Property Crimes Case Study # 49

Applied Managerial Statistics: GM533

Virginia Davis, Lauren Holder, Stanley Philip and Andrea Watson

Executive Summary

The Property Crimes study examined data provided by various U.S. government agencies on crime rates in the fifty U.S. states. Other data studied were eight possible contributing factors such as per capita income, high school dropout rate, average precipitation, population density, and urbanization. Analysis revealed, of the eight possible contributing factors, three of those variables (urbanization rate, high school dropout rate and population density) affected property crime rates. Of the given data, the model accounted for approximately 66% of the contributing factors associated with property crimes. Statistically, the data is generally considered to be strong, however, to account for the remaining 34% of factors contributing to property crime rates in the U.S., further data and evaluation of other possible factors would be necessary.

Introduction
Property crime, as defined by the U.S. Department of Justice (2011), is the taking of money or property without force or threat to victims and is inclusive of the following offenses: burglary; automotive theft, larceny and arson. An exception to the rule is arson, although it does not involve the taking of property, it does use force against victims. Additionally, crime is defined as an act of violence that is carried out by one or more individuals and can be toward another person or property.
The purpose of the analysis of this case study is to evaluate available data and to determine the variables that contribute the most to crimes and address several conceptions and misconceptions about the leading causes of property crimes in the U.S.

Questions the study will attempt to answer include: 1. Are crimes rates higher in urban than rural areas?