NCJ Number
164172
Journal
Key to Commonwealth Corrections Issue: 34 Dated: (Spring 1996) Pages: 16-19
Date Published
1996
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the correlation between the crime rate and economic development activities, with attention to the difference in crime rates in developed and developing countries; Bangladesh is used as an example of what is happening in a developing country.
Abstract
Many development programs in undeveloped countries are designed and manipulated by those in power to amass individual wealth without regard for the masses most in need of help. Measures to combat corrupt practices through community participation in socioeconomic development are necessary before sustainable development can achieve the greatest good for the most people. In developing countries, of which Bangladesh is an example, the unusual population boom, dire poverty, and innumerable jobless vagrants have posed a serious threat to the social fabric. Historically, the administrative bureaucracy in Bangladesh has not effectively managed development. This has led to unplanned underdevelopment, while an incompetent bureaucracy earns a large share of the profit for the privileged few. Community life has become so weakened and disordered that there are no social institutions, including the family, to nurture ethical and civilized behaviors. If a development strategy is to succeed in reaching the masses, communities must organize to play a role in that development, but this presupposes that such involvement will be led by educated and moral persons guided by an ethico-legal philosophy that rejects exploitation and corruption.