Crime in India: a spatio-temporal analysis.

Using National Crime Records Bureau and National Sample Survey data, this article explores the Spatio-temporal patterns of different types of crime in India. To explain these spatial patterns, we use spatial panel data regression techniques that account for spatial dependencies between different crimes and their socio-economic predictors at the NSS-region level. The results show that different types of crime have different time consistent spatial clustering of high and low crime regions. Evidence has been found that the prevalence of crime in a region is influenced by the crime rate of its neighbouring regions. This influence is linked to the spatial diffusion of criminal behaviour and harmful social norms that spread across contiguous regions over time. Our results also confirm the importance of various socio-economic variables like female literacy rate, sex ratio, inequality, regional prosperity, etc., in shaping the prevalence of crime in India. These findings could have significant implications for the policies aiming to reduce crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]