This article discusses the landowner’s potential liability for the criminal acts of third parties and describes some crime-abatement actions that can be accomplished through facility design. | Asphalt Jungle Je’Anna Abbott and Gil Fried Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Developing risk-management solutions for parking facilities is now a focus of concern. Eliminating or at least reducing the risk of any criminal activities must be an important component of any property’s risk-management plan. This article discusses the landowner’s potential liability for the criminal acts of third parties and describes some crime-abatement actions that can be accomplished through facility design. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Parking Facilities and Crime In 1993, over 6 million simple assaults were reported in the ., and a large percentage of those incidents occurred in parking facilities. In 1994, parking lots and garages represented the second most frequent location for attempts to take property without injury and the most frequent location for motor-vehicle thefts. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Security Risk To make the best use of space, cars are parked fairly close together resulting in tight, shadowy spaces between parked cars that generally are excellent hiding places for criminals. Parking garages typically have poor sight lines and numerous dark corners and stairwells. Hospitality-industry professionals often rank parking lots and related facilities near the bottom of their list of risk-management concerns. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Civil Liability Premise liability – is founded on negligence principles. In a negligence claim, a plaintiff must prove: The defendant owed the plaintiff a particular standard of care. The defendant deviated from that standard. The deviation caused the plaintiff’s injury. A landowner normally does not have a duty to protect individuals from the criminal acts of third parties unless the acts are foreseeable. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Civil Liability | Asphalt Jungle Je’Anna Abbott and Gil Fried Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Introduction Developing risk-management solutions for parking facilities is now a focus of concern. Eliminating or at least reducing the risk of any criminal activities must be an important component of any property’s risk-management plan. This article discusses the landowner’s potential liability for the criminal acts of third parties and describes some crime-abatement actions that can be accomplished through facility design. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Parking Facilities and Crime In 1993, over 6 million simple assaults were reported in the ., and a large percentage of those incidents occurred in parking facilities. In 1994, parking lots and garages represented the second most frequent location for attempts to take property without injury and the most frequent location for motor-vehicle thefts. Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
