Murder and Burglary As Proxy for Substance Abuse

The Murder/Burglary Rate Correlation as a Proxy for Drug Abuse

Abstract:      

Murder and burglary rates are very strongly correlated: much more so than any other crimes recorded by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports program. This paper asks if both of these crimes are so strongly correlated because both are proxies for drug abuse, and suggests that this relationship may justify more examination of a causal connection by researchers with more statistical skills.