Relations between human beings and the physical environment have been the foci of research and speculation for at least two millennia. One such focus has dealt with the relationships between climate and crime. This paper develops four hypotheses concerning the interaction between violent behavior and the thermal environment. These hypotheses relate to the structural density of local areas, alcohol consumption across the city, calendar effects, and neighborhood context. We developed a taxonomy of high-, medium-, and low-status residential areas ("neighborhoods") in Dallas, Texas. These groupings formed the basis of several crosstabulations in which the relative frequency of aggravated assaults was the dependent variable. Neighborhood types differed markedly in the amplitude of their summer peaking of assaults, low-status neighborhoods having a peak not amenable to explanation entirely on the basis of month length or number of weekend days in the months. Assaults directly linked to alcohol sales establishments were less prominent than expected. Apartment-based assaults were heavily overrepresented in the low-status neighborhoods. Although findings reported here are exploratory and suggestive, they imply that giving greater attention to environmental influences in geographic contexts may be appropriate.

Research in both laboratory and field settings has suggested a link between thermal stress and violent behavior, and both linear and curvilinear models have been investigated. A dearth of field studies prompted the analysis reported here, which is based on data for some 10,000 aggravated assaults occurring the City of Dallas in 1980 (a summer of severe heat stress) and 1981. This analysis replicates and extends certain aspects of recent work by Anderson and Anderson (1984) relating to the so‐called linear and curvilinear hypotheses. Thermal stress is measured in two ways: a Discomfort Index (DI), which takes into account the influence of humidity acting in concert with temperature, and ambient temperature. Regression analyses were performed in two stages. In the first, data for all neighborhoods and all days of the study period were combined into ambient temperature and DI models. At the second stage, models differentiated between the three levels of neighborhood socioeconomic status. With weekend controlled, DI and ambient temperature were significant independent variables in the ‘overall’ model and in medium and low status neighborhoods. However, when linear effects were controlled, the curvilinear measures were never significant. The analysis generally tended to confirm Anderson and Anderson's suggestion that a reduction of aggression with increasing temperature does not appear to occur within the normal range of temperatures. This analysis further suggested that the hypothesized curvilinear effect is weak, if not entirely absent, even during conditions of extreme heat.

No abstract

No abstract

A series of computer-generated maps are presented, illustrating the state-level distribution of major crimes in the United States for the year 1968. The maps are divided into two broad groups-those relating to ( a ) crimes of violence, and ( b ) crimes against property. In the violent crime group, distributions are shown for murder, rape, robbery, and assault. The dominance of the South in terms of homicide is particularly striking. Burglary, larceny over fifty dollars, and auto theft are the property crimes represented. Western states, and various highly metropolitan states (such as New York) generally exhibit the highest property crime rates. Summary tables show the states with extreme (high or low) crime rates. States with the lowest rates generally lack large metropolitan nodes, while the converse is true, with California, New York, and Maryland heading the list of states with high rates in multiple crime categories. INTRODUCTION1