There is general agreement that urbanism is an important correlate of criminality. However, the
interpretation of the relation is a matter of theoretical dispute. Some argue that differences in
crime rates across the urban-rural dimension can be attributed to differences in the compositions of
the populations residing in those areas. The most common argument is that there is a confounding
effect between urbanism and race. This paper uses National Crime Survey data to test the
compositional argument. The findings imply a reconsideration of the accepted relationship
between urbanism and crime generally portrayed in the criminological literature. Data limitations
are noted.
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