---
name: crim-tables-figures
description: Use when building tables and figures for a Criminology (ASC / Wiley) manuscript so exhibits are self-contained, accessible, and communicate crime patterns clearly — age-crime curves, trajectory-group plots, recidivism survival curves, hot-spot maps, and effect plots. Designs exhibits; it does not run the analysis.
---

# Tables & Figures (crim-tables-figures)

Exhibits are where an expert reviewer checks whether the crime result is real. Criminology has its own
signature figures — the age–crime curve, trajectory-group plots, survival curves, and crime maps — and
each must earn its place and stand on its own.

## When to trigger

- Designing the main results table/figure or a key descriptive exhibit
- Deciding what belongs in the article vs. an online appendix/supplement
- A reviewer found an exhibit unclear, mislabeled, or non-self-contained
- Presenting a trajectory model, survival analysis, or spatial pattern

## Principles

1. **Self-contained.** A reader should understand each exhibit from its title, axis/column labels, and
   note alone. State the crime measure, units (counts vs. rates per 100k), sample, N, and time window.
2. **Figures over dense tables for effects.** Coefficient/forest plots, predicted counts/rate-ratio
   plots, and marginal-effects plots beat a wall of coefficients. Always show intervals.
3. **Show the curve, not just the coefficient.** Age–crime curves, trajectory-group plots (with group
   shares and CIs), and Kaplan–Meier / cumulative-incidence recidivism curves communicate the
   criminological story directly.
4. **Maps when place is the point.** Hot-spot / kernel-density / choropleth maps for spatial variation;
   label the unit (block, tract, agency) and the rate denominator; avoid misleading raw-count maps.
5. **Accessible.** Colorblind-safe palettes; legible in grayscale; no chartjunk or 3D. Reviewers parse fast.
6. **Reproducible.** Each exhibit is generated by the master script; numbers match the deposited package
   exactly (see `crim-data-and-transparency`).

## Criminology-specific exhibits
- Trajectory plots: show group shares, posterior-probability summary, and CIs — not just mean lines.
- Survival/recidivism: report at-risk counts, censoring, and competing risks where relevant.
- For qualitative work: timelines, life-history charts, evidence tables linking claims to sources.

## Anti-patterns

- Maps or tables of raw crime counts where rates are needed (population not held constant)
- Trajectory plots that hide group shares or classification quality
- Reporting significance stars with no effect size or interval
- Cramming every robustness check into the main text instead of a supplement
- Exhibit numbers/values that don't match the deposited code output

## Exhibit choice for the signature crime objects (decision table)

Each criminology figure carries a known probe; pick the exhibit that answers it.

| Criminological object | Exhibit | The probe it must survive |
|-----------------------|---------|---------------------------|
| Age–crime curve | line plot, offending rate by age | rate denominator, cohort vs. period |
| Developmental paths | trajectory plot w/ group shares + CIs | groups reified? AvePP shown? |
| Recidivism timing | Kaplan–Meier / cumulative incidence | censoring and competing risks shown? |
| Spatial concentration | hot-spot / choropleth, rate-based | raw counts masquerading as risk? |
| Treatment effect | coefficient/forest plot w/ intervals | uncertainty visible, not stars? |

## Worked micro-example: fixing a misleading hot-spot map (illustrative)

A draft maps raw burglary counts and the downtown tract glows red. A referee reads it as a risk claim
it does not support — downtown has 5x the nighttime population (illustrative). The fix: switch to a rate
per 1,000 ambient population, use a colorblind-safe sequential palette, label the unit and denominator
in the note, and move the raw-count version to the supplement. Now the exhibit shows concentration of
*risk*, the object the routine-activity argument claims.

## Exhibit pass for Criminology

Treat this skill as an executable review pass, not a prose hint. First lock the crime/justice process, measurement validity, research design, and policy consequence; then judge whether the current manuscript answers the venue's real reader: criminology reviewers who expect theory-linked crime, justice, or harm mechanisms plus transparent measurement.

- **Do the pass:** For every table or figure, state the estimand or object, sample or case base, uncertainty display, and one sentence the exhibit proves for the venue audience.
- **Return a ledger:** give `claim / evidence / risk / manuscript location` rows, so the next agent can edit rather than rediscover the issue.
- **Sibling guard:** compare against Justice Quarterly for applied justice, Journal of Quantitative Criminology for methods focus, Social Problems for broader sociological framing; if a sibling owns the contribution, recommend re-routing before polishing format.
- **Stop condition:** do not give submission-ready advice until the pack's `resources/official-source-map.md` has been checked for volatile rules and the manuscript has one concrete fix for the largest venue-specific risk.

## Output format

```
【Main exhibit】what it shows + why a figure/table/map
【Crime metric】counts vs. rates + denominator stated? [Y/N]
【Self-contained?】title + labels + note + N/units/time present? [Y/N]
【Accessible?】grayscale-legible + colorblind-safe? [Y/N]
【Main text vs supplement】split decided
【Reproducible?】generated by master script, matches package? [Y/N]
【Next】crim-writing-style
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — plotting, mapping, trajectory, and survival packages
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — formatting and double-spacing expectations