Facets of Social Geography

No one is a born criminal; even if someone has the questionable ‘crime-related gene’, it is primarily one's environment and experiences that induce criminal conduct. Cruel and loveless upbringing, social and economic deprivation, a physically dilapidated and gang-infested neighborhood, hostile atmosphere in the house, crimeridden historic traditions and suffocating population densities are some environmental conditions that contribute to the initiation and continuation of criminal activities (Dutt, Noble and Singh, 1979). Geographers first started to unravel the geography of crime in the 1970s. There were others who contributed to the study of spatial aspects of crime (Pyle et al., 1974). In India, both criminologists and sociologists have researched different aspects of crime (Rao, 1981), but spatially-oriented crime studies started to appear only in the 1970s. Nayar (1975) provided a nationwide spatial analysis of crime. Indian crime studies with this spatial component followed from the 1970s through the earlier part of the twenty-first century. These studies may be grouped into three levels – city (micro), regional (meso) and national (macro). They have been reviewed here followed by an analysis of the relationship between crime and politics.

Review of City Scale Studies

The city has often been thought to be a good breeding ground for crime; possibly due to the contributing factors of anomie, congestion, heterogeneity, cultural and traditional breakdowns resulting from the processes of urbanization and industrialization; but also possibly because crime in rural areas is largely underreported.