Determinants of Crime Rate in EU: a Spatial Analysis

Determinants of Crime Rate in EU: a Spatial Analysis

ATLIHAN INCE, Gokce

It is essential to ensure peace and security for sustainable development. In recent years, economic and social factors are closely associated with the amount of increased crime, and economic crises increase the amount of crime has become a widespread notion. The purpose of this study is to determine how social and economic factors affect the occurrence of crime, and investigate the effects of the crisis on crime rate. Criminal investigations show that there is significant relation between crime and “place” of the crime. Crime rate shows different distribution characteristics, it decreases in some places, while increases in some places, hence; it is required a spatial perspective. Therefore, Techniques of Spatial Economic Analysis is used in this paper. The promise of using spatial data and analyses for crime control still remains to be demonstrated and depends on the nature of the relationship between crime and place. Theoretical concerns focus on how place might be a factor in crime, either by influencing or shaping the types and levels of criminal behavior by the people who frequent an area, or by attracting to an area people who already share similar criminal inclinations. While the crime rate in the model is the dependent variable, the net migration rate, unemployment rate, education level and per capita gross domestic product will be used as independent variables. Data covers the European Union countries and the year of data is 2010. The effect of these variables is observed to determine the amount of crime and whether or not it comes to a spatial effect is investigated. The relationship between migrations and crime is one of the problems on which for a long time now social research has been concentrating, mainly in countries characterized by important emigrational flows. This paper provides an empirical evaluation of whether one can uncover a link between crimes and, economic and social variables like unemployment rate, education level and per capita gross domestic product using a research methodology, additionally; impacts of last economic crisis on European Union countries are examined. Keywords: Crime Rate, EU countries, Spatial Analysis.

Article
PeerReviewed

ISSN 2303-4564

International Burch University

2013-05-10

1515