Socio-economic factors and crime across large, urban areas

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Jon K. Tostoe (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Cindy Brooks Dollar

Abstract: Numerous studies have investigated the structural causes of crime, but findings reveal significant inconsistencies across studies. Researchers often rely on social disorganization, collective efficacy, and strain frameworks to explain the relationship between socio-economic disadvantage and ecological measures of crime. Following this design, I contend that these theoretical frameworks conceptualize socio-economic disadvantage and its effects differently. Using the National Neighborhood Crime Study (NNCS) data supplemented with Census data, I estimate separate effects of various measures of socio-economic (dis)advantage on neighborhood homicide, robbery, and motor vehicle theft. Subsequent regression analyses show that several indicators of socio-economic disadvantage predict violent and property crime, although a combined disadvantaged index including neighborhood-level measures of family, employment, and economic factors is shown to be a more consistent and robust predictor of all three crime outcomes.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2017
Keywords
Crime, Criminology, Disorganization, Sociology, Strain, Structural
Subjects
Crime $x Sociological aspects
Crime $x Economic aspects
Crime $x Environmental aspects
Criminal behavior, Prediction of
Criminology

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