Organized Crime Activity and the Spatial Variation of Property and Violent Crime Rates

Abstract

Most empirical generalizations of the spatial variation of crime rates have focused on population and environment. Population characteristics are most commonly analyzed in sociological studies of the distribution of crime. This research argues that concentrations of residents possessing certain socioeconomic and demographic characteristics influence areal crime rates by creating crime-prone populations. Factors examined most frequently are age structure, poverty, race, and unemployment (Brown, 1982; Markides and Tracy, 1976; Mladenka and Hill 1977).