Personal Space Variations as a Function of Criminal Behavior

Abstract

Employing 90 delinquent male youths as subjects, the current investigation explores the relationship between the amount of personal space requested, ethnic background, and type of criminal offense. As predicted, the amount of personal space requested increases as a function of ethnic dissimilarity between the subject and the approachet. Of particular interest is the finding that the amount of personal space requested is directly related to the type of criminal offense committed by the subject. Subjects who commit crimes against other people uniformly request more personal space than subjects who commit crimes against property, who, in turn, request more personal space than subjects who commit victimless crimes. This was found across all ethnic groups and within each ethnic group analyzed separately.