Przestępczość jako zjawisko geograficzne? Przegląd badań nad zjawiskiem w świetle wybranych nauk = Crime as a geographical phenomenon? Review of research from the standpoints of selected disciplines
Authors: Lisowska-Kierepka Agnieszka 
Published: July 2020

The functioning of society and specific systems of values have led to a growing interest in difficult and above all dangerous phenomena, including crime. Initial work was based mainly around the perpetrator and his or her motivation, but that approach received justifiable criticism. Equally, the necessity of slightly broader (multi-factor) analyses being carried out was noted more and more often. And with crime being an extremely problematic and therefore important phenomenon, it attracted the interest of many different scientific disciplines, not least history, sociology, law, criminology, the medical sciences and geography. Naturally enough, these disciplines’ first forays into the phenomenon were each separate, as were the adopted methodologies, concepts, and so on. The consequence was the recognition of the phenomenon as multidisciplinary, meaning that it was examined individually via a range of different approaches. While such an approach was obviously valid scientifically, it had ultimately to be insufficient – and all the more so given the importance of the phenomenon to the functioning of society. Crime is a phenomenon encompassing many variables, the separate consideration of which only allows for analysis of the given issue as part of a much broader problem. Ultimately, the response was a change of perception as regards the phenomenon, with it coming to be placed among interdisciplinary studies. Thus, while representatives of various scientific disciplines remained interested in the phenomenon, existing elaborations boil down to three approaches, i.e. the criminological, the sociological and the geographical. Criminological analyses of the phenomenon are certainly the oldest; and – unsurprisingly – criminology has been seen from the outset as the leading science when it comes to criminality and the searching for causes thereof. Research conducted in this area is found to embody three basic approaches in criminological analyses of the causes of crime, i.e. a biological one considering the inheritance of traits and its negative consequences; a sociological one connecting directly with the functioning of society and resulting consequences; and a situational one, regarding spatial factors as some of the most important when it comes to perpetrators’ decision-making processes. For its part, sociology treats crime somewhat differently, viewing it as a phenomenon occurring through society’s conferment of meaning upon it. This means that the social group in which an individual functions decides what becomes a crime, and when that happens. As with the criminological considerations, various concepts may be identified. However, these also focus in on the person committing the crime, even as consideration is also given to impacts exerted by the society or groups in which an individual functions or hails from. On the other hand, the geographical approach differs greatly, in not having developed concepts justifying the shaping and functioning of the phenomenon. Geographical considerations extend to both the description and the analysis of the phenomenon’s spatial occurrence and an attempt to apply existing theories in this regard. However, the output of contemporary research sees global and Polish achievements distinguished mainly in terms of their availability of data. It is undeniable that the scope of research and methodology applied are shaped mainly by international studies, while Polish analyses are directed at the search for new methods of considering the phenomenon. This study offers a research review relating to crime as an extremely complex phenomenon that should be considered as a whole by representatives of various scientific disciplines. This would allow, not only for scientific considerations, but also for application-based ones. Nevertheless, today’s geographical (i.e. spatial) approach would seem to combine various sub-approaches, and thus provide for a comprehensive examination of the problem of crime.