NCJ Number
138054
Journal
Rural Sociology Volume: 56 Issue: 4 Dated: (1991) Pages: 619-645
Date Published
1991
Length
27 pages
Annotation
Data collated from previous studies are used to assess the effect of rapid, resource-related community growth on crime rates. The three types of approaches represented here include studies that compare faster-growing counties against slower-growing counties, cross-community studies using survey data on criminal victimization, and 23 case studies of crime statistics in rapidly growing communities.
Abstract
The first two types of approach have resulted in inconclusive and mixed results. But the third type of research has produced very consistent data: in all but two of the 23 communities studied, the increases in crime were disproportionately higher than increases in population. Despite variations in approaches, methods, and study communities, the findings show that simple regression equations explain up to 98 percent of the variance. The evidence suggests that increases in criminality are significantly more than proportional to population increases in rapidly growing communities. These increases in criminality are not consistent with theories of economic development or social and psychosocial breakdown. It appears that theories focusing on community social structure, and in particular, the density of acquaintanceship, best explain these boomtown findings. 2 tables, 1 figure, and 74 references