Faculty / Elizabeth Groff

Dr. Groff’s primary research interests are in crime and place; modeling geographical influences on human activity; agent-based modeling as a methodology for exploring theory; crime prevention; and policing especially the use of technology in law enforcement agencies. Her current research projects include: (1) an exploration of the role of parks in urban neighborhoods in Philadelphia; (2) a project to investigate predicting municipality level crime counts; (3) an evaluation of the Philadelphia Foot Patrol experiment with Drs. Wood and Ratcliffe; (4) assisting the Philadelphia Police Department with a field experiment testing three policing strategies with Dr. Ratcliffe and Ms. Joyce (PPD); (5) developing a more precise definition of ‘near’; and (6) a micro level longitudinal study of crime in Seattle, Washington with Drs. David Weisburd and Sue-Ming Yang.

Selected Journal Publications:

Ratcliffe, J., T. Taniguchi, E.R. Groff and J. Wood (In press, September 2011).  The Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment:  A Randomized Controlled Trial of Police Effectiveness in Violent Crime Hotspots. Criminology. 

Groff, E. R. and McCord. E. (In press).  The Role of Neighborhood Parks as Crime Generators.  Security Journal.

Groff, E. R. (In Press).  Exploring ‘Near’:  Characterizing the Spatial Extent of Drinking Place Influence on Crime. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology.

Groff, E.R., D. Weisburd, and Yang, S-M. 2010.  Is it Important to Examine Crime Trends at a Local "Micro" Level?:  A Longitudinal Analysis of Block to Block Variability in Crime Trajectories.  Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 26:7-32.

Groff, E. R. 2007.  Simulation for Theory Testing and Experimentation: An Example Using Routine Activity Theory and Street Robbery. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 23:75-103.

Groff, E. R. and T. McEwen. 2007.  "Integrating Distance Into Mobility Triangle Typologies. Social Science Computer Review 25:210-238.

Groff, E.R., B. Kearley, P. Beatty, H. Fogg, H. Couture, and J. Wartell. 2005.  A Randomized Experimental Study of Sharing Crime Data with Citizens: Do Maps Produce More Fear? Journal of Experimental Criminology 1:87-115.

Selected Book Chapters:

Groff, E.R., and T. McEwen. 2005.  Disaggregating the Journey to Homicide. In F. Wang (ed.), Geographic Information Systems and Crime Analysis. Idea Group: Hershey, PA.

Groff, E.R., and N.G. LaVigne. 2002.  Forecasting the Future of Predictive Crime Mapping. In N. Tilley (ed.), Analysis for Crime Prevention (Vol. 13, pp. 29-58). Criminal Justice Press: Monsey, NY.

Groff, E.R., and N.G. La Vigne. 2001.  Evolution of Crime Mapping in the United States: From the Descriptive to the Analytic. In A. Hirschfield and K. Bowers (eds), Mapping and Analysing Crime Data: Lessons From Research And Practice (pp. 203-221). Taylor and Francis: New York.