How Economic Inequality Correlates to Violent Crime Rate

Abstract

Does income inequality effect violent crime rates in the United States. This is an important question to look at due to the growing unrest about economic inequality in the United States. I used state-based data from 2004-2017 on violent crime rates and Gini coefficient to see if they were correlated. Aggravated assault and murder were found to have no correlation after controlling for state and year level fixed effects. Robbery was found to have a negative correlation as well. Rape was found to have a positive correlation after controlling for state and year level fixed effects. There are limitations to this data such as scope of research, other variables that effect violent crime rates, and human behavior. More research needs to be done to confirm the results of this study.