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This study examined the relationship between crime and place across the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia using geographic information systems techniques based on population density, identifying and visualising the spatial distributions of national and regional crime rates for drug crimes, theft, murder, assault, alcohol and 'outrageous crimes' (offences against Islam) over a 10-year period from 2003 to 2012. Social disorganisation theory was employed to guide the study and explain the diversity in patterns in crime across the country. The highest rates of overall crimes were identified in the Northern Border and Jizan areas, located in the north and south of the country, respectively, while the East Area has the lowest crime rate. Most drug offences occurred in Northern Borders and Jizan, high rates of theft were recorded in Northern Borders, Jouf and Makkah, while the highest rates of homicide occurred in Asir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban area expansion is one of the most critical types of worldwide change, and most urban areas are experiencing increased growth in population and infrastructure development. Urban change leads to many changes in the daily activities of people living within an affected area. Many studies have suggested that urbanization and crime are related. However, they focused particularly on land uses, types of land use, and urban forms, such as the physical features of neighbourhoods, roads, shopping centres, and bus stations. Understanding the correlation between urban area expansion and crime is very important for criminologists and urban planning decision-makers. In this study, we have used satellite images to measure urban expansion over a 10-year period and tested the correlations between these expansions and the number of criminal activities within these specific areas. The results show that there is a measurable relationship between urban expansion and criminal activities. Our findings support the crime opportunity theory as one possibility, which suggests that population density and crime are conceptually related. We found the correlations are stronger where there has been greater urban growth. Many other factors that may affect crime rate are not included in this paper, such as information on the spatial details of the population, city planning, economic considerations, the distance from the city centre, neighbourhood quality, and police numbers. However, this study will be of particular interest to those who aim to use remote sensing to study patterns of crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]