Date of Conferral
4-11-2025
Date of Award
April 2025
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Criminal Justice
Advisor
Kimberley Blackmon
Abstract
Criminal justice reform and calls to defund the police have become more prevalent since the unrest that occurred in 2020. Research to date has looked at criminal justice reform, crime causation, and discussions surrounding defunding the police. Previous research has looked at police funding conceptually but not from a quantitative lens. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental study was to provide an investigative analysis into police department funding and the effect of the funding on violent crime rates using strain theory as its foundation. The research question addressed the relationship between police department budgets, specifically the criminal investigations unit, and violent crime rates. Secondary data on three different municipalities in Missouri, United States were used. Secondary data was collected from the Uniform Crime Report compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation or from the police agency itself as well as public records that were available for the budgets for the years 2019-2023. Findings from a correlation analysis found there was a statistically significant relationship between the criminal investigations unit and violent crime rates. In a regression analysis, the findings indicated that as the budget increased rates of violent crime decreased. The findings in this study have the potential to produce positive social change by arming policy makers with insight on where limited budgets are going to be most effectively spent
Recommended Citation
Schwartz, Julie, "An investigative analysis into the correlation between police department budgets and violent crime rates." (2025). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 17508.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/17508
