Date of Award

Spring 6-29-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department/Program

Criminal Justice

Language

English

First Advisor or Mentor

Gohar Petrossian

Second Reader

Jeff Mellow

Abstract

The present study assesses the degree to which temperature affects the crime rates in all 62 counties in the State of New York. Five different crimes (i.e., robbery, aggravated assault, burglary; larceny, and motor vehicle theft) for the year 2019 were selected from the Division of Criminal Justice Services of New York to be examined. The current study examined whether the rate of these crimes was associated with the changes in weather, with the assumption that higher weathers would lead to higher property and violent crimes, when controlling for the effect of various control variables. The findings suggest that the likelihood of all five crimes to happen was, indeed, affected by weather when controlling for the population, age, gender, race, and immigration trends of the counties. Relevant policy recommendations are suggested in light of these findings.

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