NCJ Number
177669
Date Published
1992
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the relationship between criminality and economic conditions summarizes recent research on the topic and argues that a relationship exists, but it is much more complicated than is ordinarily assumed.
Abstract
The effects of economic adversity vary according to whether the focus is on the factors that determine participation in criminality or on the factors that determine the frequency of offending by particular individuals. Prolonged periods of relative economic deprivation in an area appear to act through a variety of mechanisms to increase criminal participation rate sand therefore the size of the offending population. However, trends over time in most crime categories are determined as much by factors that affect individual rates of offending as by factors that affect the size of the population of offenders. Moreover, depending on the offense examined, economic adversity can amplify or suppress rates of offending. These findings also suggest that the effects of passing economic crises, including the severe economic recession currently taking place in Australia, are less important to future crime trends than is the overall pattern of economic development. The analysis concludes that nothing could be more harmful to law and order than an economy that generates rapidly rising living standards for some people and an abundance of criminal opportunities for the rest. Figures and 26 references