2012 Joined data
2015 Joined data
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_iDVzKxa9HhN0ViNFZZY054cFU/view?usp=sharing
Economic growth proves to be the best way to decrease crime in Arkansas cities.
The ten cities in Arkansas with the highest violent crime rate in 2012 all decreased that rate by 2015. The top ten cities in Arkansas with the highest violent crime rates in 2012 all decreased the property crime rate by 2015, except one, Trumann.
A cross reference of the top ten cities for both crime rates displayed creates a list of 16 cities. They are Ozark, Texarkana, Lake Village, Pine Bluff, West Memphis, Paragould, Waldrom, Little Rock, Blytheville, Hope, Caddo Valley, Jacksonville, North Little Rock, Trumann, Mulberry, and Newport.
Among these cities, West Memphis, Pine Bluff, Paragould, Waldrom, and Little Rock made some of the biggest headway in decreasing crime rates. They all created this decrease by simultaneously decreasing unemployment rates and increasing per capita income in order to create maximum economic growth.
Pine Bluff and West Memphis had the highest crime rates, and they both had some of the biggest decreases in crime rates by creating economic growth in this way.
Mulberry almost follows the pattern too if it wasn’t for its increased property crime rate, but it only increased by 0.2 percent, a small percentage.
While simultaneously increasing income and decreasing unemployment rates produces some of the best results, it is not the only way to stimulate economic growth that will lead to decreased crime rates.
Ozark, Texarkana, and Lake Village increased income and the unemployment rate. Blytheville, Hope, and Caddo Valley did the opposite, by decreasing income and the unemployment rate. All of these cities saw a decrease in crime rates.
Decreases in unemployment rates and increases in income produce decreased crime rates even when not working simultaneously.
But which is more influential on crime rates? Increased income, or decreased unemployment rates?
The leftover cities within the 16 don’t provide enough insight to verify one or the other.
The ones that are leftover are Trumann, Mulberry, Jacksonville, Newport, and North Little Rock.
None of these fall into the above categories exactly due to the fact that they had an increase in at least one crime rate category. Or based off the fact that they fall into a category of increased unemployment rates, decreased income, and decreased crime rates.
This proves, that the above theories are not perfect. There are factors other than unemployment rate and income that could decrease crime rates, North Little Rock and Jacksonville both prove that. An increase in income and decrease in unemployment rates does not always ensure a decrease in crime rates, but it tends to.
Based on this data the majority of these 16 cities that did decrease unemployment rates, increase per capita incomes, or did both, saw at least one of the two crime rates decrease.
The only one out of these 16 that did at least one of the above and didn’t see a decrease to either crime rate was Trumann.
These top 16 cities can not represent all Arkansas cities, nor can they prove whether which economic growth rate factor is independently the most effective in decreasing crime rates.
Although, they do provide evidence that the more a city’s economy it stimulated, the more likely it is to have a decrease in crime rates, any economic stimulation is likely to bring about a decrease in crime rates.
The cities that did see a decrease in at least one crime rate tend to have stimulated the city’s economy in some way.
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