Time series analysis of crime rates

A methodological critique of Cantor and Land's (1985) approach to the time series analysis of the crime-unemployment relationship is developed. Error correction models for U.S, homicide and robbery rates for the years 1946-1997 are presented to illustrate procedures for analyzing nonstationary time series data. The critique is followed by a discussion of methodological problems in work by Devine et al. (1988), Smith et al. (1992), and Britt (1994, 1997) that builds on Cantor and Land's approach.