Poverty, Inequality, and Theories of Forcible Rape

• NCJ Number: 97454
• Journal: Crime and Delinquency Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: special issue (April 1985) Pages: 295-305
• Author(s): M D Smith; N Bennett
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Revised version of paper presented at the Society for the Study of Social Problems Meetings, August 24, 1985, San Antonio, Texas

Annotation

This study provides an empirical assessment of theories of rape that suggest that conditions of poverty and inequality account for differences in rates of rape among communities in the United States.

Abstract

To compensate for problems of statistical unreliability, 1980 data for 88 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) with extremely high or low rates of rape are analyzed. Poverty, but not racial economic inequality, is found to partially account for differences in these communities. However, other demographic factors, most notable the percentage of the community divorced or separated are found to be even more viable predictors of high rape rates. (Author abstract)