Microsoft Excel was used to run four different multiple regressions to find out if crime is affected by unemployment. Also at the same time the percentage of unemployment and criminality was plotted in LoggerPro in order to see the Linear fir. The sample states that were carefully chosen for this study include sixteen states representing 54% of the U.S population. The definition of the unemployment level is an annual average shown by as a percentage of the labor force. The total property theft is measured as a percentage of the population and includes larceny, burglary, and motor-vehicle theft. Crimes of violent nature are not included because previous research proved that there is a little or no correlation between these types of crimes and unemployment. Only crimes where visible benefit is obtained are significant. The variables used include per capita for each state, the percentage of males 18-24, percentage of the population black or white and the total funding for elementary and secondary education.
Unfortunately, the study was only conducted from years 2001-2003 due to the limited amount of data available. Demographic data can only be obtained from one reliable source form 2001-2003, and in order to keep the data consistent, the use of one source for the data was chosen. Data was used from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S Department of Education and the U.S Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey.
The research question of this paper is “Is there a link between unemployment and criminality?” Many researches have been trying to find the link between unemployment and criminality. However, the various outcomes from different researchers, this topic still remains important becaus...
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...tted around the results. However, it is very important to find out what the factors are that are connecting the relationship in order to actually define the relationship between these two factors.
Works Cited
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Levitt, Steven D. “Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Decline and Six that Do Not,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 18, 163-190.
U.S Department of Education: Fiscal Year 2001-2007 State Tables for the U.S. Department of Education. (2005). http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/statetables/index.html
U.S Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics “How the Government Measures Unemployment.” Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey (2001). www.bls.gov
In The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison by Jeffery Reiman and Paul Leighton, four multifaceted issues are focused on and examined. These issues are the Unites States high crime rates, efforts in explaining the high crime rates, where the high crime rates originally came from, and the success attained at a high price. The initial key issue that Reiman and Leighton discuss is America’s high rising crime rates with the understanding of the people that believe policy and regulations are the causes of the decrease in crime. The many graphs throughout the chapter represent information that undoubtedly illustrates that specific policy and regulation may cause rates to become stagnate or strike a plateau. While the rule makers make it appear as though their organization is functioning. Later guns and gun control policy are discussed. With the stern enforcement of the gun policy, at the time, crime appeared to decline, or become stagnate resulting in a plateau effect that is illustrated in the graphs. Countless arrests were made with large quantities of people being imprisoned. Du...
The author examined the relationship of Three Strikes laws, Truth in Sentencing (TIS), unemployment rate, and median household income to crime rates at a state level. She then used a time-series cross-sectional analysis to allow an increase in sample size and degrees of freedom, therefore improving the efficiency of the data. Data was compiled for all 50 states from 1986 to 2005 with the unit of analysis being
Levitt, S. D. (2004). Understanding why crime fell in the 1990s: Four factors that explain the
Travis, J., & Waul, M. (2002). Reflections on the crime decline: Lessons for the future. Proceedings from the Urban Institute Crime Decline Forum (pp. 1-38). Washington, D. C.: Urban Institute Justice Policy Center.
McCarthy, B. (2002). NEW ECONOMICS OF SOCIOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY. Annual Review Of Sociology, 28(1), 417-442. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.140752
"How the Government Measures Unemployment." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 04 July 2017.
Cohen, L. E. & Felson, M. (1979). “Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activities approach,” American Sociological Review 44:588-608.
Clear et al (2003) collected community-level data regarding prison admission rates, release rates and crime rates for several neighborhoods. The results showed coercive mobility in poor communities with large minority groups and communities with extremely high coercive mobility had higher crime rates (Clear, et al 2003). They also looked at employment and reentry into the community. Results showed that employment is associated with lower crime rates and higher wages are associated with lower criminal activities. But prisoners face many challenges in finding a job because most of them have low level of education or limited work experience. Also, employers don’t often hire former prisoners. Transportation is also another challenge they face. Most released prisoners don’t have a car or access to public transportation due to not having money or social support.
A person lacking education may not find easy employment leaving them with out efficient resources they need to sustain a living, which could provoke them into committing a crime. “There are a number of reasons to believe that education will affect subsequent crime. First, schooling increases the returns to legitimate work, raising the opportunity costs of illicit behavior, Additionally punishment for crime typically entails incarceration, Finally schooling may alter preferences in indirect ways, which may affect decisions to engage in crime”. (e.g. Lance. Lochner, Enrico Moretti,
Wilson, James and Herrnstein, Richard. "Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime" New York: Free Press, 1998.
Muncie, J., and Mclaughin, E. (1996) The Problem of Crime. 2nd ed. London: Sage Publication Ltd.
Through the first chapter of this book the focus was primarily on the notion of controlling crime. The best way to describe crime policy used in this chapter is comparing it to a game of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’. This chapter also addresses the causes for decline in America’s
Rand, M. (2009, September 1). "Criminal Victimization, 2008". Retrieved April 25, 2011, from Washington, D.C: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv08.pdf
From 1991-2000, statistically there was a dramatic decline in crime nationally. The statistics studied were of all categories of crimes considered serious, including: homicides which decreased by 39%; rape which decreased by 41%; robbery which decreased by 44%; aggravated assault which decreased by 24%; burglary which decreased by 41%; auto theft which decreased by 37%; and larceny which decreased by 23%. The statistics show a range of decline of 23-44%! (United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation 1990, 2000. Uniform Crime Report. Washington, D.C.) The evidence indicates that the benefit of declining crime rates are concentrated on specific groups with...
Similarly, a study conducted by Ohio State Economics professor Bruce Weinberg found that no relationship exists between unemployment and violent crime. Weinberg notes that most violent crimes, especial...