Correlation Between Crime And Unemployment In The

By exploring poverty and political influence, this essay hopes to discover if a relationship between crime and unemployment within the UK can be established. In addition, this essay will look at the main concepts of Robert Agnew’s general strain theory and how application of this may help to gain an understanding of why some who are unemployed may resort to criminal activity.

Before this essay can continue, it is important that definitions of certain terms are made clear. Poverty is a wide term so, this essay will look at poverty as being less than 40% of the national average income; the same definition as the government utilises (Isaacs, et al., 2015).When looking at the term unemployment, this essay makes use of Boland and Griffin’s (2015) definition which is “the absence of paid employment”. Finally, this essay acknowledges that crime is a large term however, will continue to look to crime in the general sense and not be specific to a certain type of crime.

Looking at the social exclusion and unemployment, some argue that those who experience long term unemployment can become socially excluded (McDonough, 2015). Atkinson (1998) agrees with this as he believes that a link can be made between unemployment, poverty and social exclusion however, does make the point that the link is very much a complex one. An example where people on low incomes, due to unemployment, may feel excluded is within the consumer culture of their society as they cannot afford leisure activities (Atkinson, 1998). People who are unemployed may also feel exclusion from financial institutions as they may not be able to get approved for finance from banks (Atkinson, 1998). Those who are unemployed and receiving welfare benefits can also face exclusion based on stereotypes constructed to society from several platforms such as the media (Isaacs, et al., 2015). This is because people have a view that those who are unemployed choose not to work and only those who truly cannot work, such as those who are disabled, should be receiving benefits. However, this assumption does not account for those who may have been made redundant and have become unemployed through no fault of their own (Croall, 1998).

A more modern issue surrounding employment is the types of work contracts that exist. Now, compared to before, permanent contracts have decreased with them being replaced with temporary, short term or zero hour contracts which provide little financial security for people (McDonough, 2015). This shift in work contracts may be a factor that contributes to the poverty and unemployment rates that exist and may require government intervention for this to change (Croall, 1988). While the Conservative government in 2009 addressed this issue by agreeing to establish a one year job retention target as part of a “work programme”, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s (2010) research has seen that many are still facing flexible, unreliable employment that offers no incentive off a reliable income through benefits. They recommended that the government should look to creating a flexible benefits system that can work in turn with the flexible needs of business within the current economy as a route to ease unemployment rates within the UK (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2010). On the other hand, some academics would argue that the welfare amounts should be cut as an incentive to get employment however, through research, this doesn’t tend to have much impact and the government should maybe look to more work related benefits as mentioned previously (Riley, no date). Some suggest another work related benefit could be a raise in the national minimum wage although, this makes employees a larger cost for business which could in turn lead to job losses and create an increase in unemployment rates when the aim may have been to incentivise people into work on a reasonable pay (Office for National Statistics, 2015). Still, even if the government were to introduce policies that got people into work, the European Commission (2014) argue that work alone is not the sole answer to ending unemployment backed up by the findings that 30% of those who move into employment are still living in poverty (Office for National Statistics, 2015). When looking at this with crime rates, while the general consensus relates crime with unemployment and argues poverty as the driving factor behind it, it seems that poverty cannot be the main issue if the link solely is with unemployment due to the 30% who still remain in poverty when employed (Croall, 1988).

Expanding upon the work of Robert Merton, Robert Agnew’s general strain theory looks to explore the reasoning behind why some commit crime. The basis of Agnew’s theory is that the more strains a person experiences, then the higher the likelihood is that they will become involved in criminal activity (Cullen, 2009). He suggested that strains could be split into three categories those being; the failure to achieve societal goals, the removal of positive stimuli and the presence of negative stimuli and that some strains would be more likely than others to cause criminal behaviours which he titled “criminogenic strains” (Krohn and Lane, 2015). He titled these as criminogenic strains as he argued that these stresses a person experienced could be quickly resolved through crime an example being that if someone who is unemployed, living in poverty, may turn to acquisitive crimes to resolve the strain of low income (Krohn and Lane, 2015). Agnew also argued that these strains were usually viewed as unjust by the individual, linked with low social control and occur for a long period of time (Krohn and Lane, 2015). It is important to note however that while this theory has its strengths in allowing for a more in depth understanding of criminal behaviour from a social perspective and that it acknowledges not all will turn to crime as a means of reducing their strains, it lacks evidence to back up the predictions Agnew makes as to why a person will turn to crime (Agnew, Brenzia and Cullen, 2002).

When using this theory to help gain an understanding of why some people may become involved in crime we must look at the strains that those who are unemployed face. Those who are unemployed face poverty due to a lack of income as explored earlier in the essay. This means that the legitimate means of being able to achieve the financial goals set by society may not exist and therefore a person may become involved in crime such as benefit fraud to increase income or theft to achieve materialist goals (Issacs, et al., 2015). One example of this materialist strain can be examined when looking at families with children. Parents may experience strain to ensure their children have a particular, expensive, brand to make sure their children don’t end up facing exclusion from peers and this could result in some maybe looking to criminal behaviour as a way of releasing the pressure financially (Atkinson, 1998).

After looking at issues surrounding unemployment and how this may contribute to crime and how general strain theory can enhance and understanding of why people may commit crime, it is time to explore if an actual connection can be made. In Scotland, unemployment rates between June 2011 and June 2017 have been decreasing at a steady rate (Statista, 2018a). When comparing this to reported crime during the same time period, the rates decrease slightly each year (Statista, 2018b). However, Pyle and Deadman (1994) make the argument that a strong connection between unemployment and crime cannot be established. When comparing this to England and Wales, the majority of the literature tends to conclude that a positive relationship does exist between unemployment and crime rates with Becker (1968) and Hale and Sabbagh (1991) being some who agree with the connection. Overall, it would suggest that a correlation between crime and unemployment does exist. However as with any use of statistics surrounding crime, it is only recorded crime therefore does not explore the avenues of unreported crime. Another point to consider is that within the majority of the literature the statistics on which the basis of a link is made, tends to originate from police records of recorded crime which can be a less reliable source and looking at National Crime Surveys may be a better, more reliable, option when looking to determine a relationship between crime and unemployment (Elliot and Ellingworth, 1998).

To conclude, by looking at unemployment and the issues related to it such as poverty and government influence, this essay finds a slight, but not solid, link between unemployment and crime. This essay believes this through taking a theoretical approach to why people commit crime and through looking at the literature and statistics surrounding unemployment and crime that some debate surrounds a distinct connection. With those in employment still living in poverty, unemployment cannot be the sole link to crime so while this essay acknowledges it may be a contributing factor it feels that more research is needed within the area to give a definitive answer.