Bakharev D.V. Spatial thinking in criminology. Part I. Theoretical prerequisites and methodological basis for application of methods of spatial analysis in cognition of the mechanism of determination of crime

Abstract: The object of this research is the capabilities and prospects of using the achievements of spatial science in criminological research. The subject of this research is the theoretical prerequisites and methodological basis for application of methods of spatial analysis in cognition of the mechanismof determination of crime. The author raises the question on the importance of formation within the modern researcher of regularities of formation of territorial differences in the indexes of crime of a specific spatial or geographic thinking. It allows grasping the regularities of the functionality of a particular social system within the spatial aspect, which in turn can be “layered” onto already known regularities of formation of the territorial differences in crime and as a result, expand the understanding of the mechanism of determination of crime overall. The scientific novelty of this research consists in the analysis of the theoretical prerequisites and development of methodological basis for spatial analysis of the socioeconomic events and processes, including crime. Spatial analysis is being positioned as an autonomous, narrower direction of scientific research within the framework of geography of crime, which in turn represents one of the sections of criminological theory of determination, studying the causal complex of criminality in the theoretical aspect.

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