| As the field of criminology advances in its ability to use spatial analysis to examine crime, it continues to struggle with problems that have long been known to the field of geography Criminologists face difficulties such as the boundary problem and how they affect the results of their analyses. While several methods of dealing with the boundary problem exist, the technique used has a direct impact on the results of an analysis. Identification of hot spots, location of crime clusters and prediction of problems areas are all affected by the definition of the study area and the data used. This paper focuses on the impacts of the various methods for dealing with the boundary problem on a prediction model for drug market locations in Philadelphia. Different analyses are performed, each using a different technique for dealing with the boundary problem The predicted area in each analysis is then compared with known drug market locations in Philadelphia. This analysis provides information on the accuracy of the prediction models as well as the various impacts of the choice of method used to deal with the boundary problem. |
Updated 05/20/2006