Stijn Ruiter

Dr. Stijn Ruiter

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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

23Years (2004-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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1 April 2006 in American Sociological Review
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SRStijn Ruiter
Stijn Ruiter
NGNan Dirk De Graaf
Nan Dirk De Graaf
To what extent does the national religious context affect volunteering? Does a religious environment affect the relation between religiosity and volunteering? To answer these questions, this study specifies individual level, contextual level, and cross-level interaction hypotheses. The authors test the hypotheses by simultaneously studying the impact of religiosity of individuals, the national religious context, and their interplay on volunteering while controlling for possible confounding factors both at individual and contextual levels. Based on multilevel analyses on data from 53 countries, frequent churchgoers are more active in volunteer work and a devout national context has an additional positive effect. However, the difference between secular and religious people is substantially smaller in devout countries than in secular countries. Church attendance is hardly relevant for volunteering in devout countries. Furthermore, religious volunteering has a strong spillover effect, implying that religious citizens also volunteer more for secular organizations. This spillover effect is stronger for Catholics than for Protestants, non-Christians and nonreligious individuals.

1 November 2009 in American Journal of Sociology
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Journal Article
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SRStijn Ruiter
Stijn Ruiter
FTFrank van Tubergen
Frank van Tubergen

8 December 2016 in Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
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Journal Article
Open access
WBWim Bernasco
Wim Bernasco
SRStijn Ruiter
Stijn Ruiter
RBRichard Block
Richard Block
Objectives: This article examines the hypothesis that in street robbery location choices, the importance of location attributes is conditional on the time of day and on the day of the week. Method: The hypothesis is assessed by estimating and comparing separate discrete location choice models for each two-hour time block of the day and for each day of the week. The spatial units of analysis are census blocks. Their relevant attributes include presence of various legal and illegal cash economies, presence of high schools, measures of accessibility, and distance from the offender’s home. Results: The hypothesis is strongly rejected because for almost all census block attributes, their importance hardly depends on time of day or day of week. Only the effect of high schools in census blocks follows expectations, as its effect is only demonstrated at the times and on the days that schools are open. Conclusions: The results suggest that street robbers’ location choices are not as strongly driven by spatial variations in immediate opportunities as has been suggested in previous studies. Rather, street robbers seem to perpetrate in the environs of cash economies and transit hubs most of the time irrespective of how many potential victims are around.

14 August 2013 in Criminology
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WBWim Bernasco
Wim Bernasco
SRStijn Ruiter
Stijn Ruiter
GBGerben J.N. Bruinsma
Gerben J.N. Bruinsma
LPLieven J.R. Pauwels
Lieven J.R. Pauwels
FWFrank M. Weerman
Frank M. Weerman

1 June 2015 in Applied Geography
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Journal Article
Open access
WBWim Bernasco
Wim Bernasco
SJShane D. Johnson
Shane D. Johnson
SRStijn Ruiter
Stijn Ruiter
Informed by a growing literature on space-time patterns of repeat and near repeat burglary victimization, a crime location choice model was used to test whether burglars are attracted to areas they previously targeted. Using data in 3337 detected burglaries from one UK police force, and accounting for the distance to the offender's residence, and for other factors that make target areas attractive to burglars, it was demonstrated that burglars were more likely to commit a burglary in an area they had targeted before. This was particularly the case if the prior burglary was (very) recent. Areas near to those in which burglaries had been committed were also more likely to be selected

9 February 2012 in Journal of Economic Geography
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Journal Article
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WBWim Bernasco
Wim Bernasco
RBRichard Block
Richard Block
SRStijn Ruiter
Stijn Ruiter
This article analyzes how street robbers decide on where to attack their victims. Using data on nearly 13,000 robberies, on the approximately 18,000 offenders involved in these robberies, and on the nearly 25,000 census blocks in the city of Chicago, we utilize the discrete choice framework to assess which criteria motivate the location decisions of street robbers. We demonstrate that they attack near their own homes, on easily accessible blocks, where legal and illegal cash economies are present, and that these effects spill over to adjacent blocks.