Urban and Rural Crime Rates and Their Genesis in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Britain (From Civilization of Crime: Violence in Town and Country Since the Middle Ages, P 198-216, 1996, Eric A. Johnson and Eric H. Monkkonen, eds. - See NCJ-169788)

• NCJ Number: 169797
• Author(s): B Weinberger
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: University of Illinois Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Crime statistics from Birmingham, England and the surrounding county of Warwickshire from 1860 to 1910 were analyzed to determine the differences in rural and urban criminality and police responses during this period.

Abstract

The analysis focused on the police role in generating the crime statistics in several types of offenses, including poaching, drunkenness, common assault, vagrancy, and simple larceny. Results indicated that the higher and much more volatile offense rate in the city indicated a higher degree of police activity; concerted police drives against undesirable behavior took place in the mid-1870's and the 1890's. Such drives were initiated by decisions of the Watch Committee, often in response to public pressure. The much steadier crime rate for the county reflected a different style of police management and less public pressure for police actions on their public-order concerns. Findings also indicated that the rural and urban economies were so interdependent by the end of the 19th century that the country's rural and urban areas did not differ substantively in their criminal activity or in the role, function, and purposes of the police. Figures and reference notes