Crime and Economics Understanding Criminology Wednesday September 16

Crime and Economics Understanding Criminology Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Question • Can economic factors be used to explain crime? How? • Are you thinking about crime in general, or more specific types?

Lecture Outline • Key concepts in relating crime and economics, and how has criminology used these • Economic change • Social Exclusion and The Underclass • Social Class in the operation of the criminal justice system

Economics • Concerned with the production and distribution of income, wealth, and resources • How does this impact on crime? – Propensity to Offend – Vulnerability to Victimisation – Formal and informal social control

Key Related Concepts • Consumption – level of spending on consumer goods in any one year • Recession – a downturn in a national economy • Unemployment and Welfare • Deprivation – Absolute deprivation – Relative Deprivation • Social Class • Social Exclusion

Theoretical Links between Crime, Unemployment and Poverty (1) • Strain Theory – Anomie: thwarted ambition • “Am I worse off than I expected to be? ” – Inequalities -> relative deprivation • “Am I worse off than others like me? ” • Status Frustration (Albert Cohen) – Social class is a clear example of constrained opportunities – Crime represents an alternative means of gaining status and prestige – Not (necessarily) property crime

Theoretical Links between Crime, Unemployment and Poverty (2) • Control Theory – Travis Hirschi – Offending is more likely when a person has • Low attachment to others • No strong commitment to the future • No strong beliefs in conventionality – Recession and poverty can undermine: • Family and community attachments • Commitment to the future (education) • Morality

Theoretical Links between Crime, Unemployment and Poverty (3) • Labelling Theory – Those who fit the ‘criminal stereotypes’ pose least trouble for the CJS to ‘process’ – Higher rates of criminalisation for ‘police property’ – Growing mutual distrust: a growing sense of injustice may push potential deviants into actual crime

Fordism -> Post-Fordism Up until 1960 s 1970 s 1980 s -> • Low Unemployment rates: 1. 4% of workforce • Quick Re-employment • UK Industrial Production key • High Unemployment: 15% of workforce • Income Inequalities grew • UK Industrial Production in decline • Restructured Economy • UK Service-based employment • 40: 30 society (Will Hutton) • Structural Unemployment for some: Core and periphery workforce 1960: around 1, 000 crimes per year : around 20, 000 people in prison 1990: around 5, 000 crimes per year : around 60, 000 people in prison

So What? • Right wing / conservative commentators – The growth in unemployment, and the growth in imprisonment are coincidences – Unemployment: caused by wage increases, resulting in uncompetitive industry – Imprisonment: caused by rise in crime rates, caused in turn by problems of moral regulation – Unemployment is neither an excuse, nor a justification for crime

So What? • liberal commentators – Material circumstances do have an influence on behaviour – Poverty > Crime > Prison – Poverty can trigger both property and violent crime • Dorie Klein “sexual warfare … a stand-in for class and racial conflict” • Coser – status frustration leading to aggression against self or others

Longitudinal Studies • Do people who are unemployed go on to commit crime in the future? • Thornberry and Christenson: Philadelphia cohort study of boys born in 1945 • Strongest links in the more socially disadvantaged groups: the effect of unemployment in triggering a criminal response is much greater amongst the poor

How do levels of consumption affect crime? • Simon Field – macro level analysis • Reduced personal consumption / spending (i. e. recession) is associated with a growth in property crime • Increased personal consumption esp. on alcohol is associated with a growth in personal crime

What is Social Exclusion? • Social Exclusion is – Diverse: people excluded from political, social and economic resources – A social problem, not an individual problem • The Underclass: not simply poor

Competing Explanations for Social Exclusion Motive, capacity and opportunity 1. Individualistic: Lack of individual motivation driven by welfare dependency: self-exclusion from society (Charles Murray) 2. Structural: A failure of the economy to provide enough jobs for everyone: lack of positive role models: social isolation from job opportunities 3. Deliberate: The active exclusion of the underclass by the powerful in society: stigmatizing stereotypes the criminal poor

Social Exclusion in the Official Construction of “Crime” • Processes by which social groups are identified as ‘problems’ – Policing discretion – Policing strategies – Judicial decisions – The social construction of ‘social problems’ – Political focus on “dangerous classes”

Jeffrey Reiman “The Rich Get Richer: The Poor Get prison” Social class processes can be observed in 1. How the laws are written 2. Who is arrested/charged 3. Who is tried/convicted 4. What sentences are given out The most harmful crimes fail to receive appropriate criminal justice responses

A Riddle: • • What type of criminal behaviour results in 1500 deaths a year, where “Policing” is carried out by under-funded, separate organisation, outside of the Home Office Less than 1 in 8 cases result in prosecution Of those, the response is a fine (around £ 60, 000) “Offenders” are consulted about changes to legislation ANSWER: