Crime and Recession: Initial Clues

Posted September 10th, 2009 at 5.29pm in Ongoing Priorities, Rule of Law.

With the recession officially beginning in December 2007, some speculated the economic downturn would result in increased crime, especially property crime. Yet, the Department of Justice’s just-released 2008 National Crime Victimization Survey shows violent and property crime did not increase last year.

During the first full year of the recession, those crime rates were at or near their lowest levels since creation of Justice’s crime survey in 1973:

• The violent crime rate dropped from 20.7 “victimizations” per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 2007 to 19.3 incidents last year. The difference is statistically indistinguishable from zero. Thus, statistically speaking, the violent crime rate didn’t change.
• The property crime rate dropped from 146.5 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older to 134.7 incidents —a decrease of 8.1 percent. That certainly is a statistically distinguishable decline.

Although it is still too early to tell how the recession and rising unemployment rates affected crime in 2009, the fact that national crime rates did not increase in 2008 suggests this year’s anticipated increase may not materialize. Let’s hope so.

Author: David Muhlhausen
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September 10, 2009 Crime and Recession: Initial Clues « Prayer, News & Action writes:

[...] View article… [...]

September 11, 2009 Lee San Francisco writes:

Evidence for my opinion that crime is the result of deficient human values , not economic reasons.

September 11, 2009 mark elder texarkana texas writes:

The real criminals are in Washington D.C. and we can still make enough ropes create enough chain gangs and envoke enough rock piles to repair most of the woes in this nation and put honest men to work chasing our own natural resources and dreams. As for the street thugs they are the residue of the criminal activity in Washington and in state and local level governments and mostly broken and defunct judiciary and a news media that have neglected thier responsiblitites and taken bribes for years.
So I say the gallows for some, the rock piles for others and chain gangs for the rest and that is for those in Washington as for the street thug repeat the above as many times as needed.

September 11, 2009 Charles, The Republic of Texas writes:

With the potential of a double dipped recession and a creeping inflation rate, it’s just a matter of time. Unemployment at 9.7 and expected to rise. At some point stress & desperation will set in, especially among those who placed too much faith in government & not in God or themselves. The sense of entitlement will drive them over the edge. Parts of Houston experienced this after Katrina. As the present administration continues their assualt on the country, 12% or more unemployment is not an impossibility. Who knows what effects obama & his czars(i.e. Cass Sundstein) will have on the job market. Remember “Idle hands……”

September 22, 2009 Crime and Recession: More Clues | Conservative Principles Now writes:

[...] a previous post, I noted the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ new National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) [...]

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