Citation

Pare PP, Felson RB. Br. J. Sociol. 2014; 65(3): 434-458.

Affiliation

Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, London School of Economics and Political Science, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1468-4446.12083

PMID

25251139

Abstract

We examine the relationship between income inequality, poverty, and different types of crime. Our results are consistent with recent research in showing that inequality is unrelated to homicide rates when poverty is controlled. In our multi-level analyses of the International Crime Victimization Survey we find that inequality is unrelated to assault, robbery, burglary, and theft when poverty is controlled. We argue that there are also theoretical reasons to doubt that the level of income inequality of a country affects the likelihood of criminal behaviour.

Language: en