Hot Sports of Bus Stop Crime: The Importance of Environmental Attributes

This study focuses on bus stop crime and seeks to identify the environmental attributes that can affect the bus rider's security while at the bus stop. Using crime data for the years 1994 and 1995 made available by the transit division of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the study discusses some general characteristics of bus stop crime. Following the argument of criminologists that certain place characteristics can affect the incidence of crime, the study employs qualitative research methodology (observation, mapping, interviews and surveys) to examine in detail the physical and social environment around the ten most dangerous bus stops in Los Angeles. It finds an abundance of "negative" environmental attributes and a general lack of "defensible space" elements. It also finds that different types of crime tend to occur under different environmental conditions. The paper discusses design responses as an approach to crime prevention at bus stops.