Identifying Hot Spots of Juvenile Offending: A Guide for Crime Analysts

In line with its mission to make scientific research a key component in decisions about crime and justice policies, the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy (CEBCP) in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University produced this guide as part of a larger research project focused on
identifying juvenile offending hot spots and documenting the unique problem-solving interventions that were applied to hot spots in Seattle as part of a COPS Office-funded cooperative agreement.
Following prior research on crime prevention at places, these interventions will address immediate risk factors at hot spots; minimize the use of arrest; and partner police with community groups, place managers, and juvenile service providers. The goals of this program are to increase the capacity of the police to identify and address problems relating to juveniles at small places and to increase opportunities to work in partnership with local communities to reduce offending, thus ultimately enhancing police-community relations.
This guide provides an overview of the procedures developed by the CEBCP in collaboration with the Seattle Police Department to identify and map hot spots of juvenile offending. It is intended as a resource for relatively experienced crime analysts who are familiar with extracting CAD/RMS data to conduct hot spot analysis and to enable them to tailor their analyses to juvenile offending issues. If possible, analysts who are less familiar with these procedures should seek assistance from department or municipal IT staff to enhance analysts’ capacity to
extract and analyze requisite data. This guide also explains why juvenile offending hot spots should be examined separately and then provides information about the procedures the CEBCP employed to extract and process the relevant data for this research project and the Seattle Police Department.