Valuation of Specific Crime Rates: Summary

• NCJ Number: 187771
• Author(s): William Alan Bartley
• Date Published: May 2000
• Length: 9 pages
• Grant Number(s): 99-IJ-CX-0006
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

An analysis of the explicit costs of crime to society combined two analytic techniques to obtain a market-based estimate of costs for specific crimes.

Abstract

The first technique used hedonic models that isolate values individuals place on specific amenities and disamenities. The second technique combined the actual out-of-pocket expenses associated with crime with the imputed costs from the pain, suffering, and fear endured by crime victims. The research used nationwide census information on specific crimes committed at the county level over multiple decades. The analysis also studied the effects of crime rates on specific groups of people differentiated by income. In addition, the research expanded the hedonic technique to estimate the value of reducing specific crimes. Results revealed that the effects of crimes varied between the regressions used. The costs of increasing crime rates for the marginal household by 10 percent from their means ranged from $4 to $42 for rape, $51 to $93 for robbery, and $29 to $296 for larceny. Results also indicated that the average rape costs a household from $6,875 to $72,192 in 1980-90 dollars, the average robbery costs $2,239 to $4,094, and a larceny costs $8 to $89. Further research should focus on migration into and out of specific urban areas.