Structural correlates of crime reporting : a mini-longitudinal analysis
Date
1977
Authors
Ku, Mei-Lyn
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Abstract
It is the purpose of this study to examine whether certain structural characteristics are significantly related to crime rates and whether the relationships between those structural characteristics and crime rates are constant over time. This is done by investigating the relationship between specific structural indicators and crime rates using multivariate analysis for data from 1960 and 1970. Two hypotheses are tested:
1. That structural characteristics are significantly related to crime rates; and
2. That the relationships between structural characteristics and crime rates are constant over time.
Eight structural variables that have most frequently been found to be associated with crime rates in previous research are used as independent variables in this study. These are: (1) age; (2) sex; (3) race; (4) population density; (5) urbanization; (6) unemployment; (7) mobility; and (8) socioeconomic status. The data gathered in the present thesis include information from all 50 states in the United States for both 1960 and 1970.
It was found that only urbanization and percent black are significantly related to three categories of crime rates (property crime rates, violent crime rates and total crime rates). It was also found that the relationships between structural characteristics and crime rates are not constant over time. It is suggested that future studies on structural correlates of crime should carefully control the related variables in order to more clearly establish the relationship between structural characteristics and crime rates.