Relationship between crime rates and certain population characteristics in Minnesota counties.

Abstract

The first crime rate, hereafter referred to as the judicial crime rate, was based upon convictions in district courts of each of the counties of Minnesota. Calculation of judicial convictions per thousand population put all counties on a comparable basis. Since in most situations only more serious cases are bound over for district court judgments, this would seem to indicate a rate based on more or less major crimes. To avoid excessive bias represented by police "raids" in a single year, a five-year average (1936-1940) was used rather than the single 1940 figure. The second crime rate was calculated in the same manner, but was based on offenses known to police in seven major criminal categories (felonious homicide, rape, robbery, aggrevated assault, burglary, larceny, and auto theft). Since a comparison of figures revealed that a single year was as representative as a five-year average, figures for the single year, 1940, were employed in these calculations.