Does the Booming Economy Help Explain the Fall in Crime?

• NCJ Number: 188082
• Date Published: March 2001
• Author(s): Richard B. Freeman
• Length: 28 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored

Annotation

This analysis of the relationship between economic factors and crime notes that economic changes in the 1990’s were enough to affect crime in a substantial way and the booming economy of the 1990’s helped reduce the crime rate, although the research findings were not uniform and additional factors also affect crime.

Abstract

One indication that economic factors matter is the finding that the offender population consists disproportionately of people who have low opportunities in the legitimate job market. Additional research indicates that crime and unemployment across geographic areas are inversely related. Further studies supporting the role of economic factors relate earnings to the extent of individual crime or use national time-series data regarding the link between crime rates and the status of the economy. However, economic factors do not come close to explaining the variation in crime rates among different areas or the variations in individual crimes. The analysis concludes that the four factors that affect crime are social mores and the way that citizens regard illegal behavior, demand for drugs and other illegal activities, criminal justice policies, and the job market. Questions and answers, figures, tables, chapter notes, and 16 references. For the volume in which this article appears, see NCJ-184245