The point of reality shows is for their stars to behave badly, if not for outright criminal enterprises to develop. Now a study to be released Aug. 2 in the journal Economics Letters argues that reality shows may not only breed delinquents but attract them off camera as well. Its key finding is that crime seemed to rise in Laguna Beach, Calif., precisely because "Laguna Beach" was filmed there.

Lesley Chiou and Mary Lopez authored the study. (The briefest of abstracts can be found here.) They're assistant professors of economics at Occidental College in L.A. -- and, yes, admit to watching Lauren Conrad, Kristin Cavallari, et al. on both the original show and its spin-offs. Chiou told AOL News that she began her research after reading news reports about residents' fears in Laguna Beach: that the MTV show of the same name would turn their well-to-do, predominantly white enclave into a tourist hub. And you know what follows that: crime and sexual predators.

It turns out the concerns were pretty much validated. The Occidental study shows rapes and non-residential burglaries rising after the show debuted in 2004. Specifically, on a monthly basis, an additional two non-residential burglaries occurred for every 1,000 Laguna Beach residents. (Laguna Beach has a population of roughly 24,000, so that makes for a uptick of almost 50 such incidents every 30 or 31 days.) Rapes increased .013 for every 1,000 residents per month. These findings are striking enough -- especially if you're a parent who predicted this -- but, more important, they're statistically significant.

Chiou and Lopez looked at local crime data from 2002 (to get a base for where crime was before the show) until 2006 (when MTV dropped the series after its third and final season).They also studied the crime rates in neighboring Dana Point, similar to Laguna Beach in almost every demographic. Dana Point didn't have the crime increases.

All told, Chiou and Lopez looked at nine crime categories: burglary, residential burglary, non-residential burglary, robbery, residential robbery, non-residential robbery, rape, auto theft and larceny. Perhaps the most revealing finding to come out of this cross-section of data concerns a category of crime in Laguna Beach that didn't notably rise: residential thefts. It seemed so strange, Chiou thought. Laguna Beach showed the interiors of all these rich homes, on all these rich blocks. Why weren't any of them getting hit up?

But it's obvious why not. And it's the conclusion Chiou reached: All these homes are gated. Laguna Beach residents have to wonder if they should have kept their town's doors closed when MTV came calling.