Were cell phones associated with lower crime in the 1990s and 2000s?

Abstract

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 from 1984 to 2009 and performs time-series analysis to examine the relationship between cell phone ownership and a range of crime types. Results indicate a 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

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the reviewers as well as David Greenberg, John MacDonald, and David McDowall for useful comments and suggestions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erin A. Orrick

Erin A. Orrick, PhD, is an assistant professor in the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University. Her research interests include contemporary issues in corrections, among them prisoner reentry, recidivism, and prison population reduction policies. Her recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, and other peer reviewed outlets.

Alex R. Piquero

Alex R. Piquero is Ashbel Smith Professor of Criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas, Adjunct Professor Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice, and Governance, Griffith University Australia, Faculty Affiliate, Center for Violence and Injury Prevention George Warren Brown School of Social Work Washington University in St. Louis, and Co-Editor, Journal of Quantitative Criminology. His research interests include criminal careers, criminological theory, and quantitative research methods. He is Fellow of both the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.