Using data for 193 United States Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas in 1970 and 1972, an attempt was made to explain the sources of variance in the official rates of homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft. It was hypothesized that variance in crime rates was a function of the capacity to control conduct among metropolitan areas. Capacity to control was said to reside in the degree of organization, the extent of participation and the amount of resources devoted to formal control in a metropolitan area. Income inequality, overcrowding and population mobility were used as indicators of metropolitan organization. Marriage rates, voting rates and money deposited in savings accounts were used as positive indicators of participation; divorce rates were used as a negative indicator. Employment in education and employment in law enforcement were used as indicators of resources devoted to formal control. Region, median income, the rate of black residents, the rate of poor families, the rate of unemployed and population size were used as control variables. Multiple regression analyses using ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares solutions were performed to test the hypotheses and to compare the findings to those of earlier researchers. A total of 150 relationships were examined and of those, 44 were in accord with hypothesis. Income inequality, overcrowding, population mobility, police strength, the rate of blacks, the rate of unemployed and population size were found to be the most important predictors of the crime rates. The results were interpreted as providing limited support for the control perspective upon which the study was based. The strain perspective was also supported. Only the relationship between race and the crime rates could be construed as supportive of the cultural deviance perspective. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: A, page: 2252. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75130 |
| Contributors | MCKEAN, JEROME BLACK., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 231 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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