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Standardizing the Display of IBR Data:
Location Variables

Additional Examples of Displaying Location Variables

Location variables have been used in various reports to show where various offenses are most likely to occur. 

Presented below are examples of tables using location variables.  SPSS code is presented with each table.

The first table looks at the location of property and violent offenses, comparing the percentage of offenses committed by juveniles and adults.  This table uses 1996 and 1997 data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), but can also be derived using NIBRS data.  NOTE: The location categories have been modified to reflect NIBRS categories; "own home/residence" and "other's home/residence" have been combined and "near own home/residence" has been removed.

Example 1.  Location of Juvenile and Adult Property Crime Victimizations
Adapted from David Finkelhor and Richard Ormrod's publication, Juvenile Victims of Property Crimes.  Published by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, December 2000.

Property Crimes Violent Crimes

Location

 Juveniles Adults Juveniles Adults
Home/Residence 18% 58% 25% 42%
Commercial Place 4 8 4 16
Parking Lot/Garage 3 16 5 8
School 54 4 40 4
Open Area/Street/Public
Transportation		 6 7 21 21
Other Location 6 7 5 9

TOTAL

 100 100 100 100

It is no surprise that the majority of juvenile offenses, both property and violent, occur at school.  For adults, most offenses occur at a home/residence.

To create this table, location variables were grouped into categories.   Offenses were divided into property and violent crimes, and then matched to juvenile and adult age categories.  A cross-tabulation was then created.

View SPSS syntax with narrative for Example 1.   
Download SPSS syntax for Example 1.  
Note: Please check that the variable names used in this syntax match the variable names in your data file.  If you need assistance, contact JRSA.
Download sample SPSS data to be used in this example.  
Download resulting SPSS data created by the syntax.  

The next chart compares robbery locations in South Carolina in 1979 and 1998.

Example 2.  South Carolina Robberies by Location
Produced by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety in South Carolina Criminal and Juvenile Justice Trends, 1999.

location_sc.jpg (30882 bytes)

This chart was created by choosing the most frequent locations of robberies, combining commercial locations into one category.  All robbery offenses were then selected and a cross-tabulation table was created.

View SPSS syntax with narrative for Example 2.   
Download SPSS syntax for Example 2.  
Download SPSS Table Template for Example 2.
Note: Please check that the variable names used in this syntax match the variable names in your data file.  If you need assistance, contact JRSA.
Download sample SPSS data to be used in this example.  

The third example looks at the location of rape incidents in Iowa.  The chart contains the same type of data as the previous examples, but uses a pie chart to show the the proportion of rapes occurring in the most frequent locations.

Example 3.  1999 Location of Rape
Produced by the Iowa Department of Public Safety in 1999 Iowa Uniform Crime Report, 2000.

location_ia.jpg (18447 bytes)

To create this chart, all rape incidents were selected, and a frequency of location was run, with the results presented in a pie chart.

View SPSS syntax with narrative for Example 3.   
Download SPSS syntax for Example 3.
Download SPSS Table Template for Example 3.
Note: Please check that the variable names used in this syntax match the variable names in your data file.  If you need assistance, contact JRSA.

The final table looks at the location of offenses, the relationship between victims and offenders, the age of offenders, and the age of victims.  Offenses occurring in a residence are the main focus, so locations are divided into two categories - occurring at a home or residence and other.

Example 4.  Frequency Distribution for Victim-Offender Relationship by Offender and Older Age Groups and Location
Produced by Donald Faggiani and Myra G. Owens in Robbery of Older Adults: A Descriptive Analysis Using the National Incident-Based Reporting System.   Justice Research and Policy, 1(1), 1999.

        Victim Age Under 75                Victim Age 75 or Older    
  Other Location   Home or Residence    Other Location   Home or Residence
Offender Number   %  Number    %   Number   %  Number    % 
Age <25 Known 6 2.6 12 11.4 4 3.5 7 5.8
Stranger 126 55.5 44 41.9 61 54.0 33 27.3
Age >=25 Known 15 6.6 29 27.6 9 8.0 35 28.9
Stranger 80 35.2 20 19.0 39 34.5 46 38.0

As this table shows, older adults are more likely to fall victim to strangers who are 25 years of age or older.  Most of these victimizations occur within a residence.

View SPSS syntax with narrative for Example 4.   
Download SPSS syntax for Example 4.
Note: Please check that the variable names used in this syntax match the variable names in your data file.  If you need assistance, contact JRSA.
Download sample SPSS data to be used in this example.  
Download sample SPSS concatenated data created by the syntax.  
Download resulting SPSS data created by the syntax.