Understanding crime seems like a universal problem. Earlier, societies grappled with the problem of evil in the universe from a theological perspective; today, sociologists and criminologists construct theories and study society using a variety of tools and techniques. However the problem is cast, the aim is to better understand why some people violate social norms in ways that are often violent and harmful to those around them and even themselves. By better understanding this problem, ultimately we'd like to be able to create social programs and government policies that minimize the damage and create a safer and hopefully more just society for all involved.

Of course, as data scientists and programmers engaging in data analysis, we're inclined to approach this problem as a data problem. That's what we'll do in the rest of this chapter. We'll gather some crime and economic data and look for a tie between the two. In the course of our analysis, we'll explore the...