NCJ Number
214292
Journal
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: 2006 Pages: 45-60
Date Published
2006
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This Swedish study investigated whether poor people were more exposed to property crimes than those who were not poor.
Abstract
Investigative survey results indicating that poor people are more exposed to property crimes related to vehicles are dependent more upon the family situation and age than poverty itself. Poor people were also more exposed to property crimes related to residence, independent of neighborhood character and routine activities. Attempts to explain why poor people are more exposed to property crime related to their residence have become worrisome to researchers. Poverty is a central social problem that is often related to other social problems. So, when social problems accumulate, the risk of social exclusion increases. Therefore, it is important to find the relations between exposure to property crimes and poverty both to prevent crimes and to prevent a process of marginalization that in the long run could lead to social exclusion. This paper investigated poverty as a situation of heightened risk for exposure to property crime. The data used were derived from Statistics Sweden’s Annual Survey of Living Conditions collected in 1998. The survey sample was representative of the Swedish population aged 16 to 84 years. Tables and references