Reconsidering the Unemployment and Crime Relationship: Variation by Age Group and Historical Period

• NCJ Number: 171970
• Journal: Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1997) Pages: 405-428
• Author(s): C L Britt
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Because considerable research has examined the direct effects of age and economic conditions on crime but relatively little work has investigated the joint influence of age and unemployment on rates of criminal behavior, this study extended prior research on the unemployment-crime relationship.

Abstract

The study simultaneously tested for variation in the unemployment-crime relationship by age group and variation in the unemployment-crime relationship over time. Age-specific arrest and unemployment time series data for the United States between 1958 and 1995 were used in the study. Findings indicated that unemployment had a greater motivational effect on property crime among youth and young adults and that the unemployment-crime relationship varied over time in a way that appeared to be more random than systematic. Implications of the findings for future research are discussed. 67 references, 4 tables, and 10 figures