Unemployment and crime rate -- do they go hand-in-hand ??

Question

hello..

can anyone tell me how do i prove (in sociological terms) that the unemployment rate and the crime rate goes together ??

Answer 1

They don't and i'm living proof. Ive been unemployed since i was 20 and have never comited a serious offence, and have no criminal record. I just dont want to work, thats all. Im lazy and i prefer to spend my monday morning's smelling the roses as i go for my walks thenbe stuck in some office.

Unemployment does NOT equal higher crime.!

Answer 2

It can be the other way round too...

Theft > loss of profit/more stress > less money to employ people in the neighbourhood/less businesses want to stay in the area.

This ended up in the yahoo answers australia section, so I presume you're in australia.  Here's the shop lifting statistics for NSW(there's some fancy low unemployment suburbs that have high theft rates like Waverley, Willoughby, there're some poorer country areas too.)

http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bo...

Answer 3

not sure how to phrase it for a sociology paper, but... the most obvious correlation that comes to mind for me is:

loss of job > loss of money > desperation > theft

Answer 4

Well you can ask for the crime figures for

those suburbs of low social economic areas

say in the past 5 years and ask for the , unemployment rate!

Then do the same for wealthy areas

then compare the two.........

Answer 5

Check the crime rate and size of the inmate population during the Great Depression.  That was the highest level of unemployment in American History and both were remarkably lower than today.

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Answer 6

I would not say they go together as such.

People dont do crime becasue there un employed.

Its just becasue the sorts of people that do crime are to lazy to have a job and don't want to do anything

Answer 7

Economy, when unemployment is down more people are working, reducing the amount of people turning to a criminal life style from economic desperation.

    You may also want to look up deviance, as it is a more proper word for sociology.  Sociology definition of crime is the violation of a society's formally enacted criminal law.  Where deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms.

     Some examples; prostitution goes up during unemployment, as individuals become desperate for money as they enter poverty.  Burglary goes up because of the desperation of money.

     Also may want to look up Merton's Strain Theory.  Which pretty much says that due to the fact that our culture puts so much emphasis on wealth, the lack of opportunities to become rich may encourage people, especially the poor, to engage in unconventional means of wealth.  Although, it may not be directly effected by unemployment, unemployment contributes to higher poverty rates, which contributes to crime using Merton's Strain Theory.

  I hope this helps!