“Were Cell Phones Associated With Lower Crime in the 1990s and 2000s?”, Erin A. Orrick, Alex R. Piquero2013-12-20 (crime, sociology of tech; backlinks)⁠:

Empirical studies of the crime decline of the 1990s and early 2000s have focused on factors such as: incarceration, economy, policing, demographics, security-related technology, and abortion. One recent analysis examined the growth in mobile phone technology, finding tentative support for a deterrent effect, but is in need of expansion and replication.

The current study uses national-level data 1984^–₂₅2009_15ya and performs time-series analysis to examine the relationship between cell phone ownership and a range of crime types.

Results: indicate a statistically-significant, negative relationship between changes in cell phone ownership rates and changes in the property crime index, even with controls for relevant crime-drop variables, but a very minimal relationship to the violent crime index.

Implications and directions for future research are noted.

[Keywords: crime drop, cell phone ownership, security hypothesis, violent crime, property crime]

Backlinks: