US crime rate falls along with the economy

Falling crime in urban centers such as New York, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles, coinciding with the worst economic slump since the 1930s, is challenging long-held social theories linking lawlessness to joblessness.

Scholars also suggest that the recession itself, contrary to conventional wisdom, could mute crime as rising unemployment keeps more people at home, where they are more apt to avoid trouble and look out for others as community guardians.

With less income at their disposal, people also venture out less frequently to nightspots during times of economic distress, leaving them less likely to engage in criminal behavior or to become victims of crime, he added

www.reuters.com...

maybe purse-snatchers and burglers realize that nobody has anything worth stealing. Maybe the black-market is starting to dry up because no-one has cash

reply to post by jacksmoke


Good point, if there are no buyers, then sure there is no point to steal. Unless if someone wants 10 cameras and 10 computers at home..

Huh? I always remembered that the crime rate rose with bad economic times. Why is this the case now?

The US also has the largest percentage of it's population in prison. Most crimes are committed by repeat offenders (crimes are committed by criminals), so 3 strikes laws help.

I'm not thrilled by the fact that the US has the largest percentage of it's population in prison, we have far more than 'police states'. Wonder what that makes us?

USA - 760 prisoners per 100,000 population
Russia - 626
Iran - 222
Saudi Arabia - 178
Zimbabwe - 136
Iraq - 93
Venezuala - 85
Bosnia - 67
Afghanistan - 44

List of countries by incarceration rate
en.wikipedia.org...

The one part of the economy that is not hurting is gun manufacturing and sales.

Its more like the criminals are running scared of being shot.

sonoranweeklyreview.com...

Good news, but I can't ever remember unemployment extensions like we've seen and that article references them. I'm sure that factors into things. My stepdaughter's husband has been unemployed since late in 2008 but he's still getting benefits. I wonder what things will look like when those benefits finally run out. Another thing to bear in mind is the article compares the 1st half of 2009 to the first half of 2008, not the year as a whole.

We've seen an uptick in crime in our area the last few months. Mostly commercial and residential burglaries, bank robberies and the like. Reports of these have gone from once or twice a week on the news to almost daily.

Another thing to remember when you're talking about large urban areas and using percentages is, you're talking about larger numbers on the whole so a ten or eleven percent drop isn't as amazing as it sounds. If LA had 400 murders in 2008, a 10 percent drop would mean there were "only" 360 murders in 2009. From 1.1 murders per day to .99 murders per day.

Related, remember that crime rates generally are measured per capita and some of the cities' crime rates they mention are right around the national average. We live in a smaller area less than 5% the size of say, NYC but the crime rate here is over twice the crime rate calculated per capita there. Far fewer committed crimes but a rate twice as high. NYC had a murder rate of 6.3 per 100,000 people but 523 murders in 2008. Our area's murder rate last year was 14.5 per 100,000 but had 15 murders. It's all relative.