The Effect of the Unemployment Rate on Rape Essay

The Effect of the Unemployment Rate on Rape - Essay Example Table 1: Raw employment and rape data from each of the 50 states for the year of 2010. Unemployment Rape 9.5 28.2 8 75 10 33.9 7.9 45 12.4 22.4 8.9 43.7 9.1 16.3 8.5 34.7 9.6 31.1 11.5 28.6 10.2 21.6 6.6 26.8 9.3 33.5 10.3 23.6 10.2 27.2 6.1 27.4 7 38.8 7.5 31.8 7.9 27.2 7.5 29.3 8.5 21.3 12.5 26.7 7.3 47.3 10.4 33.9 9.6 31.2 7.2 23.9 4.7 32.4 14.9 36.8 6.1 35.7 9.5 31.3 8.4 11.2 8.6 46.5 10.6 14.3 3.9 21.1 7 35.2 10.1 32.1 7.1 38.7 10.8 31.7 8.7 26.9 11.6 28.1 11.2 31.7 4.8 47.9 9.7 33.7 8.2 33.3 7.7 34.3 6.2 21.1 9.6 31.1 9.1 38.1 9.1 19.1 8.3 20.9 7 29.1 The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to test for a significant correlation between the two variables (Table 2). A two tailed test was used. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was -0.137 which indicates that there is a weakly negative relationship. For this study, an ? value of less than 0.05 was taken to mean the result was significant (at ?=0.05, the result has a 5% likelihood of being incorrect) (Lehman, 2005). T he p value for the correlation was 0.336, indicating that there was no statistically significant relationship between the two variables. Table 2: Output of Pearson Product-Moment Correlation test for the raw data given in Table 1. Unemployment Rape Unemployment Pearson Correlation 1 -0.137 Sig. (2-tailed) 0.336 N 51 51 Rape Pearson Correlation -0.137 1 Sig. ... nsequence of these results, the null hypothesis, that there is no statistically significant relationship between the rates of rape and unemployment, is not rejected. These results mean that as the unemployment rate increased, the number of rapes per 100,000 people decreased. However, this trend was slight, and not significantly significant. Consequently, the most reliable and accurate conclusion from the data would be that the unemployment rate had no significant effect on the number of rapes. Policy and Research Effects The results of this study, as well as its policy implications, indicate little to no effect of unemployment rate on rape. Furthermore, the small effect that was observed was in the opposite effect than was predicted. It suggests that rape and unemployment are distinct factors that do not influence one another. As a consequence, and if the results of more rigorous studies support this finding, policy should not look at trying to decrease the amount of rape by decreasi ng unemployment, but rather work at developing solutions to both problems independently. The effect of unemployment on rape have been the focus of many studies, however the results from the current paper indicate that there may not be an effect. I would recommend that studies examine this trend over a longer period of time, as only one year was considered for this paper. In addition, it would be worth widening the focus to include other factors that may correlate with levels of rape, such as the prevalence of internet pornography, which has been suggested to decrease rape due to providing release for potential offenders. Other factors that have also been suggested to affect the amount of rape occurring include: the level of crime overall, availability of alcohol and drugs, poverty and