Reducing Crime

The purpose of this report was to examine the crime statistics in selected counties in North Carolina, particularly to understand the factors that cause criminal incidents (crime rate) and to investigate the relationship between crime rate and related factors, such as population density, demographic composition, and law enforcement. Based on the findings, recommendations can be made on policies to reduce the crime rate.

Using crime rate as the dependent variable, this report investigated the following research questions:

• To what extent did urbanization as reflected by population density affect the crime rate in some North Carolina counties?
• To what extent did the certainty of punishment (i.e., criminals are expected to be caught and face punishment) reduce crime rate in North Carolina counties?
• What were the effect of the young male minority population on the crime rate in the areas studied?
• Did the severity of punishment, such as long prison sentences, have effect on the crime rate in North Carolina counties?