Urban Crime

What do we know about urban crime? We know that cities are generally more crime prone than the hinterland. We also know that crime rates vary within cities. We are not quite sure why this variation exists nor why variations in crime rates vary dramatically across cities. The major theoretical perspectives that are used to explain these observed variations include social disorganization theory, subculture theory, and conflict theories. We believe that the current evidence favors the two social structural alternatives—disorganization and conflict—but acknowledge that the social structure of the city affects urban culture, which, too, influences criminality. It appears that social inequality, in varied forms, is an important social force affecting many facets of urban life, including crime.