Discussion Question:
The legislature of a given state wishes to dedicate its budget surplus to reducing the number of violent and property crimes in their state. They have asked you to determine in which activity the budget surplus will be most effectively employed: police protection, judicial and legal operations, or corrections. Is there a relationship between expenditures on criminal justice activities and the number of violent crimes and property crimes?
Data Set: Crimes by type and expenditures (in thousands of dollars) by activity, by state, 1993-1996
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics 1993-1996 Criminal Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/eande.htm) and the FBI Uniform Crime Reports (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/datast.htm).
Advanced Questions:
Is it possible that expenditures on criminal justice activities are caused by high crime rates, as opposed to expenditures determining the crime rate? How could you tell which direction causality flows? What other information would you want to have to understand the relationship between criminal justice expenditures and crime rates?
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