A STEPWISE MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSION PROGRAM, USING THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLES OF INDUSTRIAL DIVERSIFICATION, POPULATION SIZE, AND CONCENTRATION, WAS USED TO TEST THIS HYPOTHESIS. FOUR TEST VARIABLES - METROPOLITAN STATUS (TWO TYPES), FUNCTIONAL TYPE OF CITY, AND REGIONAL LOCATION - WERE USED TO ELABORATE THE BASIC RELATIONSHIP. THE POPULATION EXAMINED CONSISTED OF COMMUNITIES, WITH POPULATIONS OF 25,000 OR OVER SUBMITTING COMPLETE CRIMINAL STATISTICS TO THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION AND FOR WHICH THERE WAS CENSUS DATA AVAILABLE FOR ALL THE INDICES REQUIRED BY THE RESEARCH PROPOSITION. STUDY RESULTS SUPPORTED THE PROPOSED RELATIONSHIP, ALTHOUGH AT ONLY A MODERATE (0.40) LEVEL OF PREDICTIVE EFFICIENCY. AS A CONTINGENCY VARIABLE, REGIONAL LOCATION HAD A GREATER SPECIFYING EFFECT ON THE PREDICTED RELATIONSHIP (FROM 0.43 TO 0.67) THAN ANY OF THE TEST VARIABLES. A LIST OF REFERENCES IS PROVIDED.