Citation

Ouimet M. Can. Rev. Sociol. Anthropol. 1999; 36(3): 389-408.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, University of Toronto Press)

DOI

10.1111/j.1755-618X.1999.tb00581.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the past three decades, a number of researchers have undertaken the comparison of American and Canadian crime rates. Among them, Lipset (1990) and Hagan (1991) have shown that violence was more frequent south of the border than in Canada. Using infra-national disaggregated crime rates, this article shows that differences in the two countries' crime rates are not univocal. First, there is no significant difference in the prevalence in burglaries and in car thefts between both nations. Second, differences in the robbery rate and the homicide rate shrink dramatically when controlling for the region and removing the effect of metropolises. What makes U.S. crime rates appear much higher than Canadian ones can be attributable to a small number of states and cities that have extraordinarily high crime rates. Two factors are proposed to account for this situation: residential segregation of the poor within cities and the availability of firearms.