Spatial distribution of crime in eight areas of Shiraz

With a population of urban sprawl، crime and crime rates have also increased significantly. The increase in Iran، especially in large cities has been remarkable. Increase in crimes not only has faced the criminal justice system in the metropolitan area of Shiraz with huge challenges، but also it has had its own cultural، social، economic and even political risks and tensions، costing the society an extensive financial and spiritual burden. Since Shiraz، as the metropolitan southern city، with this regard is placed at a high rank، in this study، to investigate the spatial distribution of crimes in the crisis-creating areas of the city، environmental conditions have been put under consideration with respect to the rate of crimes. The research method of the study has been of applied type، making use of documents and surveys for data collection. The participants of the study were all the prisoners in five prisons of Shiraz، the overall sample comprising of 405 people. The results show that population density can play an essential role in committing the crime. Moreover، there seems to be a significant relationship between the commitment of the crime and characteristics of the crime location–for instance، crimes against individuals in crowded areas، in the dark، or when the victim was by him/herself.