Award Date

8-1-2022

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Criminal Justice

First Committee Member

William Sousa

Second Committee Member

Tamara Herold

Third Committee Member

Terance Miethe

Fourth Committee Member

Jaewon Lim

Number of Pages

131

Abstract

The federalist system in the United States has created criminal opportunities within jurisdictions that have approved recreational marijuana facilities (RMFs). These facilities have characteristics that are attractive for motivated offenders including marijuana and marijuana-related tangible goods. Through ArcGIS, this research examined the crime patterns and police enforcement patterns that occurred within a 288-meter street-network buffer around RMFs through a pre/post-test exploratory design in the Las Vegas area. The time periods examined were 2015 to 2016 (pre-legalization), and 2018 to 2019 (post-legalization). Calls for service data were used to demonstrate both crime and enforcement patterns. Furthermore, facilities were classified into “local facilities” and “tourist facilities” to examine any differences between groups. Findings demonstrate statistically significant increases in disorder around RMFs classified as tourist facilities (and not local facilities). Results also indicate increases police enforcement around RMFs in the post legalization period in local facilities (and not tourist facilities). Overall, crime tended to increase around tourist facilities more so than local facilities. Implications of these findings as they relate to policing, disorder, and crime opportunity are discussed.

Keywords

Crime; Crime Science; Disorder; Policing; Recreational Marijuana; Violent Crime

Disciplines

Criminology | Criminology and Criminal Justice | Geographic Information Sciences

File Format

pdf

File Size

2200 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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