Citation

Trawick MW, Howsen RM. Appl. Econ. Lett. 2006; 13(6): 341-345.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13504850500395324

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Prior studies have explored the relationship between race and religion and their effect on various crimes. In the USA race is typically defined as the proportion of a community that is African-American or nonwhite. Likewise, religion is defined as the proportion of a community that adheres to any religious denomination. This study extends earlier work by employing Herfindahl indices as measures of community homogeneity with respect to race and ethnicity as well as religious denominations. It also measures religiosity based on four different denominational groups, rather than religiosity as an aggregate. Results indicate that as a community's degree of homogeneity increases, in terms of both race/ethnicity and religion, crime decreases; and that the effects of religion on crime may vary by denomination.