Crime in the Suburbs

Abstract

Structural models of suburban violent and property crime rates are developed, utilizing elements of both ecological and criminological theory. The analysis of the models is based on data for 645 suburbs for which official crime data were available. Major findings were: (1) the effects of age composition on crime rates were largely spurious; (2) the per centage of low-income population was a key variable in explaining both violent and property crime rates; (3) percentage of black population had both direct and indirect effects on violent crime rates but no effects on property crime rates; and (4) suburban physical characteristics (size, density, employment/residence ratio, and region) also exerted both direct and indirect effects on crime rates. Implications for the develop ment of ecological and criminological theory are discussed, as are some of the policy implications.