(1): 97 - 109.
Abstract: Crime rates are often used to inform the public regarding their risk of criminal victimization. However, these crime rates are themselves at risk of misinforming the public. Recent research has used alternative crime rate calculations to show crime rate calculations are quite sensitive to the choice of the population at risk, but none of this research has been undertaken at the municipal level, only at the neighbourhood level. In this paper, municipal-level crime rates are calculated using conventional and alternative means to show the sensitivity of the crime rate. It is shown that because of our diurnal movements throughout metropolitan areas, municipalities gain and lose significant populations. And because of these changing populations, municipal-level crime rates must be calculated, and interpreted, with caution.
Andresen, M.A. and M. Felson (2010). The impact of co-offending. British Journal of Criminology 50(1): 66 - 81.
Abstract: Co-offending has a major impact on the arithmetic of crime rates and the burdens on the justice system. This paper studies co-offending by single year of age using data that comprise 750,000 negative police contacts (those charged, chargeable, and suspected in criminal offenses) in a largely metropolitan data set from British Columbia, Canada, 2002 - 2006. We find that shifts in co-offending rates within teenage years are extremely rapid and highly sensitive to sample age ranges, such that a single co-offending rate for all teenagers is misleading. Co-offending opens a range of policy options and issues concerning the presence of youth hangouts and offender convergence settings that can assist the search for suitable co-offenders.
Andresen, M.A. and N.T. Boyd (2010). A cost - benefit and cost - effectiveness analysis of Vancouver's supervised injection facility. International Journal of Drug Policy 21(1): 70 - 76.
Abstract:Background: A supervised injection facility has been established in North America: Insite, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a cost - effectiveness and cost - benefit analysis of this supervised injection facility using secondary data gathered and analyzed in 2008. In using these data we seek to determine whether the facility's prevention of infections and deaths among injection drug users is of greater or lesser economic cost than the cost involved in providing this service - Insite - to this community. Methods: Mathematical modeling is used to estimate the number of new HIV infections and deaths prevented each year. We use the number of these new HIV infections and deaths prevented, in conjunction with estimated lifetime public health care costs of a new HIV infection, and the value of a life, in order to calculate an identifiable portion of the societal benefits of Insite. The annual costs of operating the supervised injection facility are used to measure the social costs of Insite. In using this information, we calculate cost-effectiveness and benefit-cost ratios for the supervised injection facility. Results: Through the use of conservative estimates, Vancouver's supervised injection facility, Insite, on average, prevents 35 new cases of HIV and almost 3 deaths each year. This provides a societal benefit in excess of $6 million per year after the program costs are taken into account, translating into an average benefit-cost ratio of 5.12 : 1. Conclusion: Vancouver's supervised injection facility appears to be an effective and efficient use of public health care resources, based on a modeling study of only two specific and measureable benefits - HIV infection and overdose death.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). Canada - United States interregional trade flows, 1989 - 2001. Canadian Journal of Regional Science 32(2): 187 - 202.
Abstract: Canada and the U.S. established two free trade agreements in recent years. The majority of research investigating the effects of these agreements is performed at the national level, potentially obscuring local effects from free trade. The research that does investigate regional effects of free trade typically aggregates provinces and states into regions and/or is undertaken using one year of trade data. The present analysis uses provinces and states as the spatial units of analysis studying trade volumes, shares, and economic dependence over time. It is found that the geography of interregional trade within Canada and the U.S. has changed significantly over the study period, with geographical proximity being one of the drivers of change.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). The border puzzle is solved. Applied Economics Letters 16(16): 1617 - 1620.
Abstract: This paper solves the border puzzle that asks why countries have such a strong preference for consuming their own goods. After replicating the negative impact of the border on Canada - United States international trade using the methods of previous research, it is shown that past estimates that find the border to be a significant barrier to international trade are the result of statistical misspecification.
Andresen, M.A., K. Wuschke, J.B. Kinney, P.J. Brantingham, and P.L. Brantingham (2009). Cartograms, crime, and location quotients. Crime Patterns and Analysis 2(1): 31 - 46.
Abstract: Visualizing spatial information has a long history in the field of cartography. Though there are generally accepted forms of spatial data visualization to represent different types of spatial data, the interpretation of the resulting maps tends to be subjective, at best, and incorrect, at worst. Cartograms are an increasingly popular form of spatial data visualization, recently applied in political and epidemiological analyses in an attempt to better represent the spatial data under analysis. We use the cartogram procedure to map crime rates and location quotients. Using this visualization approach we are able to show the usefulness of cartograms to represent crime.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). Crime in Lithuania: the impact of accession to the European Union. European Journal of Criminology 6(4): 337 - 360.
Abstract: The European Union (EU) has expanded its membership significantly in recent years to include Central and Eastern European countries. These countries are at significantly different levels of economic development than the other member states of the EU and are expected to undergo an economic adjustment to their new social, political, and economic reality. This paper investigates the effects on property crime of this economic adjustment to accession to the EU, using Lithuania as a case study. Using Lithuanian municipalities and fixed-effects estimation for 2001-6, the statistical results indicate that accession to the EU has led to a significant increase in theft, burglary, and juvenile delinquency.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). Testing for similarity in area-based spatial patterns: a nonparametric Monte Carlo approach. Applied Geography 29(3): 333 - 345.
Abstract: The proliferation of geographic information systems and point data has made the analysis of spatial point patterns of increasing interest in a variety of disciplines. Though early forms of spatial point pattern analysis were limited in their scope, current forms have been developed that provide significant insight into underlying data generating processes. This paper builds on the spatial point pattern analysis literature through the development a nonparametric Monte Carlo spatial point pattern test (and corresponding index) to measure the degree of similarity between two spatial point patterns. The applicability of this new test is then shown using crime data.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). Asynchronous discussion forums: success factors, outcomes, assessments, and limitations. Journal of Educational Technology & Society 12(1): 249 - 257.
Abstract: Online learning has been burgeoning over the past decade with one of the more popular modes of conducting online learning being the asynchronous online courses. Within the asynchronous online course, the asynchronous discussion forum replaces the face-to-face interaction of the traditional classroom, but is this form of discussion able to enhance the learning process? This paper reviews the literature regarding asynchronous discussion forums finding that that the asynchronous discussion forum is able to generate the critical dimensions of learning found in the traditional classroom, but it has its limitations.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). The geographical effects of the NAFTA on Canadian provinces. Annals of Regional Science 43(1): 251 - 265.
Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on the Canadian provinces. A large body of research has emerged testing the effects of the Canada - United States Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) and the NAFTA, but the majority of that research has analyzed the effect of free trade at the national scale despite the fact that different provinces have different industrial compositions and levels of integration with the United States. It is found that there is a geographical component to the effect of the NAFTA, and this geographical component varies from province to province.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). Regionalizing global trade patterns, 1981 - 2001: application of a new method. Canadian Geographer 53(1): 24 - 44.
Abstract: This paper investigates the establishment of trading regions in the global economy at the national level using a measure of trade intensity and a regional assignment algorithm that generates economically meaningful trading regions. It is found that although there is definite regionalization in the global economy with regard to international trade, there is no evidence of an increase in the concentration of that regionalization over time. The geography of international trade is found to be incredibly dynamic, with change related to political, historical, and economic forces. Overall, trading regions have relatively few members and are increasingly a set of geographically close countries.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). Trade specialization and reciprocal trading relationships in Canada and the United States, 1989 and 2001. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 99(1): 163 - 183.
Abstract: Past research investigating the clusters in the geography of international trade flows have focused on national units of analysis, despite the fact that sub-national units display geographical patterns of trade distinct from their respective nations. This article investigates the interregional trade flows of Canada (provinces) and the United States (states) using a measure of trade specialization, similar to the location quotient, as well as maintaining provinces and states as the spatial units of analysis. After an initial investigation of the trade specialization of Canadian provinces, trading regions within Canada and the United States are determined. It is found that regional trading relationships have evolved since the establishment of free trade between Canada and the United States. This evolution is the result of decreased costs in accessing foreign markets. These new trading relationships now incorporate more U.S. states and fewer Canadian provinces in most cases.
Andresen, M.A. (2009). Crime specialization across the Canadian provinces. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 51(1): 31 - 53.
Abstract: For many years, the Canadian provinces have exhibited a pattern where crime rates increase from east to west. Despite this regional pattern of crime being of long standing, there has been little research that attempts to explain it. This present article approaches the problem by calling the pattern itself into question. Using an alternative measure of crime, the location quotient, it is shown that western Canada does not simply have higher levels of all crime in Canada. Rather, while a given individual is more likely to be a victim of a crime in the western provinces, not all crimes are disproportionately higher in the west. It is found that different provinces have different tendencies in relation to particular kinds of crime, and this implies that focusing only on the level of criminal activity may be misleading.
Andresen, M.A. and P.L. Brantingham (2008). Visualizing ambient population data within census boundaries: a dasymetric mapping procedure. Cartographica 43(4): 267 - 275.
Abstract: The visualization of areal census data is sensitive to the modifiable areal unit problem. Consequently, though not widely used, dasymetric mapping procedures have been developed to provide a more convincing representation of such areal data. This paper extends past research on dasymetric mapping procedures to visualize fine resolution raster data for the ambient population within census boundaries. We find that the dasymetric mapping procedure developed in this paper generates maps that are almost identical to non-dasymetric maps in urban centers but vastly different maps in rural areas while maintaining reference to other data represented in the census boundaries for later analysis.
Andresen, M.A. and G.W. Jenion (2008). Crime prevention and the science of where people are. Criminal Justice Policy Review 19(2): 164 - 180.
Abstract: Crime prevention initiatives are often conceptualized working at Primary-Secondary-Tertiary (PST) levels. Primary prevention efforts address the underlying social, economic, and physical environment conditions that generate crime; secondary prevention efforts focus on people, places, and social conditions that are at high risk of crime; whereas tertiary prevention efforts are directed toward already existing and specific crime problems. This paper discusses the uses of the ambient population (a 24-hour average estimate of the population present in a spatial area) to better inform crime prevention initiatives within the PST framework. Though the results indicate the ambient population has utility for all three levels of crime prevention, the most immediate use is in tertiary prevention to better understand the nature of current crime problem-areas. This information
is not available from the resident (or census) population because the resident population indicates where people sleep, not where they are.
Andresen, M.A. (2008). The evolving quality of trade between Canada and the United States. Canadian Geographer 52(1): 22 - 37.
Abstract: This paper examines the quality level of trade between Canada and the United States, 1979 - 2003, to investigate the relevance of staples theory for Canada. After disentangling the quality levels of trade, it is found that the pattern of quality-level trade changed significantly around the time free trade was established between Canada and the United States. Before free trade Canada was moving into the lower-end of quality, but after the establishment of free trade Canada is now moving into the higher-end of quality trade with the United States. This potentially means that Canada is getting out of the staples trap.
Andresen, M.A. (2007). Location quotients, ambient populations, and the spatial analysis of crime in Vancouver, Canada. Environment and Planning A 39(10): 2423 - 2444.
Abstract: This paper uses the location quotient, a common measurement from economic geography and regional economics, to capture the specialization of criminal activity in Vancouver, Canada. Location quotients have barely been introduced into criminological research, yet they provide additional insight into crime analysis not available using crime counts and crime rates. The location quotients for automotive theft, break and enter, and violent crimes are mapped for Vancouver, Canada, and tested using social disorganization and routine activity theory as a theoretical framework. Strong support is found for these theories to predict specialization in criminal activity by interpreting their expectations in the context of crime-specific attractors.
Andresen, M.A. (2007). Homicide and medical science: is there a relationship? Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 49(2): 185 - 204.
Abstract: Violent crime remains high in the United States and Canada. Some have hypothesized that there is a disparity between the trends of
the rates of aggravated assault (as well as violent crime, in general) and homicide that can be explained by decreases in trauma mortality rates. This hypothesis is supported through the ``lethality approach'' that measures the proportion of actual deaths (homicides) relative to potential deaths (homicides and aggravated assaults) in criminal activity. It is shown in this paper that the lethality approach is sensitive to data definitions and the disparity between the trends of the aggravated assault and homicide rates does not exist.
Andresen, M.A. (2006). A spatial analysis of crime in Vancouver, British Columbia: a synthesis of social disorganization and routine activity theory. Canadian Geographer 50(4): 487 - 502.
Abstract: This paper investigates the spatial dimension of automotive theft, break and enter, and violent crime in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1996. The paper uses and synthesizes social disorganization theory and routine activity theory as a theoretical backcloth and employs a spatial autoregressive regression procedure that accounts for spatial autocorrelation between crime rates and socio-economic characteristics at the census tract level. Strong support is found for synthesizing these two most common spatial theories of crime. In particular, high unemployment (social disorganization theory) and the presence of young populations (routine activity theory) are the strongest predictors of criminal activity.
Andresen, M.A. (2006). The effect of North American trade liberalization on the nature of Canadian trade, 1989 - 2002. American Review of Canadian Studies, 36(2): 283 - 311.
Abstract: On 1st January 1989 followed by 1st January 1994, the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), respectively, entered into force involving the Government of Canada, the Government of the United Mexican States, and the Government of the United States of America. This paper uses data published by Statistics Canada International Trade Division to study of the changes in trade patterns between Canada and the world at the aggregate level as well as Canada and the United States at a more detailed industrial level, 1989 - 2002. At a national level, these indices show little change over the study period, but there is significant change measured at the industry level. Additionally, when international trade is separated into high-, medium-, and low-quality classifications, it is found that Canada is moving into higher quality international trade with the United States. As such, a detailed industry-level analysis provides a greater indication of trade-induced convergence and/or divergence between Canada and the United States than national measures.
Andresen, M.A. (2006). Crime measures and the spatial analysis of criminal activity. British Journal of
Criminology 46(2): 258 - 285.
Abstract: This paper investigates the spatial aspect of criminal activity in Vancouver, Canada employing social disorganization theory, routine activity theory and multiple measures of crime. Crime counts and crime rates with residential and ambient populations as denominators are calculated
using the calls for service made to the Vancouver Police Department. The ambient population, a 24-hour average estimate of a population in a spatial unit to capture the population at risk, is obtained from the LandScan Global Population Database and calculated at a spatial resolution relevant to criminological research. Utilizing a spatial regression technique, strong support is found for routine activity theory across space and the use of ambient populations when calculating crime rates and measuring the population at risk.
Andresen, M.A. and G.W. Jenion (2004). The unspecified temporal criminal event: what is unknown is known with aoristic analysis and multinomial logistic regression. Western Criminology Review 5(3): 1 - 11.
Abstract: Environmental criminologists begin their study of crime by asking where and when crimes occur. Police databases contain information on the temporal nature of criminal events and some criminal events, such as burglary and automotive theft, are reported over an unspecified time period or time range/window-there is a start time and an end time but no actual time of occurrence. Recent work on this subject has manifested in a relatively new technique, aoristic analysis, which estimates the probability of a criminal offence occurring within a certain time span. This technique is a great step forward from previous temporal analysis techniques and has great utility for law enforcement personnel when analyzing range data. However, it is important that analysts use caution when databases contain abundances of extreme time ranges. In order to facilitate the comparative analyses of the temporal aspects of crime, an alternative technique is suggested, multinomial logistic regression, which incorporates the advantages of aoristic analysis and extends the analysis of the temporal criminal event into the realm of inferential statistics.
Frank, L.D., M.A. Andresen, and T.L. Schmid (2004). Obesity relationships with community design, physical activity, and time spent in cars. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 27(2): 87 - 96.
Abstract: Obesity is a major health problem in the United States and around the world. To date, relationships between obesity and aspects of the built environment have not been evaluated empirically at the individual level. To evaluate the relationship between the built environment around each participant's place of residence and self-reported travel patterns (walking and time in a car), body mass index (BMI), and obesity for specific gender and ethnicity classifications. Body Mass Index, minutes spent in a car, kilometers walked, age, income, educational attainment, and gender were derived through a travel survey of 10,878 participants in the Atlanta, Georgia region. Objective measures of land use mix, net residential density, and street connectivity were developed within a 1-kilometer network distance of each participant's place of residence. A cross-sectional design was used to associate urban form measures with obesity, BMI, and transportation-related activity when adjusting for sociodemographic covariates. Discrete analyses were conducted across gender and ethnicity. The data were collected between 2000 and 2002 and analysis was conducted in 2004. Land-use mix had the strongest association with obesity (BMI >= 30 kg/m2), with each quartile increase being associated with a 12.2 percent reduction in the likelihood of obesity across gender and ethnicity. Each additional hour spent in a car per day was associated with a 6 percent increase in the likelihood of obesity. Conversely, each additional kilometer walked per day was associated with a 4.8 percent reduction in the likelihood of obesity. As a continuous measure, BMI was significantly associated with urban form for white cohorts. Relationships among urban form, walk distance, and time in a car were stronger among white than black cohorts. Measures of the built environment and travel patterns are important predictors of obesity across gender and ethnicity, yet relationships among the built environment, travel patterns, and weight may vary across gender and ethnicity. Strategies to increase land-use mix and distance walked while reducing time in a car can be effective as health interventions.
Andresen, M.A., G.W. Jenion, and M.L. Jenion (2003). Conventional calculations of homicide rates lead to
an inaccurate reflection of Canadian trends. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 45(1): 1 -- 17.
Abstract: The published Canadian homicide rate indicates a steady downward trend since the mid--1970s. Yet, the conventional homicide rate inaccurately reflects the nature of homicide, when used as a social barometer, and should be supplemented with a new homicide rate, calculated using available demographic information about offender characteristics. This paper uses recent advances in statistical techniques to show that an age-adjusted homicide rate exhibits a significantly different trend than the conventional rate: (1) there was no structural break in the trend until
the late 1980s; (2) until the early 1990s the trend was an increasing homicide rate; and (3) although the homicide rate has been decreasing since the mid--1990s, there is insufficient statistical evidence to suggest a new downward trend. These findings suggest that demographics and time series analysis are required to properly assess homicide trends, helping to isolate social variables so their effects on homicide rates can be more accurately determined. Homicide rates have a substantial affect on social policy and public opinion and therefore should be critically calculated. Finally, this paper demonstrates the benefits of cooperation between academic disciplines and the utility of taking advantage of the latest theoretical and empirical techniques to reach a better understanding of social phenomena.