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SOCIAL ALTRUISM AND CRIME *
Author(s) -
CHAMLIN MITCHELL B.,
COCHRAN JOHN K.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1997.tb00875.x
Subject(s) - altruism (biology) , property crime , criminology , value (mathematics) , multivariate analysis , sociology , multivariate statistics , social psychology , psychology , economics , demographic economics , violent crime , mathematics , statistics
Drawing on the theoretical statements of Braithwaite (1989), Cullen (1994), Messner and Rosenfeld (1994), this research examines the influence of social altruism on the level of crime for a sample of U.S. cities. The multivariate analyses clearly indicate that the ratio of contributions to the United Way to aggregate city income, a behavioral approximation of the cultural value of altruism, is inversely related to property and violent crime rates. The implications of these findings for the reduction of crime are discussed.