Are the geographic disparities in U.S. violent crime rising?
Richard T. Boylan
TL;DR
The paper finds that despite growing regional inequality in the U.S., geographic disparities in violent crime have decreased, possibly due to changes in policing and incarceration.
Contribution
The study reveals a counterintuitive decrease in geographic disparities in homicide rates despite rising economic inequality.
Findings
Geographic disparities in homicide rates decreased despite rising regional inequality.
Decreases in policing and incarceration disparities may have contributed to lower violent crime disparities.
Joint law enforcement efforts may have reduced the impact of economic distress on crime.
Abstract
Inequality in economic and social outcomes across U.S. regions has grown in recent decades. The economic theory of crime predicts that this increased variability would raise geographic disparities in violent crime. Instead, I find that geographic disparities in homicide rates decreased. Moreover, these same decades saw decreases in the geographic disparities in policing, incarceration, and the share of the population that is African American. Thus, changes in policing, incarcerations, and racial composition could have led to a decrease in inequality in homicide rates. Moreover, the joint provision of law enforcement by local, state, and federal authorities may have reduced the impact of economic distress on violent crime.
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Taxonomy
TopicsCrime Patterns and Interventions · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Agricultural risk and resilience