NCJ Number
193706
Journal
Journal of Crime & Justice Volume: 24 Issue: 2 Dated: 2001 Pages: 59-72
Date Published
2001
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article considers the efficacy of using monetary contributions to the United Way and to public radio as a measure of social altruism among macro-social units.
Abstract
The study used data from 46 U.S. States that have a public radio within their borders. Social altruism, for purposes of this study, is the ratio of the dollar value of listener contributions to public radio stations to State aggregate income. This ratio is inversely related to both violent and property crime rates. Viewed in the context of a 1997 examination of the effects of United Way contributions on crime rates among cities, these findings lend additional credence to the social altruism thesis. Taken together, this paper claims, the studies indicate that the macro-level relationship between social altruism and crime is not merely some methodological artifact. The association holds across two levels of aggregation (cities and States), and with two distinct indicators of the key theoretical construct (United Way contributions and listener support of public radio). Table, notes, references