<p>This dissertation consists of three essays in economics of crime. The first chapter examines the relationship between economic inequality and crime, and provides a new theoretical explanation and empirical evidence. Economists traditionally explained the empirical relationship between inequality and crime in terms of differentials in potential criminal gains. As inequality increases, low-income individuals are likely to be left with little increase in their legitimate earnings potential but much larger increases in potential criminal gains, because there are now more wealthy potential victims who possess goods worth taking. This increase in potential criminal gains for the disadvantaged population then results in higher crime rates. While simple and intuitive, this explanation is inconsistent with the high concentration of crime victimization among the poor who offer the least potential gains to offenders. After a careful empirical analysis using recent panel data on large U.S. counties, I find evidence that the previously-reported empirical link between inequality and crime at the county-level masks two opposing effects of economic inequality underneath; crime is positively linked with economic segregation across neighborhoods, but negatively correlated with local inequality. One immediate implication of this finding is that introducing greater economic inequality, or income variability, in highly disadvantaged neighborhoods may reduce local crime, instead of increasing crime.</p><p>In the second chapter, I examine the impact of the North Carolina sex offender residency restriction on recidivism and residential outcomes of sex offenders. Sex offender residency restriction aims to reduce the danger of repeat sex offense against children by prohibiting sex offenders from living near child-related facilities. But existing research finds little evidence that the restriction lowers the risk of sex offense recidivism, and predicts that the restriction may have adverse impacts on sex offenders' community reintegration, residential stability and employment prospects, which may increase the likelihood of recidivism among sex offenders. Taking advantage of the individual-level information on North Carolina offenders' criminal and residential histories and potentially exogenous variations in sex offenders' timing of release and proximity of former residences to nearest child-related facilities, I test the hypothesis that the residency restriction causes sex offenders to be more likely to be involved in general recidivism. Estimation results indicate that the North Carolina sex offender residency restriction indeed adversely influences sex offenders' likelihoods of overall recidivism, as well as causing them to be more likely to live in high-poverty neighborhoods.</p><p>The last chapter, a joint work with Professor Philip Cook, explores the relationship between school entry age, education and crime. It has been well-documented that students who are older than their classroom peers tend to outperform their younger peers in standardized tests. On the other hand, older students are also associated with a higher rate of high school dropout, likely due to the presence of the age threshold after which students are allowed to drop out from school. Given the strong relationship between education and crime, it is of great interest the extent to which the relative educational advantages and disadvantages associated with students' relative age influences their criminal outcomes. Our analyses exploit a plausibly exogenous variation in the age in which students are enrolled in third grade, caused by the minimum age requirement for school entry in North Carolina. Based on the sample of North Carolina students, we find strong evidence that students who are relatively older than their classroom peers tend to do better in standardized reading and math tests and are more likely to be enrolled in advanced courework during the periods of primary and secondary education. Consistent with the gap in academic achievement while at school, children who are relatively older are less likely to be involved in criminal offense as juveniles. On the other hand, we also document that relatively older students are less likely to graduate from high school, and have a higher likelihood of offending as adults, likely reflecting the difference in the level of educational attainment. Our finding that the timing of school entry are associated with important costs and benefits in children's educational and criminal outcomes may have important policy implications on the optimal school entry and exit ages.</p> / Dissertation

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Diss.--Duisburg, 2002. / Bibliogr. p. 205-228.

Thesis (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Theses (School of Criminology) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas, 1906. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [i]-iv).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Over the past two decades, considerable political rhetoric has focused on the need to get tough on crime. Justification for this hard-line approach has been the publics apparent concern about rising crime rates and its increasing dissatisfaction with criminal sentencing. These concerns, often fuelled by the medias selective presentation of information about crime, are thought to leave people feeling afraid and, as a consequence, more likely to support punitive sentencing policies. The subject of this thesis is on the nature of and influences on peoples perceptions of and responses to crime. Four studies are reported. / The first study compared how people perceived the seriousness of an offence when it was presented first in the abstract form as is customary in public opinion surveys, and then as an exemplar based on an actual crime. Although the overall ranking of seriousness for the two conditions corresponded closely, the majority of crimes were rated as significantly less serious when presented in vignette form. / In study two, the role of social cognition and language in the evaluation of crime seriousness was examined. The findings revealed that when the offender in a crime vignette was named, the offence was perceived as less serious, and the offenders behaviour less internally motivated, less stable, and less under the offenders control than when the offender was not named. Similarly, manipulating the verb used to describe the offence resulted in significant differences with respect to the perceived crime seriousness, the degree to which the offenders behaviour was controllable, and the level of responsibility attributed to the offender for that behaviour. / Study three, which examined the relationship between fear of crime and punitiveness, entailed the development of two new measures: crime apprehension and locus of control for crime victimisation. Locus of control was found to be a significant predictor of crime apprehension, while the measure of crime apprehension revealed a pattern of concern that differentiated between types of crime, and involved different graduations in the assessment of their relevance to the individual. Punitiveness was shown to be related to a concern about the likelihood that one would be harmed personally; concern about property crime or the perception that crime is on the increase were not reflected in punitiveness. / Study four investigated the relationship between people's television viewing habits, their apprehension about crime, and their beliefs about increased crime prevalence. The pattern of responses revealed that heavier viewing of different programme types was associated with beliefs about perceived increases in different crime categories and for different aspects of crime apprehension. For example, watching more reality television and Australian crime drama was positively associated with beliefs that person-related offences had substantially increased over the preceding five year period, and increased apprehension about becoming the victim of person- and property-related crimes; watching more commercial news and current affairs programmes was also related to increased apprehension about becoming a victim of person and property-related offences. / A recurring concern in these studies was the need the address perceived deficiencies in definition and measurement of constructs of interest. The pattern of results confirmed the importance of such concerns and moves closer to resolving some of the inconsistencies evident in the research undertaken to date. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2004.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Maryland, College Park, 2005. / Chair: Charles F. Wellford. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (B.A.(Hons.))--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Politics, 1973.