NCJ Number
132719
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 33 Issue: 3-4 Dated: (July-October 1991) Pages: 257-268
Date Published
1991
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper focuses on the potential impact of three major economic trends on crime rates in the 1990s: the increasing volatility of the business cycle with sharper and more painful downturns, dislocations in labor markets leading to jobless growth, and increasing international mobility of factors of production including capital and people due to the globalization and the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Accord.
Abstract
A significant relationship exists between general economic turbulence and the dynamics of criminal activity. The increasingly volatile business cycles create relative deprivation for some social classes and thus an incentive for possible unlawful activity. Unemployed workers or persons on early retirement may vent their frustrations in anti-social behavior. Finally, North American integration suggests that the United States and Canada are becoming identical twins from a social as well as an economic perspective. Consequently, the criminal trends in the United States today may be evident in Canada tomorrow. 6 references (Author abstract modified)