Population Size vs. Number of Crime - Is the Relationship Super-Linear?

Do large cities suffer from even greater incidence of crime? According to Bettencourt, et al. (2007), the number of crime follows super-linear relationship as a function of city size. For example, if the population size increases by 100%, the incidence of crime may increase by 120%. We analyzed a total of 11 types of crimes during 1995 to 2010 for about 250 cities exceeding the residents of 100,000 or more in the United States. We found that the relationship between the number of crime counts and size of cities have followed super-linear power function without exception. We also found that the values of scale exponents display time-invariant pattern during the 16-year period