The shift towards marijuana legalization and its effect on violent crime trends

Abstract

This study assesses the restrictiveness of state marijuana policies on overall violent crime rates. Considering the effects that current marijuana policies have on violent crime rates within individualized states will hopefully allow for more refined decisions based on empirical data in both state and federal legislation in the future. Data was collected from 1995 in order to allow for a time period prior to any marijuana legalization, medical or recreational and every third year after until 2019, when the most recent data had been made available for violent crime rates. Four different states were analyzed: California, Hawaii, Texas and North Carolina so as to give a general, broad-spectrum view of populations throughout the United States. Their legislation policies on marijuana, violent crime rates per year, and total crime rates per year were compiled and numerical data was recoded into tables and some converted into percentages. The data was then used to see if there was a significant correlation between if and when marijuana (medical or recreational) was legalized and the overall violent crime rate in the state. Finally, all four states were compared based on their legislation and violent crime rates to see if this could prove any association found. The data and the graphs generated did not show a statistically significant relationship between marijuana legislation and violent crime rates.