Award Abstract #0237968
CAREER: Institutional Structure, Civic Engagement, and Crime in Nonmetropolitan America

NSF Org:	SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences
Initial Amendment Date:	February 24, 2003
Latest Amendment Date:	April 11, 2003
Award Number:	0237968
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Patricia White SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
Start Date:	March 15, 2003
Expires:	August 31, 2004 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$400058
Investigator(s):	Matthew Lee mlee@lsu.edu (Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Mississippi State University PO Box 6156 MISSISSIPPI STATE, MS 39762 662/325-7404
NSF Program(s):	EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES, SOCIOLOGY
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):	CVIS, 9150, 1187, 1045, 1037
Program Element Code(s):	9150, 1331

ABSTRACT

This CAREER project develops a research and teaching program that examines the

relationship between non-economic institutional structures, civic engagement, and crime rates in nonmetropolitan communities. Accumulating evidence suggests nonmetropolitan communities or rural communities exhibit substantial variation in rates of crime over time and space. However, criminological theory and empirical research continues to focus on urban communities. Consequently, students of sociology, criminology, and criminal justice are rarely exposed to issues of crime and its control outside of an urban context. These deficits persist despite the facts that the nonmetropolitan population is steadily growing, and that traditionally urban problems such as drug production and distribution (and their attendant problems) are spreading to nonmetropolitan areas. The general objectives of the research are to: (1) articulate more thoroughly a conceptual model to explain variation in crime rates over time and space emphasizing the importance of community institutional structures and civic engagement for strengthening informal social control, and (2) provide a series of cross-sectional and longitudinal tests of the conceptual framework using Uniform Crime Report and Supplementary Homicide Report data and information from the Census of Population and Housing, the Census of Churches, and the Economic Census. The study also investigates variations in the explanatory power of the framework across crime types and for disaggregated crime rates (gender, age, race, etc.).

The educational component consists of developing an undergraduate course on rural crime. This class makes use of innovative instructional techniques, including experiential learning and assisted learning activities. These techniques will be augmented by the development of a research and teaching web site where students can access data on crime, institutions, and civic engagement for nonmetropolitan communities. The PI will also develop a graduate course on rural crime and community organization. The cumulative efforts of the ongoing research project will be integrated into this course.

The intellectual merits of the study lie in advancing a more concrete perspective on the social sources of community organization and applying it to crime in a generally neglected context - nonmetropolitan communities. Additionally, previously unanswered questions on the explanatory efficacy of the theory across sub-categories of crime are addressed. The project has significant broader impacts in that it will not only enhance the knowledge base on rural crime, but also increase the labor force marketability of a student body drawn primarily from rural areas. Many of the students will go on to work in criminal justice and social service agencies in nonmetropolitan areas after graduation. Study results can inform social policy on how to effectively engage institutions at the local level and cultivate civic engagement in communities at large.

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