Go to the Disaster Center website, http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/. Review the crime rate nationally, and, by picking out links to state reports, compare the recent crime rates in two states. Report on the prevalence of the crimes you have examined. Propose a causal explanation for variation in crime between states, over time, or both. What research design would you propose to test this explanation? Explain.

Go to Crime Stoppers USA's Web site at http://www.crimestopusa.com/. Check out "About Us" and "Crime Stoppers." How is CSUSA "fighting crime"? What does CSUSA's approach assume about the cause of crime? Do you think CSUSA's approach to fighting crime is based on valid conclusions about causality? Explain.

What are the latest trends in crime? Write a short statement after inspecting the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports at www.fbi.gov (go to the "statistics" section under "reports and publications"). You will need to use Adobe Acrobat Reader to access some of these reports (those in PDF format). Follow the instructions on the site if you're not familiar with this program.