ISSN: 0973-5089 | [email protected]

Modernization, Inequality, Routine Activities, and International Variations in Household Property Crimes

Sener Uludag

National Police Academy, Turkey

Mark Colvin, David Hussey, Abbey L. Eng

Kent State University, USA

Abstract:

Using data from the International Crime Victimization Survey, we investigate the relative contribution of macro-level variables (democracy level, economic development, world system status, inequality) and individual-level variables (marital status, age, gender, education, income) in predicting the occurrence and intensity of household property crime victimization (burglary, theft from vehicle, and vehicle theft). The study utilizes multilevel regression analysis, which controls for the "nesting" of individuals living in the same nation and controls for unmeasured random effects among the 42 nations under study. The results of the zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression analysis indicate that all of the individual demographic characteristics have some effect on household property crime victimization as do some macro-level variables (economic development and world system status).

Keyword:

international crime victimization; democracy; modernization; world system; inequality; routine activities; multilevel regression.