NCJ Number
185678
Date Published
June 2000
Length
37 pages
Annotation
A study of complaints and associated crimes recorded by the police agencies of the Delaware resort communities of Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach focused on crime statistics from January 1996 through December 1998.
Abstract
The permanent resident population of these communities was a small fraction of the population during the tourist season. The research compared crime patterns in tourist-season months and other months. Results revealed that crime changed little in the two communities from 1996 to 1998. Total complaints increased only slightly, but the overall level of serious crime declined substantially. The numbers of charges were much lower during the off-season months, but the patterns of charges were similar. This similarity of patterns of change in both magnitude and proportionality for the tourist and non-tourist seasons was unexpected, although one possible explanation is that the populations differ only in magnitude and not in other characteristics. Crimes against society such as drunkenness and disorderly conduct predominated during the tourist months. Twenty percent of the victims and 40 percent of the offenders were ages 18-25 years. Victims and offenders of violent crimes tended to be from the same geographical locations; the pattern differed for property crimes. Table, figures, footnote, appended figures and methodological information, and 13 references