STUDY OF CRIME AND SELECTED DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AS PREDICTORS USING MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS

• NCJ Number: 54674
• Author(s): D J WIECHMAN
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 185 pages
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI - DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

Annotation

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CRIME IN GENERAL, VIOLENT CRIME, AND PROPERTY CRIME IN THE U.S. DURING 1970 AND CERTAIN DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES FOR EACH STATE WAS EXAMINED TO IDENTIFY PREDICTOR VARIABLES OF CRIME.

Abstract

SPECIFIC PURPOSES OF THE STUDY WERE TO IDENTIFY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT, AGE GROUPINGS, GEOGRAPHIC VARIABLES, SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS, AND ECONOMIC FACTORS AND CRIME AND REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN PREDICTOR VARIABLES. USING DATA FROM THREE CRIME INDEXES (TOTAL CRIME INDEX, VIOLENT CRIME INDEX, AND PROPERTY CRIME INDEX) AND MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS, SEVERAL HYPOTHESES WERE TESTED POSTULATING THAT THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EACH OF THE THREE CRIME INDEXES AND THE OVERALL PREDICTOR SET OF DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES. THESE HYPOTHESES WERE SUPPORTED; THEY WERE SIGNIFICANT ABOVE THE 0.000 LEVEL OF PROBABILITY. FOUR RECOMMENDATIONS ARE MADE FOR FUTURE RESEARCH IN VIEW OF THE STUDY FINDINGS: (1) IT SHOULD USE NOT ONLY THE THREE INDEXES OF CRIME BUT ALSO SEVEN SPECIFIC MAJOR CRIME INDEXES (MURDER, RAPE, ASSAULT, ROBBERY, THEFT, BURGLARY, AND AUTOMOBILE THEFT) TO SEE IF DIFFERENCES APPEAR IN THESE RELATIONSHIPS; (2) USE VARIOUS CITIES AS SUBJECTS TO EXAMINE DIFFERENCES WITHIN STATES IN RELATION TO CRIME; (3) CONSIDER GEOGRAPHIC, SOCIOLOGICAL, AND OTHER VARIABLES NOT CONSIDERED IN THE PRESENT STUDY TO EVALUATE THEIR POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP WITH CRIME; AND (4) EXAMINE CRIME IN A LONGITUDINAL MANNER TO ASCERTAIN DIFFERENCES OCCURRING OVER A PERIOD OF TIME. IT IS ALSO RECOMMENDED THAT THE PRESENT STUDY BE USED BY STATE AND LOCAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE PLANNERS IN DEVELOPING PREDICTIVE EQUATIONS FOR LOCAL NEEDS. A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON UNIFORM CRIME REPORTS, EDUCATIONAL, AGE, GEOGRAPHIC, SOCIOLOGICAL, AND ECONOMIC FACTORS, MULTIPLE CORRELATIONS, AND THE COMPLEXITY AND PREDICTION OF CRIME IS PRESENTED. SUPPORTING DATA AND A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE PROVIDED. APPENDIXES CONTAIN A CRIME AND DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE LISTING, DESCRIPTIVE DATA BY REGION, AND AN INTERCORRELATION MATRIX. (DEP)