If you’re walking home alone at night, or perhaps in a less-populated part of town, does your cellphone make you feel safer ?

A new study from University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Jonathan Klick, along with colleagues at Penn and George Mason University, speculates that a one-third drop in crime rates in the 1990s might be due to cellphones providing a deterrent for criminals.

“Mobile phones allow for quicker reporting of crimes, and, in some cases, real time communication of details about the crime and the criminal,” the authors write in the study. “The perceived risk of apprehension could increase among motivated offenders when they notice potential targets are carr…

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