Ecological and social correlates of violent crime

Resilient communities often experience deprivation in multiple areas. Understanding how these areas relate to each other can help policymakers develop effective interventions that target multiple issues, even if the primary focus is a single outcome, such as violent crime. The present study examines counties in Texas, California, Arizona, and Pennsylvania to explore how environmental and social factors are associated with increased violent crime. Our results indicated that violent crime in these counties were predicted by the presence of leaking storage tanks, along with the percentage of low-birthweight pregnancies, housing burden, reduced reading scores, and percentage of children in free lunch programs. In path analysis, environmental factors predicted both individual wellness and violent crime. These results suggest that ecological and social predictors of crime intertwine in important and complicated ways that warrant further examination and policy response.