A place-based approach to understanding gun violence : exploring the physical characteristics of sites where youth-related gun violence occurred in the Halifax Regional Municipality

Abstract

This research examines whether a greater understanding of the causes of gun violence can be gleaned by examining the characteristics of the physical and built environment where shootings take place. This study seeks to fill a void in the extant literature by exploring the characteristics of sites where youth gun violence occurred in Halifax Regional Municipality. Drawing from the literature on the relationship between crime, crime prevention and the physical environment, 36 shooting sites were examined to identify common design features. A standardized questionnaire gathered data that measured four physical and built environmental attributes that the literature suggests can influence the opportunity for criminal and violent acts to occur in a particular time and place: (1) location/surrounding environment, (2) site permeability, (3) surveillance opportunities, and (4) image. The findings indicate that the following are common characteristics of sites where shootings took place: a high level of accessibility to targets via through streets and intersections, locations close to crime generators (bus stops, public housing, and fast food restaurants), design features that limit surveillance opportunities, and poorly maintained properties. These findings are limited by this study’s lack of analysis that could draw a causal relationship between the physical and built environment, on the one hand, and human behavior (including that of offenders and the legitimate users of these sites), on the other.