13-C. Crime and Corrections
Tasks: Mapping, Scatterplot, Historical Trends, Auto-Analyzer
Data Files: STATES, USTRENDS, GSS, MSA
Crime and corrections policy is one of the most expensive policy areas for state and local governments. Along with Medicaid, state prison costs have made up the largest increases in state budgets during the past 20 years. In 2001, the 50 states spent $34.4 billion maintaining their prison systems. Of course, per capita spending on prisons and corrections varies among the states.
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Data File: / STATESTask: / Mapping
Variable 1: / 85) CORR_EXP
View: / List: Rank
Here we see that Delaware spends $257.3 per citizen on the maintenance of the state prison system. Next isAlaska ($246.4), New York ($224.2), Oregon ($204.6) and Nevada ($203.2). In contrast, eight states spend less on $100 per capita on corrections. North Dakota spends $74.3 and Vermont spends $63.2 per resident.
Crime and correction policies are largely the responsibility of states, counties and cities. The bulk of criminal law in the United States, for example, has been enacted by state legislatures. The actual application of criminal law to specific situations depends on decisions made by local police officers, prosecutors and judges. Thus, while state legislators are important because they adopt criminal justice policies, the major players in state crime and corrections policy are local persons directly involved with law enforcement, such as judges, lawyers, police and prison officials.
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Data File: / MSATask: / Mapping
Variable 1: / 31) POLCE$/C87
View: / List: Rank
Here you can see per capita local government spending on police. Among local governments, Anchorage, AK ($208.14) has the highest per capita spending on police protection. The New York metropolitan area ranks second ($157.33) followed by the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area ($152.10). At the other end of this ranking, we see that seven states spend less than $30 per resident on police protection. On the low end, you can see that Johnstown, PA spends only $22.50 per capita on its police functions.
Reliable statistics on crime are found in the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) prepared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from information voluntarily submitted from nearly every police agency in the United States. The UCR includes crimes of violence (murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault) and crimes against property (larceny, burglary, and auto theft).
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Data File: / USTRENDSTask: / Historical Trends
Variables: / 73) VIOL.CRIME
Clearly, violent crime rates have risen significantly since the 1970s. Violent crime rates rose significantly from 1970 to 1980. Then the violent crime rate leveled off and declined in the early 1980s but began increasing again in the late 1980s and continued rising until the 1990s. However, the late 1990s has seen a dramatic decrease in violent crime. Certainly it has not quite reached the lows of the 1970s, but violent crime rates today are much lower than they were in the early 1990s.
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Data File: / USTRENDSTask: / Historical Trends
Variables: / 71) PROP.CRIME
Here you can also see that property crimes significantly increased during the 1970s. However by 1980 property crime rates began to decline before increasing again in 1984 and continuing to increase until the early 1990s. By 1992, just as you saw with violent crime rates, property crime rates have declined significantly.
When using the Uniform Crime Reports, one should be cautious for several reasons. First, across the country the police have become much more efficient in collecting data on crime in their cities and counties. Thus, the dramatic increases we saw from 1970 to 1980 could simply be explained by the fact that police departments, because of computers and technological advances, were better able to detect and record reported crimes. On the other hand, we know that while crimes like murder and car theft are routinely reported to police, there may be many other crimes that are vastly underreported to police. So always be wary in reading too much into these crime statistics.
Although the rates of crime have fluctuated since the 1980s, the number of people in prison has increased dramatically. Let’s take a look at the percentage change in state prison populations from 1990 to 2000.
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Data File: / STATESTask: / Mapping
Variable 1: / 86) PPOP 90-00
View: / List:Rank
Idaho (181.8%) and Texas (164.2%) both had a significantly large percentage change in their prison populations during the 1990s. However, while all states saw an increase in their prison populations, not all of the states had the dramatic increases that Idaho and Texas had. For example, Alaska had a percentage increase of 15% while Maine (10.5%) had the lowest percentage change in its prison population from 1990 to 2000.
One of the reasons for the significant growth in the prison population has been the change in attitudes of Americans towards crime. During the 1960s and 1970s Americans and their elected officials were more interested in eliminating the causes of crime. Thus, government programs focused on reducing unemployment and other environmental conditions that were believed to be related to crime. In the 1980s the American people became less interested in the sociological explanations of crime and become more supportive of “get tough” government approaches to crime.
Todaya large majority of Americansbelieves the convicted criminal gets off too easily.
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Data File: / GSSTask: / Univariate
Primary Variable: / 17) COURTS?
View: / Pie
Many believe steps must be taken to crack down on judges who are “soft” on crime. As you can see, 87.9% of Americans believe the courts do not deal harshly enough with criminals.
Many Americans also believe the police should be given more power and allowed to use force to keep criminals in check.
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Data File: / GSSTask: / Univariate
Primary Variable: / 3) COP:HIT?
View: / Pie
A substantial majority of Americans, 70.6 percent, can imagine a situation in which the police would have to strike an adult male citizen.
Thus, while crime rates may be declining, Americans still appear to favor a “no nonsense” or “get tough” approach to dealing with criminal activities. For state and local governments, they now have to deal with the conflicting citizen demands of putting more people in jail and at the same time trying to keep down state expenditures.
In the worksheet section that follows, you will examine state and local characteristics to better understand the factors associated with crime.
WORKSHEET: 13-C. Crime and Corrections
REVIEW QUESTIONS
A. Crime and Corrections policies are largely paid for and controlled by the Federal Government. T F
B. In 2001, the 50 states spent $______billion maintaining their prison systems.
C. The major players in state crime and corrections policy are local persons directly involved with law enforcement, such as judges, lawyers, police and prison officials. T F
D. Reliable statistics on crime are found in the ______prepared by the ______.
E. When using the Uniform Crime Reports, one should be cautious for several reasons. They are:
F. Although the rates of crime have fluctuated since the 1980s, the number of people in prison has decreased dramatically. T F
EXPLORIT QUESTIONS
As we discussed, crime is one of the most difficult (and expensive) policy issues faced by state and local governments. But what can be done to lower ther crime rates? In an attempt to determine the causes of crime, we must first discover what variables have an impact on crime rates.
Among scholars, there are several theories regarding the causes of crime and criminal behavior. Many would argue that the root cause of crime is environmental factors like poverty and urban strife. Let’s see if these variables matter.
First let’s compare poverty with violent crime rates by metropolitan statistical area. Our hypothesis will be that cities with higher rates of families below the poverty level will have higher violent crime rates.
Data File: / MSATask: / Scatterplot
Dependent Variable: / 18) CINDEX00
Independent Variable: / 16) POOR FAM00
View: / Reg.Line
1. What is the correlation coefficient for these results? r = _____
2. Is the relationship positive or negative?
3. Are these results statistically significant? Yes No
4. Do these results support the hypothesis that cities with higher rates of families below the poverty level will have higher violent crime rates? Yes No
As we mentioned, another environmental factor that might affect crime rates is the level of urbanization in a state. Now let’s analyze urbanization among the states with violent crime rates by state. The hypothesis is: states with higher levels of urbanization (that is, more cities) will have higher violent crime rates.
Data File: / STATESTask: / Scatterplot
Dependent Variable: / 88) V.CRIME 56) %URBAN00
DIndependent Variable: / 56) %URBAN00 88) V.CRIME
View: / Reg.Line[MSOffice1]
5. Write in the value of the Pearson correlation coefficient. r = ____.
6. Is the relationship statistically significant? Yes No
7. Is the relationship positive or negative? Positive Negative
8. Do these results support our hypothesis that states with higher levels of urbanization will have higher violent crime rates? Yes No
One might also argue that it’s not poverty that is the cause of crime, but that the actual problem lies with the education level of state citizens. One might hypothesize that states that spend less on education have a less educated a populationand thus a greater violent crime rate. On the other hand we might hypothesize that higher state spending on education will result in a lower violent crime rate. Let’s examine this proposition.
Data File: / STATESTask: / Scatterplot
Dependent Variable: / 89) V.CRIME97
Independent Variable: / 91) EDUC$/CP97
View: / Reg.Line
9. What is the correlation coefficient for these results? r = _____
10. Is the relationship positive or negative?
11. Are these results statistically significant? Yes No
12. Do these results support the hypothesis that states that spend more on education have a lower violent crime rate? Yes No
Under the federalism system of government, states have substantial autonomy in how they spend tax dollars and address policy problems. As we previously discussed, crime is one of the most expensive issues facing the states. But, are states responsive to the unique needs of the state? Or do all states address crime in the same manner? Let’s see where crime rates are highest.
Data File: / STATESTask: / Mapping
Variable 1: / 88) V.CRIME
View: / Map
13. This map shows the violent crime rate for the 50 states. Which of the following regions has the highest rates of violent crime? (Circle the letter of the most appropriate answer.)
- Northern Plains
- Midwest
- South and Southwest
- Unable to determine
14. Which of the following regions has the lowest rates of violent crime? (Circle the letter of the most appropriate answer.)
- Northern Plains
- Midwest
- South and Southwest
- Unable to determine
>View: / Rank: List
15. Which state ranks highest for the rate of violent crime?
16. What is the violent crime rate in this state?
17. Which state ranks lowest for the rate of violent crime?
18. What is the violent crime rate in this state?
Let’s see if the violent crime rate is related to how much a state spends on corrections.
Data File: / STATESTask: / Scatterplot
Dependent Variable: / 85) CORR EXP 88) V.CRIME
Independent Variable: / 88) V.CRIME 85) CORR EXP
View: / Reg.Line[MSOffice2]
19. What is the correlation coefficient (r) for this scatterplot? r = ______
20. Is it statistically significant?YesNo
21. The results indicate that states with higher violent crime rates spend higher proportions of money on corrections. True False
As we have discussed, crime and corrections policies are very expensive for state and local governments. Let’s now look at the effect some demographic characteristics have on a person’s attitudes about government spending on crime prevention. In addition to looking at whether the results are statistically significant, you must look at the actual percentages to determine which differences are important.
Data File: / GSSTask: / Auto-Analyzer
Variable: / 30) CRIME $
View: / Univariate
22. Among all respondents, what percentage feels the government spends too little to halt crime[MSOffice3]?______
View: / Region23. Those in the South are most likely to feel the government is spending too little on halting the rising crime rate. T F
24. The regional differences on this variable are not statistically significant. T F
25. There is little difference between the East, the West and the Midwest. T F
View: / Education26. The higher a person’s education, the less likely the individual feels the government is spending too little on halting the rising crime rate. T F
27. There is little difference between those who graduated high school and with a college education. T F
View: / Sex28. More women believe the government is spending too little on halting the rising crime rate than men. T F
29. More men feel the government is spending too much on halting the rising crime rate, and the difference is statistically significant. T F
View: / Race30. More African Americans feel the government is spending too much on halting the rising crime rate than whites and the difference is statistically significant. T F
31. Percentage wise, there is little difference between whites and African Americans. T F
View: / Age32. The majority of yYounger people feel the government is spending too little on halting the rising crime rate. T F
33. The most significant difference comes between those under 30 and those aged 30-49. T F
View: / Party34. Democrats are least likely to feel the government is spending too little on halting the rising crime rate. T F
34. There is a statistically significant difference between Independents and Republicans. T F
Based on the information from the above questions, describe the characteristics of the person who feels the government is spending too littleon halting the rising crime rate.
On Your Own
1. Recently, some scholars have theorized that weather plays a role in criminal behavior. Using the STATES data set, examine the relationship between weather (53) WARM WINTR) and violent (88) V.CRIME) and property (90) P.CRIME) crimes. You should use the SCATTERPLOT task to complete this analysis. In a brief paragraph, develop a hypothesis for how weather will affect crime rates. Use evidence from your analysis to support your conclusions.
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[MSOffice1]These variables were switched. 88) V.Crime needs to be the DV and 56)%urban00 is the IV.
[MSOffice2]Again, the variables need to be switch. Spending on corrections depends on the violent crime rate.
[MSOffice3]In the published text, there is no room/line to answer this question.