ABSTRACT

Crime motivates self-protection, such as undertaken quite visibly by individuals, households, and businesses. But we know much less about self-protection by public institutions, including schools, especially from an economic perspective. This paper examines how universities use campus police for that purpose. Conceptually, self-protection reduces vulnerability to crime but incurs costs whether a victimization happens or not; an actual crime further imposes a victimization cost. The agent (university administration) determines the equilibrium level of self-protection within this analytical environment. Empirical analysis of a two-year panel of U.S. universities reveals increased campus police use given larger external and internal crime threats and in the presence of better students and faculty. Larceny appears particularly influential, but the violent crimes of rape and aggravated assault do not. Extended analysis reveals that schools plagued by burglary and vehicle theft on campus utilize significantly more ancillary, procedural protections such as night-time police escorts. Larger-acreage, larger-enrolment, and religious-affiliated universities exhibit the most ongoing vulnerability to crime, showing significantly lesser campus police use even when facing higher internal crime threats.

摘要

犯罪会激发自我保护，例如个人、家庭和企业非常明显地进行的自我保护。但我们对包括学校在内的公共机构的自我保护知之甚少，尤其是从经济角度来看。本文研究了大学如何为此目的使用校园警察。从概念上讲，自我保护降低了犯罪的脆弱性，但无论受害发生与否都会产生成本；实际犯罪进一步增加了受害成本。代理人（大学管理部门）决定了这种分析环境中自我保护的平衡水平。对一个为期两年的美国大学小组的实证分析表明，鉴于更大的外部和内部犯罪威胁以及更好的学生和教师的存在，校园警察的使用有所增加。盗窃似乎特别有影响力，但强奸和严重殴打的暴力犯罪则不然。扩展分析表明，遭受校园盗窃和车辆盗窃困扰的学校使用了更多的辅助性程序保护措施，例如夜间警察护送。更大面积、更多招生和宗教附属大学表现出最持续的犯罪脆弱性，即使面临更高的内部犯罪威胁，校园警察的使用也显着减少。