Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange
Abstract
This analysis is an application of social disorganization theory for understanding variations in county crime rates in the state of Minnesota. Social disorganization is seen as the breakdown of community institutions of social control, where indicators of breakdown included such things as family disruption and over-crowding. With few exceptions, measures of social disorganization were found to he correlated with county crime rates, with three variables as showing up as especially important; these are percent of children not living with both parents, per capita alcohol tax collected in the county, and net-migration. Three variables—percent of persons with incomes less than $5000, median income, and percent of adults with a high school education—were correlated with crime in directions opposite than what was predicted. Limitations and suggestions for further research are also provided
