Crime and criminal profile in Izmir: 1927-1930

This study, intending to reveal the crime geography of Izmir in the early Republican period, consist of analysis obtained from the findings and the transcription of ?Crime Book of Izmir? which is available in the donation catalogs of Ahmet Piriştina City Archive and Museum of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality.Thanks to this book, the panorama of Izmir in the 1920s and 1930s, when the city was striving for dressing the wounds of the Great Fire which destroyed the two thirds of the city together with the social economic problems resulting from the 1924 population exchange, could be examined. During that period Izmir shows up a city where robbery, pick-pocketing, fraud and so forth are quite widespread.Spatial distribution of crime and crime phenomenon of today and of 1920s and 30s show parallelism with one another. Areas of crime also show interesting similarities from past to present.Robbery is observed to be the most common kind of crime compared to the others. In the past, just like today, robbery was encountered densely during the nights. According to the results gained from the Crime Book, in the beginning of the 20th century, it was observed that there were expertise and branching out in crime such as safe-breaking, hotel theft, office and housebreaking.It is obvious that this study will contribute to today?s security issues as well as developing strategies in dealing with various crime and types of crime in metropolises in a positive way. In other words, it is compulsory to deal with the data of the past within the framework of the scientific point of view in developing methods of analysis in the struggle with crime and criminals as well as to prevent the elements of crime in the social structure.