This paper examines whether the legalization of marijuana has contributed to crime rates around Colorado and Washington. Specifically, the primary objective of this paper is to analyze incident based crime rates in a 1,400-ft radius around each dispensary before and after legalization. I collected incident-based crime data from cities across Colorado and Washington from January 2009 to November 2014. For the control variables, I primarily used census block groups around each dispensary and employment data collected from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). After sorting each variable into sub-categories, I am able to test my hypothesis at different levels across the dataset. Aggregate data analysis supports the hypothesis that legalizing recreational marijuana would have no statistically significant effect on crime in Colorado and Washington. Categorizing my results suggest crimes such as Burglary and Robbery increased by up to 111%, while Vandalism and ‘All Other Crimes’ decreased by up to 130% since legalization.
The author has given permission for this work to be deposited in the Digital Archive of Colorado College.
Colorado College Honor Code upheld.
Includes bibliographical references.
The author has given permission for this work to be deposited in the Digital Archive of Colorado College.
Colorado College Honor Code upheld.
