Total Crime Rates Research Articles

Macroeconomic Determinants of Crime against Children A Case Study of Punjab

Despite it being a growing cause of concern, the relationship between macroeconomic indicators and crime against children has previously remained widely unnoticed. An extensive range of literature is reviewed that gives this domain of research a different perspective by investigating crime against children existent in various countries around the world. The analysis of this paper is divided into three sections. Firstly, a regression analysis has been run using time series data taken from Punjab, Pakistan for the years 2007-2017. Applying the Ordinary Least Square Technique and using income, unemployment, and education as independent variables and crime rate against female children as the dependent variable; a regression model was run. While income and education show a statistically significant relationship, a prediction cannot be made due to a limited data availability of the crime variable. Secondly, this paper takes a descriptive approach by using a correlation matrix to observe the relationship between total crime rate against male children and unemployment, poverty and social sector spending. Results of this Matrix indicate a positive relationship between crime with unemployment and crime with poverty, while there is a negative linkage among social sector spending and crime. However, a correlation matrix can only be used to define a causal relationship between variables and not be employed to make reliable cause and effect estimations.

Describing the geographical linkage between the UK Millennium Cohort Study and crime incidents in England and Wales

BackgroundEnhancing longitudinal cohort studies by linking routine external data to them is increasingly used to evaluate how local environments impact participants' outcomes (e.g. crime on adolescents' perception of security and victimisation). ObjectiveTo describe the geographical linkage between the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) and street-level crime incidents reported to the Police in England and Wales, and to estimate crime count and rates around MCS participants' residences. MethodsEight years of monthly street-level police data were linked to the residential postcodes of MCS participants living in England and Wales in surveys 5, 6 and 7 to create individual-level variables of neighbourhood crime counts and rates (28,724 surveys and 11,365 individuals). Radial buffers around participants' residences were created at ages 11, 14 and 17. Crime counts and rates were created prior to the month of interview (at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months prior). A homogenisation of crime categories reported in the police data was conducted to evaluate changes over time and areas. Multivariate models were used to study the association between MCS participants' demographic characteristics and derived measures of neighbourhood crime. ResultsWhile total crime rates and counts around MCS participants remain stable over the period, they hide heterogeneous upward and downward trends in specific sub-categories, with violence and sexual offences showing a larger increase. We observe a negative socioeconomic gradient between household income deciles, recorded at age 11, and subsequent exposure to neighbourhood crime. ConclusionLinking routine crime data to longitudinal studies, such as the MCS, which follow children and their families through a critical period of development, can provide a new resource to understand how local crime impacts child and adolescent outcomes.

Do progressive prosecutors increase crime? A quasi‐experimental analysis of crime rates in the 100 largest counties, 2000–2020

AbstractResearch summaryIn recent years, there has been a rise in so‐called “progressive prosecutors” focused on criminal justice reforms. Although there has been considerable debate about the relationship between progressive prosecution policies and crime rates, there has been surprisingly little empirical research on the topic. Building on the limited extant research, we examined whether the inauguration of progressive prosecutors in the nation's 100 most populous counties impacted crime rates during a 21‐year period (2000 to 2020). After developing an original database of progressive prosecutors in the 100 largest counties, we used heterogeneous difference‐in‐differences regressions to examine the influence of progressive prosecutors on crime rates. Results show that the inauguration of progressive prosecutors led to statistically higher index property (∼7%) and total crime rates (driven by rising property crimes), and these effects were strongest since 2013—a period with an increasing number of progressive prosecutors. However, violent crime rates generally were not higher after a progressive prosecutor assumed control.Policy implicationsDespite concerns that the election of progressive prosecutors leads to “surging” levels of violence, these findings suggest that progressive‐oriented prosecutorial reforms led to relatively higher rates of property crime but had limited impact on rates of violent crime. In fact, in absolute terms, crime rates fell in jurisdictions with traditional and progressive prosecutors. Yet, relative property crime rates were greater after the inauguration of progressive prosecutors. Given that prior research shows progressive prosecutors reduce mass incarceration and racial inequalities, our findings indicate that higher property crime rates may be the price for these advancements.

Do immigrants affect crime? Evidence for Germany

The paper empirically analyses the causal relationship between immigrants and crime using data for German administrative districts between 2008 and 2019. Before the refugee crisis (2008–2014), an increase in the current share of immigrants increased the total crime rate. In contrast, the effect was negative (or insignificant) during and after the refugee crisis (2015–2019). When analysing the total period, the estimates average out to zero. Studying more closely the composition of the migrant group, a plausible explanation of the negative (or insignificant) effect of immigrants on crime in the later period is related to a larger share of migrants with a less certain residence status.

The Effect of the CARES Act on Property Crime

As a means of reducing the effects of COVID-19, governments implemented mitigation policies, including economic stimulus bills. Nearly all known research in the criminal justice literature examines the impact of local lockdown measures on different forms of crime. Studies have not been conducted on the effect of the CARES Act on crime. The purpose of the present study is to examine the impact of the CARES Act on property crime. The dependent variables were total property, burglary, larceny and theft, and auto theft rates. The control variables were the population structure, southern state, concentrated disadvantage, non-White, and lockdown. The independent variable was the CARES Act. OLS regression analyses were conducted to test for relationships between the CARES Act and property crime. The models indicated significant negative relationships between the CARES Act and the total property crime rate, the burglary rate, and the larceny and theft rate.

Mountains of evidence: The effects of abnormal air pollution on crime

We find that air pollution increases crime in a city that ranks in the worst two percentiles worldwide for dirty winter air. Our identification strategy employs distinct geographic features of Almaty, Kazakhstan: cleaner mountain winds and frequent temperature inversions. Using these variables to instrument for PM2.5 air pollution, we estimate a PM2.5 elasticity of the expected crime rate more than four times as large as similar estimates from cleaner cities. Among crime types, we estimate statistically significant effects of air pollution on property crime, and we find no evidence of an effect on violent crime. These results are consistent with theory that air pollution induces higher discounting rather than aggression. We extend this theory and find that whether air pollution has distinct effects on crimes of varying severity depends on whether the population is more heterogenous in the outside option or in the discount factor. Using microdata on crime severity, we find statistically significant increases in both major and minor crime rates from air pollution, and we fail to reject common PM2.5 elasticities of minor and major crime rates. The greater scale of major crimes implies that they contribute more to the total crime rate increase from air pollution.

The impact of the Mental Health Act revision for deinstitutionalization in Korea on the crime rate of people with schizophrenia

This study examined changes in the crime rates of people with schizophrenia in Korea in comparison with the general population after the Mental Health Act revision for deinstitutionalization in 2017. The crime rates of people with schizophrenia and the general population were calculated from 2012 to 2021 using the Korean National Police Agency crime statistics. The effects of the law revision in 2017 on the crime rates were assessed using the interrupted time series and difference-in-difference analyses. The crime rates of people with schizophrenia tended to be lower than the general population except for murder and arson, which were 5.3 and 11.4 times, respectively, that of the general population. While no significant effect of the revision was found in the interrupted times series analysis, the difference-in-differences analysis indicated that the total crime rates and the rates of violence and public order crime increased among people with schizophrenia compared with the general population. The revision of the Mental Health Act for deinstitutionalization did not lead to an increase in the murder rate of people with schizophrenia as is commonly thought. However, the increases in overall crime and violence rates of people with schizophrenia suggest that the deinstitutionalized patients may not have been successfully relocated into the community. The increase in crime after the revision should be interpreted as a call for well-resourced community care rather than the reason for re-transfer of patients to hospitals.

Crime, community social capital and entrepreneurship: Evidence from Australian communities

Crime is an anti-social blight on communities that increases the cost of doing business, including for entrepreneurs. Drawing on Australian longitudinal data, this study examines the links between crime rates and the propensity for entrepreneurship within communities. We do so by matching propensity for entrepreneurship with types of crime found at the community level where crime occurs. We find that higher total crime rates, crimes against the person and property crime, significantly lower the propensity for entrepreneurship in communities. We also show that the core facets of community social capital – trust, membership in voluntary organizations and support and cooperation – mediate this relationship. Executive summaryWe comprehensively examine whether higher community crime rates – crime on people and crime on property – cause lower rates of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship research extensively examines how gaining social capital, defined as the social resources one gains within one's community, promotes entrepreneurship. This study considers whether a pervasive community dynamic in crime impedes entrepreneurship. Specifically, we show that the two main kinds of crime – people and property – inhibit entrepreneurship.We show the facets of community social capital that mediate the relationship between crime and entrepreneurship. We inform the role of community-based social capital in promoting entrepreneurship (Kwon et al., 2013) by considering how higher crime lowers social capital and in turn entrepreneurship. We show that core facets of relational social capital – trust, voluntary membership in community bodies, support, and cooperation – mediate the relationship between crime and entrepreneurship. Likewise, communities with more robust reserves of social capital are better able to withstand crime and promote entrepreneurship.Examining the link between crime and entrepreneurship allows us to contribute to the literature on entrepreneurship and social capital. We discuss the various ways in which crime diminishes social capital to shape entrepreneurship. In our framework that is predicated on theory on community social capital, crime creates distrust because it causes citizens to be wearier and more suspicious of each other, impeding sharing of ideas and knowledge for ventures. Crime impedes the efficacy and membership of community-based organizations that allow entrepreneurs to network. Crime reduces the support available for founders to start and sustain businesses in focal communities, as individuals seek opportunities and resources outside their communities. Crime diminishes the extent to which people take pride in and identify with their communities, as evidenced by voluntary membership in community organizations. Crime reduces collaboration because it leads to self-protective behaviors, including flight from high-crime communities, that hinder norms of reciprocity. Crime reduces cooperation as criminals are more likely to resort to coercion, as enforced by monitoring and violence, to solve business problems.Findings rely on a comprehensive database of crime rates across Australian postcodes. Crime is typically a localized phenomenon – it affects business outcomes in local communities. We obtain community-level crime rates from each Australian state and territory police force or relevant government agencies and match these data with entrepreneurship rates by postcode. Our primary identification strategy follows Dustmann and Fasani (2016), who estimate the effect of local area crime on mental health in the United Kingdom (UK). This identification strategy removes the effects of residential sorting and correlates crime with time-varying unobserved entrepreneurship determinants if there is no endogenous migration from local crime. The main findings are robust to instrumenting for local area crime to which movers are exposed and for historical abortion rates in the state or territory where the individual lives, as well as a number of other approaches to obtaining causal inference.The article holds considerable practical relevance for policymakers seeking to promote community entrepreneurship. Our study is highly relevant to community leaders and policymakers working to boost local entrepreneurship. Findings strongly suggest that efforts to reduce crime are a primary mechanism to protect social capital within communities and, therefore, entrepreneurship. Policy initiatives dedicated to creating and expanding social ventures would a) boost entrepreneurship and social capital and b) mitigate the detrimental effects of crime on entrepreneurship (Wry and York, 2017).

Examining the Cross-sectional Association Between Neighborhood Conditions, Discrimination, and Telomere Length in a Predominantly African American Sample.

Disproportionate exposure to adverse neighborhood conditions and greater discrimination may contribute to health disparities among African Americans (AAs). We examined whether adverse neighborhood conditions, alone or in conjunction with discrimination, associate with shorter leukocyte telomere length among a predominantly AA cohort. The sample included 200 residents from two low-income neighborhoods (96% AA; mean age = 67years). Perceived neighborhood conditions and discrimination were surveyed in 2018, and objective neighborhood conditions (total crime rate, neighborhood walkability, ambient air pollution (PM2.5, black carbon)) were collected in 2017/2018. Relative telomere length (T/S; ratio of telomeric DNA to a single-gene copy) was assessed from blood samples. Linear regression models estimated the main effects of each neighborhood condition and discrimination and their interactions on the T/S ratio. Less walkable neighborhoods were associated with shorter telomeres. Higher air pollution (PM2.5) was associated with shorter telomeres among those experiencing greater discrimination. Findings highlight the importance of understanding the intersecting influences of historic and contemporary sources of systemic racism and how they contribute to accelerated aging among adults.

Crime Rates in the Philippines: A Comparative Analysis of Bulan and Irosin Municipalities from Sorsogon Province

The low crime rate has been identified as a predictor of a calm, orderly, and secure neighborhood. Furthermore, a safe and secure environment is essential in encouraging investment and economic progress in a country. Crime statistics can help criminal justice professionals predict increased crime risk. This study, therefore, aims to compare the crime rate of two municipalities in the province of Sorsogon: Bulan Sorsogon and Irosin Sorsogon from the calendar year 2018 to 2020. This study used document analysis to analyze and compare the crime data in the Municipality of Bulan and Irosin Sorsogon. Data reflected that in the comparison of the two municipalities in the province, the Municipality of Bulan has the highest crime rate (61%) compared to the Municipality of Irosin which has a (39%) total crime rate. Data also revealed that the crime under special law was the most numbered crime committed with (253) total in the five parameters of crime in both municipalities. Interestingly crime against property was (32) total crimes committed in both municipalities, showing a low number of crimes based on the record. Hence, the police may continue to collaborate closely with many community sectors to guarantee the seamless implementation of its programs and projects to protect public safety and security Information awareness campaigns in any form like in any platform of social media in all their programs and projects may be made available in the community to increase awareness and support of stakeholders, especially in the far-flung areas in the municipality.

Association Between Community-Level Violent Crime and Cardiovascular Mortality in Chicago: A Longitudinal Analysis.

Background Violent crime has recently increased in many major metropolitan cities in the United States. Prior studies suggest an association between neighborhood crime levels and cardiovascular disease, but many have been limited by cross-sectional designs. We investigated whether longitudinal changes in violent crime rates are associated with changes in cardiovascular mortality rates at the community level in one large US city-Chicago, IL. Methods and Results Chicago is composed of 77 community areas. Age-adjusted mortality rates by community area for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and coronary artery disease from 2000 to 2014, aggregated at 5-year intervals, were obtained from the Illinois Department of Public Health Division of Vital Records. Mean total and violent crime rates by community area were obtained from the City of Chicago Police Data Portal. Using a 2-way fixed effects estimator, we assessed the association between longitudinal changes in violent crime and cardiovascular mortality rates after accounting for changes in demographic and economic variables and secular time trends at the community area level from 2000 to 2014. Between 2000 and 2014, the median violent crime rate in Chicago decreased from 3620 per 100 000 (interquartile range [IQR], 2256, 7777) in the 2000 to 2004 period to 2390 (IQR 1507, 5745) in the 2010 to 2014 period (P=0.005 for trend). In the fixed effects model a 1% decrease in community area violent crime rate was associated with a 0.21% (95% CI, 0.09-0.33) decrease in cardiovascular mortality rates (P=<0.001) and a 0.19% (95% CI, 0.04-0.33) decrease in coronary artery disease mortality rates (P=0.01). There was no statistically significant association between change in violent crime and stroke mortality rates (-0.17% [95% CI, -0.42 to 0.08; P=0.18]). Conclusions From 2000 to 2014, a greater decrease in violent crime at the community area level was associated with a greater decrease in cardiovascular and coronary artery disease mortality rates in Chicago. These findings add to the growing evidence of the impact of the built environment on health and implicate violent crime exposure as a potential social determinant of cardiovascular health. Targeted investment in communities to decrease violent crime may improve community cardiovascular health.

Associations of state-level and county-level hate crimes with individual-level cardiovascular risk factors in a prospective cohort study of middle-aged Americans: the National Longitudinal Survey of Youths 1979

BackgroundThere have been long-standing debates about the potential health consequences of hate crimes over and above other types of crimes. Besides the direct consequences for victims, less is known about...

Organized cybercrime in Ukraine: problems of formation of official statistics and its analysis

The article analyzes the types, forms and content of statistical reporting that reflects the state and structure of cybercrime in Ukraine. Ways to interpret statistical information and to use its capabilities in preventing and combating cybercrime are identified. The shortcomings of the structure of official statistical data, namely unsystematic character, inconsistency and incoherence of their formation, are generalized and revealed. It is noted that the national and international legislation lacks a generally accepted definition of cybercrime so far, and therefore a single approach to defining the grounds for classifying illegal acts as such crimes. The reports were developed without considering further analysis of cybercrime. And while the report of the National Police of Ukraine contains data on a number of criminal offenses that can be attributed to cybercrime, the official statistical reports prepared by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, except for Chapter XVI of the Criminal Code, are missing the mentioned data. Therefore, official statistics, which fully and accurately reflect the state and structure of cybercrime cannot be introduced today. It is possible to analyze only the dynamics of this type of crime, the structure of crime on the basis of recorded crimes. The number of criminal offenses under the articles of chap. XVI of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, is growing unevenly, and this growth in the last 4 years is insignificant. The share of these criminal offenses is growing more dynamically. But their share of the total crime rate in Ukraine today is insignificant and is less than one percent - in 2020 0.69. In the first quarter of 2021, employees of cyber police units of the National Police of Ukraine, for the first time detected 4 criminal offenses under Art. 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Creation of a criminal organization”). During 2013 –2010, 112 persons were found to have committed criminal offenses of this category as part of a group, 16 of them as part of an organized group. Also during this period, 171 persons who committed criminal offenses in the group in previous years were identified, including 68 in the organized group. The number of convicted persons who committed criminal offenses in the group during this period is 64, 9 of them committed crimes in an organized group.

Psychological and environmental empirics of crimes in Pakistan

Literature provides rich evidence of the role of economic development, environmental quality, and psychological stress' prevalence on the deployment of human efforts in criminal activities. This study explores the role of HDI, CO2, and Prevalence of Depression against total, violent, and nonviolent crimes in Pakistan between 1990 and 2017. Analysis based on ARDL bounds testing model which proposes that human development, environment quality, and sound mind leads to a decrease in the involvement in criminal activities. The intensity of effects is different for total, violent, and nonviolent crime rates. Government should focus on development expenditures coupled with improving the quality of the environment and mind.

FUNGSI CRIME INDEX BAGI POLRES SOLOK KOTA DALAM PENANGGULANGAN TINDAK PIDANA

The method for preparing the Crime Index by the Solok Kota Police is to compile indicators of the level of crime that has occurred, such as the total crime rate, the crime rate, and the crime clock. Is it based on the form of crime that often occurs, or is it based on the fluctuation in the number of crimes each month. The function of the Crime Index in Handling Crime by the Solok Kota Police is to carry out various activities to reduce the high number of crimes that occur by viewing and using criminal statistics and the criminal index created. By using the criminal index, it can be seen that the highest crime rate in the Solok Kota Police jurisdiction is the crime of theft with weight followed by motor vehicle theft. Efforts are being made to carry out various forms of police operations, one of which is the Singgalang / Jaran Singgalang pursuit operation. Besides conducting the Jaran Singgalang operation, Concentrated Operations were also carried out with the target of gambling. Operation Brush with the target of theft by weight and theft by force and Operation Tumpas Bandar with the target of trafficking narcotics.

Statistika imovinskog kriminala u Kraljevini Jugoslaviji

The paper analyzes statistical data on property crime in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the period from 1924 to 1939. The analysis includes the manner of collecting and publishing data on the overall structure of crime by the General State Statistics Office of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, as well as the organization of courts in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The author also explain the difference in the way of presenting data on crime in statistical yearbooks according to the legal categorization of criminal offenses. The paper presents data on adults and minors convicted by decisions of first-instance, district and county courts from 1922 to 1939. Criminal offences against property were predominant in the overall structure of crime. According to the data from district and first-instance courts, the most common property-related crime was theft, while the data from county courts show that the most frequent crimes were theft and petty theft (misappropriation of another's movable property, food and small-value life necessities). The structure of recorded property crimes indicates that the crimes were primarily caused by poverty and difficult economic situation of the population in times of hardship. It is confirmed by the fact that both the total crime rate and the total property crime rate in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were at the highest level during the World Economic Crisis in the period from 1929 to 1932.

Forecasting homicides, rapes and counterfeiting currency: A case study in Sri Lanka

Crimes have been disturbing threats to all the Sri Lankans all over the country. Finding the main variables associated with crimes are very vital for policymakers. Our main goal in this study is to forecast of homicides, rapes and counterfeiting currency from 2013 to 2020 using auto-regressive conditional Poisson (ACP) and auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models. All the predictions are made assuming that the prevailing conditions in the country affecting crime rates remain unchanged during the period. Moreover, multiple linear regression and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression analysis were used to identify the key variables associated with crimes. Profiling of districts as safe or unsafe was performed based on the overall total crime rate of Sri Lanka which is to compare with individual district’s crime rates. Data were collected from the Department of Police and Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka. It is observed that there are 14 safe and 11 unsafe districts in Sri Lanka. Moreover, it is found that the total migrant population and percentage of urban population is positively correlated with total crime. Besides, total migrant population, unemployment rate, mean household income and percentage of the urban population are significant variables for total crimes, and total migrant population, Gini index, mean household income and percentage of the urban population are significant variables for homicides. Random K-nearest neighbour (RKNN) algorithm classified districts as safe and unsafe with 84% of prediction accuracy.

Factors correlated with drug use for constipation: perspectives from the 2016 open Japanese National Database

BackgroundThe prevalence of chronic constipation is increased in females and with age or environmental (low temperature), racial, socioeconomic, and habitual risk factors. The impact of low outside temperature on constipation drug use remains unclear. Here, we investigated risk factors for constipation drug use by evaluating data from the Japanese National Database.MethodsThis ecological study used the 2016 open Japanese National Database of health insurance claims (prescriptions) to acquire the number of health insurance prescription claims in all 47 prefectures for drugs to relieve constipation, antihypertensives, vasodilators, as well as medical check-ups and questionnaire responses. Internet survey on room temperatures in 2010 were also used. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) between the number of population-based prescriptions for each item were calculated and multiple linear regression analysis (MLR) was performed.ResultsPrescriptions for magnesium laxatives significantly correlated with aging (r = 0.58), vasodilators (r = 0.53), being female (r = 0.43), antihypertensives (r = 0.39), and inversely with eating ≤2 h before bedtime (r = − 0.37), total crime rate (r = − 0.33), insomnia (r = − 0.33), and population density (r = − 0.31). Stimulant laxatives (sennoside and picosulfate) were significantly correlated with antihypertensives (r = 0.79), aging (r = 0.69), vasodilators (r = 0.67), and being female (r = 0.56), and were inversely associated with average outside temperature (r = − 0.62), total crime rate (r = − 0.52), average income (r = − 0.51), and 30-min of vigorous exercise (r = − 0.44). Fecal interventions were significantly correlated with aging (r = 0.55) and female (r = 0.59), and inversely correlated with population density (r = − 0.41) and total crime rate (r = − 0.38). MLR analysis identified aging as the only significant risk factor for magnesium laxative use (partial slope [β] = 1241.0). Female sex and antihypertensives were independent risk factors for stimulant laxative prescriptions (β = 44,547.0 and 0.2) and average outside temperature and 30-min of vigorous exercise were independent preventive factors (β = − 616.8 and − 219.1).ConclusionWe identified associations of magnesium laxatives with aging, stimulant laxatives with female sex, antihypertensives, low outside temperature and less 30 min of vigorous exercise.

What does (and does not) affect crime in India?

PurposeThis paper uses data from 2010 to 2016 across 32 states and union territories to investigate the determinants of crime in India. Results indicate the significance of macroeconomic, demographic, socioeconomic and deterrence factors in accounting for various categories of crime.Design/methodology/approachDue to the evidence of heteroskedasticity and cross-sectional dependence, linear regression with panel-corrected standard errors is implemented.FindingsIt has been found that among the macroeconomic factors, only GSDP per capita was found relevant in explaining total crime rates. However, the unemployment rate and price level are crucial in explaining some categories of crime. The demographic factor, that is, population density, socioeconomic factors, that is, income inequality, poverty rate, literacy rate exhibit important and significant relationship with crime rates in India. Further, out of the four deterrence factors, charge-sheeting rate, conviction rate, pendency in police cases are important in explaining various categories of crime rates in India.Originality/valueWhile implications of some socioeconomic variables are consistent with those found in previous studies, literacy rates and deterrence variables were found to have a positive association with crime. In particular, in a developing country such as India, white-collar crimes tend to increase as literacy rates increase. This calls for implementing policies that lead to greater employment opportunities for the educated masses. This paper also sheds light on the relationship between deterrence factors and crime rates in India. Deficiencies in the legal and judicial system have been detrimental to the nation's ability to curb crime rates.

Evaluating Community Prosecution Code Enforcement in Dallas, Texas

We evaluated a community prosecution program in Dallas, Texas. City attorneys, who in Dallas are the chief prosecutors for specified misdemeanors, were paired with code enforcement officers to improve property conditions in a number of proactive focus areas, or PFAs, throughout the city. We conducted a panel data analysis, focusing on the effects of PFA activity on crime in 19 PFAs over a six-year period (monthly observations from 2010 to 2015). Control areas with similar levels of pre-intervention crime were also included. Statistical analyses controlled for pre-existing crime trends, seasonality effects, and other law enforcement activities. With and without dosage data, the total crime rate decreased in PFA areas relative to control areas. City attorney/code enforcement teams, by seeking the voluntary or court-ordered abatement of code violations and criminal activity at residential and commercial properties, apparently improved public safety in targeted areas.