Violent Crime in the United States: Empirical Analysis
Format
Oral Presentation
Faculty Mentor Name
William Herrin
Faculty Mentor Department
Economics Department (College of the Pacific)
Abstract/Artist Statement
Violent Crime is a well-debated topic in society today. Stopping it seems like an impossible task. In order to act in trying to change an issue one must understand the issue on a deep level, in this case understanding what possible determinants of violent crime will help gain understanding into the issue. This analysis focuses on whether or not environmental and circumstantial factors in a given state are correlated with its violent crime rate. I explain state-level violent crime with these independent variables: Education (percentage of state with high school diploma), the state poverty rates, median household income, and the unemployment rate. The sample contains five years of data for all 50 states and Washington, DC. The violent crime data are taken from the FBI from 2015-2019 (the most recent reliable data). Data for the covariates are taken from various sources such as: the Census Bureau, and the USDA’s Economic Research Service. The main goal of this analysis is to estimate the effect of these economic factors on violent crime rates. Seeing if states that have a lower median household income, lower percentage of high school graduates, high poverty rate or high unemployment rate have a higher violent crime rate is key to understanding how some areas are affected more. Understanding to what extent education and these economic circumstances explain violent crime can lead to a real change in this country’s policy response in an attempt to put a stop to it.
Location
Information Commons, William Knox Holt Memorial Library and Learning Center
Start Date
29-4-2023 10:00 AM
End Date
29-4-2023 1:00 PM
Violent Crime in the United States: Empirical Analysis
Information Commons, William Knox Holt Memorial Library and Learning Center
Violent Crime is a well-debated topic in society today. Stopping it seems like an impossible task. In order to act in trying to change an issue one must understand the issue on a deep level, in this case understanding what possible determinants of violent crime will help gain understanding into the issue. This analysis focuses on whether or not environmental and circumstantial factors in a given state are correlated with its violent crime rate. I explain state-level violent crime with these independent variables: Education (percentage of state with high school diploma), the state poverty rates, median household income, and the unemployment rate. The sample contains five years of data for all 50 states and Washington, DC. The violent crime data are taken from the FBI from 2015-2019 (the most recent reliable data). Data for the covariates are taken from various sources such as: the Census Bureau, and the USDA’s Economic Research Service. The main goal of this analysis is to estimate the effect of these economic factors on violent crime rates. Seeing if states that have a lower median household income, lower percentage of high school graduates, high poverty rate or high unemployment rate have a higher violent crime rate is key to understanding how some areas are affected more. Understanding to what extent education and these economic circumstances explain violent crime can lead to a real change in this country’s policy response in an attempt to put a stop to it.