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Population Growth and Crime*

Population Growth and Crime* AUST. & N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (March, 1975): 8,1 57 JOHN BRAITHWAITE ** It seems trite to point out that if Australia's population doubled, then the incidence of crime in Australia would double. However, the proposition that the crime rate would more than double and perhaps increase four or six fold, is not so obvious. It is the purpose of this paper to show that population growth increases the crime rate (per capita). One effect of population increase is growth in the average size of cities and towns. If the effect of a doubling of the population is spread evenly among all communities: then towns of 5,000 will become towns of 10,000; cities of 1 million will become cities of 2 million; and so on. Crime and City size - Theory Much theorising has been done on the question of why larger cities have higher crime rates than smaller communities. Large cities are said to be characterised by anonymity. In aworld of strangers men lose theirfeelingsof responsibility for their fellow man. The anonymity of the city permits the criminal to commit his offence with little fear of being recognised. Anony­ mity is thought to be particularly important in the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology SAGE

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References (9)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
Copyright © by SAGE Publications
ISSN
0004-8658
eISSN
1837-9273
DOI
10.1177/000486587500800107
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AUST. & N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (March, 1975): 8,1 57 JOHN BRAITHWAITE ** It seems trite to point out that if Australia's population doubled, then the incidence of crime in Australia would double. However, the proposition that the crime rate would more than double and perhaps increase four or six fold, is not so obvious. It is the purpose of this paper to show that population growth increases the crime rate (per capita). One effect of population increase is growth in the average size of cities and towns. If the effect of a doubling of the population is spread evenly among all communities: then towns of 5,000 will become towns of 10,000; cities of 1 million will become cities of 2 million; and so on. Crime and City size - Theory Much theorising has been done on the question of why larger cities have higher crime rates than smaller communities. Large cities are said to be characterised by anonymity. In aworld of strangers men lose theirfeelingsof responsibility for their fellow man. The anonymity of the city permits the criminal to commit his offence with little fear of being recognised. Anony­ mity is thought to be particularly important in the

Journal

Australian & New Zealand Journal of CriminologySAGE

Published: Mar 1, 1975

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