Property Crimes and Violence in United States: An Analysis of the influence of Population density

dc.contributor.authorHarries, Keith
dc.date.accessioned2020-06-22T17:05:45Z
dc.date.available2020-06-22T17:05:45Z
dc.date.issued2006-07
dc.description.abstractThe role of population density in the generation or suppression of crime has been the subject of debate for decades. The classic argument is that high density offers opportunities for property crimes, given that it is a surrogate for the distribution of private property, much of which offers attractive targets to thieves. On the other hand, densely populated areas offer natural surveillance that has the effect of inhibiting violent crimes in so far as witnesses are more abundant and events are more likely to be reported to police. In this analysis, property and violent crimes were selected from a database of over 100,000 crimes reported in Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S.A., in the year 2000. Densities of population and of property and violent crimes were calculated for city blocks. Blocks with population densities above the mean of all blocks were then retained for further consideration. Analysis demonstrated that both property and violent crimes were moderately correlated with population density, and these crimes largely affected the same blocks. It was concluded that at the block level of geography, no evidence of a differential between property and violent crimes based on population density could be detected.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipThe author wishes to thank Philip Canter, Chief Statistician, Baltimore County Police Department, for providing access to the data used in this analysis. The author also thanks the anonymous peer reviewers for their wise comments. The views expressed herein are those of the author and are not associated in any way with the Baltimore County Police Department.en_US
dc.description.urihttp://www.sascv.org/ijcjs/harries.pdfen_US
dc.format.extent11 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2rzxi-zas0
dc.identifier.citationKeith Harries, Property Crimes and Violence in United States: An Analysis of the influence of Population density, International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences Vol 1 Issue.2 (2006), http://www.sascv.org/ijcjs/harries.pdfen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/18950
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Geography and Environmental Systems Department Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.rightsThis item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/*
dc.titleProperty Crimes and Violence in United States: An Analysis of the influence of Population densityen_US
dc.typeTexten_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
harries.pdf
Size:
359.89 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.56 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: