Marriage and County-level Crime Rates

• Author: Ray Paternoster,Michael Rocque,Steven E. Barkan,Chad Posick
• Published date: 01 February 2015
• Date: 01 February 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0022427814547113
• Subject Matter: Article

Article

Marriage and

County-level

Crime Rates:

A Research Note

Michael Rocque

1

, Chad Posick

2

,

Steven E. Barkan

3

, and Ray Paternoster

4

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether the relationship between marriage and

crime extends beyond the individual level of analysis by examining the

relationship between marriage rates and crime rates at the county level.

Methods: Linear regression analyses of marriage rates on various types of

crime, including violent, property, drug, and juvenile crime arrest rates.

Results: The analyses suggest that marriage rates are inversely related to

rates of violent crime, property crime, drug use, and juvenile violence.

Conclusions: This research note suggests that the relationship between

marriage and crime is more far reaching than previous studies have

indicated. Final remarks address the implications of the findings for theore-

tical work on crime causation and for public policy.

1

Department of Sociology, Bates College, Lewiston, ME, USA

2

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro,

GA, USA

3

Department of Sociology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

4

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park,

MD, USA

Corresponding Author:

Michael Rocque, Department of Sociology, Bates College, 265 Pettengill Hall, Lewiston Maine,

04240, USA.

Email: mrocque@bates.edu

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2015, Vol. 52(1) 130-145

ªThe Author(s) 2014

Reprints and permission:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/0022427814547113

jrc.sagepub.com

Keywords

marriage, crime, macro, social control

Introduction

With the ascent of the life-course criminology paradigm, the importance of

marriage as a correlate of criminal behavior has become a central topic of

study. Some research in this tradition shows that marriage can act as a

‘‘turning point’’ in a criminal career, leading males to desist from crime

after a spirited juvenile or early adult period (see, e.g., Laub and Sampson

2003; Sampson, Laub, and Wimer 2006; van Schellen, Apel, and Nieuw-

beerta 2012). With a few notable exceptions (Giordano, Cernkovich, and

Rudolph 2002; Warr 2002) and despite some criticism for neglecting certain

historical and gender nuances (Bersani, Laub, and Nieuwbeerta 2009; Gior-

dano et al. 2002), this micro-level work is widely regarded as having

demonstrated a strong and negative impact of marriage on crime, with more

ambiguity with respect to the exact causal mechanisms producing this effect

(see Craig, Diamond, and Piquero 2014).

This demonstration is welcome, but it may also be too narrow (see also

Beaver et al. 2008). While micro effects are important, there are reasons to

suspect that marriage may also be related to crime rates at the macro level.

In this way of thinking, higher marriage rates at the ecological level may be

related to certain processes that help to lower crime rates. If a relationship

does exist between marriage and crime at the macro level, the protective

benefits of marriage might be more far reaching than previously thought.

In this research note, we revisit the relationship between marriage and

crime by exploring aggregate marriage rates in relation to various macro

indicators of crime. We focus on differences among U.S. counties in violent

crime, property crime, drug use, and juvenile delinquency rates. Our

approach is to examine whether the inverse relationship between marriage

and crime observed at the individual level also extends to other levels of

analysis. If so, this has implications for the underlying mechanisms by

which marriage is related to crime.

Marriage and Crime

A substantial body of prior research addresses the relationship between

marriage and criminal offending at the individual level. Sampson and Laub

(1993:161) found marriage to be negatively associated with criminality

Rocque et al. 131