Crime and Unemployment: Effects across Age and Race Categories

Smith, M. Dwayne; Devine, Joel A.; Sheley, Joseph F.

doi:10.2307/1389299

Cited by 54 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…A review of the research results subsequent to Chiricos's survey reveals little consistency. Examining arrest rates between 1959and 1987, Smith, Devine, and Sheley (1992 reported support for both the criminal motivation and criminal opportunity hypothesis. The change in the level of unemployment was a positive predictor of the arrest rates for homicide, robbery and burglary (suggesting a motivation effect), but the level of unemployment was negatively related to the arrests for these three offenses (suggesting an opportunity effect).…”

Section: Previous Empirical Workmentioning

confidence: 95%

Business Cycles and Street Crime

2006

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This study examines the influence of business cycle fluctuations on street crime in the conceptual framework of Cantor and Land's(1985) seminal work distinguishing between opportunity and motivation effects. The analysis contributes to the literature three ways. First, we use cross‐section/time series data, which has several important advantages over simple time‐series or cross‐section data of previous studies. Second, it introduces a new and broader measure of business cycle conditions, one that more faithfully captures the logic of Cantor and Land's framework than previous measures do. Third, it focuses on the large decline in street crime of the 1990s, a central issue facing criminologists. Statistical models indicate that the strong economy of the 1990s reduced all four index property crimes and robbery by reducing criminal motivation. Business cycle growth produced no significant opportunity effect for any of the crimes studied.

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Section: Previous Empirical Workmentioning

confidence: 95%

Business Cycles and Street Crime

2006

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“…Smith, Devine, and Sheley (1992) analysed three specific crime types (homicide, robbery, and burglary) and found support for both motivation and opportunity. Britt (1997) was one of the early research studies that considered the importance of how one measured unemployment, or the state of the economy, more generally.…”

Section: Recent Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unemployment, GDP, and Crime: The Importance of Multiple Measurements of the Economy

Andresen

2015

Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice

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Le lien complexe entre le chômage et le crime est formé de deux mécanismes indépendants et antagonistes : l'effet de motivation et l'effet de tutelle/d'opportunité. Cantor et Land (1985), après avoir présenté un modèle synthétisant ces deux effets, ont découvert que l'effet de tutelle/d'opportunité dominait. Des études récentes mettent ces résultats en doute et utilisent le chômage pour mesurer la performance économique. Certaines de ces nouvelles études utilisent une mesure directe de l'économie des États américains : le produit étatique brut, par exemple. Dans cet article, le lien entre le crime et la performance économique est examiné à l'aide du chômage, du produit intérieur brut, d'une approche de modélisation hybride et des provinces canadiennes en tant qu'unité d'analyse. Nous avons découvert que le chômage et le produit intérieur brut sont importants en ce qui concerne le crime, que l'effet de tutelle/d'opportunité explique bien plus que la simple motivation et que la force d'un ou l'autre des effets dépend du type de crime analysé.for crime, guardianship/opportunity explains more results than motivation, and the strength of either effect depends on the crime type being analysed.

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“…139 last 15 years in both Britain and the US (e.g. Hakim, 1982;House of Lords, 1982;Tarling, 1982;Box, 1987;Chiricos, 1987;Timbrell, 1990;Smith et al, 1992). In a recent review of the evidence, based mainly on US data, Chiricos (1987) concluded that the evidence favoured the existence of a positive unemployment-crime relationship.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crime, Deterrence and Unemployment in England and Wales: An Empirical Analysis*

Reilly

Witt

1996

Bulletin of Econ Res

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This paper uses aggregate data from 42 police-force areas over 12 years to test predictions of Becker's economic model of crime. The effects of measures for deterrence on the incidence of three types of acquisitive criminal activity (burglary, theft, robbery) in England and Wales are explored. Mixed support for the Becker model emerges. The growth in unemployment is seen to impact positively on two of the three types of criminal activity examined. Per capita household income is seen to have a negative effect on the recorded rates of burglary and theft, but there is some evidence that the income variable is a proxy for the effects of unemployment. Poor housing conditions and the relative youth of the population were also found to play a role in the determination of criminal activity.

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Crime and Unemployment: Effects across Age and Race Categories

Cited by 54 publications

References 37 publications

Business Cycles and Street Crime

Business Cycles and Street Crime

Unemployment, GDP, and Crime: The Importance of Multiple Measurements of the Economy

Crime, Deterrence and Unemployment in England and Wales: An Empirical Analysis*

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