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Rural Crime and Social Capital
Author(s) -
DELLER STEVEN C.,
DELLER MELISSA A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
growth and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.657
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1468-2257
pISSN - 0017-4815
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2257.2010.00526.x
Subject(s) - social capital , anomie , cultural criminology , capital (architecture) , sociology , focus (optics) , criminology , economic geography , economics , economic growth , public economics , demographic economics , geography , social science , archaeology , anthropology , physics , optics
This study explores rural U.S. crime patterns with a focus on social capital. We use a triangulation of three core theories of crime including social disorganization, anomie/strain, and rational choice theories to develop a formal theory and an empirical framework. The role of four unique measures of social capital is explored in understanding patterns of rural crime using nonmetropolitan U.S. county data. The empirical results generally support the theoretical predictions and conclude that rural communities that pursue economic growth and development must be prepared to address the resulting upward pressures on crime. The results on social capital and crime provide numerous policy insights for rural communities.