Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social Disorganization Theory And Crime In West Virginia, Billy Crum

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to test the social disorganization theory by determining how a community’s ability to maintain social control effects crime rate, especially in areas of West Virginia that are experiencing rapid social change. Do lack of social controls and rapid social change effect crime rates in rural areas, and if so, what kinds of crimes are likely to be effected? This study is going to attempt to answer this puzzling question. This study uses poverty rate, unemployment rate, and high school dropout rate as the independent variables, and crime rate as the dependent variable.