Art,
William A. "Sandy" Darity, Jr. and Sam Myers, Jr. published "Impacts
of Violent Crime on Black Family Structure" in Comtemporary Policy
Issues about 2 or 3 years ago. Myers is one of the best empirically
oriented economist on the economics of crime. Several years ago,
maybe 1981 or so, he published an empirical evaluation of Becker's
model in the QJE. See also Myers' "Crime, Entreprenuerialship, and
Labor Force Withdrawal," Contemporary Policy Issues, Vol X, April 1992.
See also Myers and William J. Sabol, "Unemployment and Racial Differences
in Imprisonment," Review of Black Political Economy -- special issue on
Race and crime. This was published separately as a book. Another interesting
paper is Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong, "Empirical Models of Criminal Behavior:
How Significant a factor is Race," RBPE Summer 1986. I would also suggest
contacting Myers directly at the University of Minnesota, Humphries School
of Public Policy. I may have his e-mail address somewhere but you can get
it from his secretary.
peace, pat mason
