6.4 Research Questions

Police Presence and Crime

Direct Effect

\(X\) has a direct effect on \(Y\) if \(X \rightarrow Y\) is on the graph.

In this example,

\[\text{LaggedCrime} \rightarrow \text{PolicePerCapita}\]

LaggedCrime has a direct effect on PolicePerCapita.

Indirect Effect

\(X\) has an indirect effect on \(Y\) if \(X \rightarrow Z \rightarrow Y\) is on the graph for some \(Z\).

In this example,

\[\text{SentencingLaws} \rightarrow \text{ExpectedCrimePayout} \rightarrow \text{Crime}\]

SentencingLaws has an indirect effect on Crime.