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Crime Factors |
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Crime Factors According to the FBI
- Population density and degree of urbanization.
- Variations in composition of the population, particularly youth concentration.
- Stability of population with respect to residents' mobility, commuting patterns, and transient factors.
- Modes of transportation and highway system.
- Economic conditions, including median income, poverty level, and job availability.
- Cultural factors and educational, recreational, and religious characteristics.
- Family conditions with respect to divorce and family cohesiveness.
- Climate.
- Effective strength of law enforcement agencies.
- Administrative and investigative emphases of law enforcement.
- Policies of other components of the criminal justice system (i.e., prosecutorial, judicial, correctional,
and probational).
- Citizens' attitudes toward crime.
- Crime reporting practices of the citizenry.
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report (1997).
The Effects of Family Structure on Juvenile Delinquency: Evidence from Two National Surveys
Scott Boggess and Jens Ludwig from Georgetown University analyzed data from two nationally-representative youth surveys, the National Survey of Adolescent Males and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, to analyze the effects of family structure on four different delinquent behaviors among adolescent males:
- Criminal activity.
- Marijuana use.
- Cocaine use.
- School suspension.
Their results indicated "that boys who live outside of traditional two-parent families at age 14, particularly those living with a single mother, a single father, or neither parent, are significantly more likely to engage in each of the above delinquent behaviors than those living with both biological parents."