NCJ Number
131442
Date Published
1990
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Data from crime surveys conducted in many countries indicates that crime is linked with socioeconomic status in that the cost of crime is experienced most by a country's most impoverished residents and, in the international context, by the least developed and developing countries.
Abstract
Crime is being displaced from developed countries to developing countries as multinational corporations operate in countries lacking laws providing protection from environmental pollution and other dangerous practices. In addition, in all countries the underclass, consisting of both the homeless and those spending more than 70 percent of their income on housing, is increasingly separated from the rest of the economy and culture. Furthermore, while property crime rates in developed countries are generally much higher than those in developing countries, their impact is reduced by the higher levels of economic and social support in developed countries. Thus, crime is actually not a cost of development. Finally, the least developed countries have become the world's underclass, falling further and further behind the rest of the world. Figures, tables, addendum discussing the connection between drugs and crime, and 47 reference notes