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A Note on the Cost of Crime to Victims

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  • Mark A. Cohen

    (Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203, USA)

Abstract

Hedonic pricing models have been used to infer the cost of crime by estimating property value differences in high versus low crime areas. However, previous studies have been unable to disentangle the cost of individual crimes. This note reports on an attempt to estimate the cost of individual crimes by examining the pain, suffering and fear endured by crime victims. Actual victim injury rates are combined with jury awards in personal injury accident cases to estimate pain, suffering and fear. Crime-related death rates are combined with estimates of the value of life to arrive at monetary values for the risk of death. Not only does this approach yield crime-specific cost estimates, but these estimates are quite consistent with the property value methods of valuing aggregate crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark A. Cohen, 1990. "A Note on the Cost of Crime to Victims," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 27(1), pages 139-146, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:27:y:1990:i:1:p:139-146
    DOI: 10.1080/00420989020080081
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Philip J. Cook & Daniel A. Graham, 1977. "The Demand for Insurance and Protection: The Case of Irreplaceable Commodities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 91(1), pages 143-156.
    2. Thaler, Richard, 1978. "A note on the value of crime control: Evidence from the property market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 137-145, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Helsley, Robert W. & O'Sullivan, Arthur, 2001. "Stolen Gun Control," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 436-447, November.
    2. Edward L. Glaeser, 1998. "Are Cities Dying?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 139-160, Spring.
    3. Chau-kiu Cheung & Wing Hong Chui, 2021. "Crime Costs to the Public in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 283-296, August.
    4. Soares, Rodrigo R., 2006. "The welfare cost of violence across countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 821-846, September.
    5. Francesca M. Calamunci & Livio Ferrante & Rossana Scebba, 2022. "Closed for mafia: Evidence from the removal of mafia firms on commercial property values," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(5), pages 1487-1511, November.
    6. Allen K. Lynch, 2010. "The Economic Costs of Criminal Activity: A Discussion of Methodological Approaches and Empirical Estimates," Chapters, in: Bruce L. Benson & Paul R. Zimmerman (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Crime, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Compton, Andrew, 2019. "Decomposing the Societal Opportunity Costs of Property Crime," MPRA Paper 97002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Rodrigo R. Soares, 2003. "The Welfare Cost of Violence (New Version: Corrected Calculations)," Law and Economics 0312003, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 Sep 2004.
    9. Tânia Dias & Pedro Sousa, 2012. "Explicit Social Costs Of Crime In A Time Of Crisis - Costs Of Law Enforcement In The Drivers’ Crimes," Book Chapters, in: João Sousa Andrade & Marta C. N. Simões & Ivan Stosic & Dejan Eric & Hasan Hanic (ed.), Managing Structural Changes - Trends and Requirements, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 111-128, Institute of Economic Sciences.
    10. Ralph B. Taylor, 1995. "The Impact of Crime on Communities," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 539(1), pages 28-45, May.

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