NCJ Number
172087
Journal
International Criminal Justice Review Volume: 7 Dated: (1997) Pages: 1-30
Date Published
1997
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This article examines the relationship between status inequality and property crime.
Abstract
Much of the sociological literature on crime and social control suggests a positive relationship between social heterogeneity and crime. In that literature, status inequality is a particularly important form of heterogeneity. Theory suggests that levels of status inequality should be positively related to levels of crime. Although empirical tests support this theory in the case of violent crime, the findings are inconsistent for property crime. This paper reexamines the relationship between status inequality and property crime in an effort to explain the inconsistency. Specifically, it explores whether the difference in findings across studies could be the result of the analytical methods used in previous studies, the particular scope of those studies, or a misspecification of the empirical models. Analyses suggest that the inconsistent findings between status inequality and property crime are not a function of the analytical designs used but of scope and specification of the model. That is, the relationship between property crime and inequality differs by level of democracy and value of inequality. Notes, tables, figure, references