Through studying the geography of crime, pupils are able to look at different environments in detail, through a topic that enthuses pupils of all abilities. Crime is a topic which occurs on many scales and in different locations. Through studying this in the field pupils will be able to explore not only where crimes occur (or are likely to occur) but also what can be done in an environment to make it feel safer or to reduce crime.

This study is able to draw together a range of topics and skills which include:

• looking at the quality of an environment – does this relate to the occurrence of crime?
• investigating patterns and possible clustering of crime in an area
• understanding characteristics of different environments
• settlement patterns of an area from a different perspective
• the geographies of crime – relationships with age and gender, location, environments, what’s reported.

This resource was written by Rachel Atkins (Bristol Grammar School) and reviewed by the RGS-IBG Education Department and Dr John Gerrard (University of Birmingham)