Pardeep Binning
TuTh 4-550pm
Crime
Unemployment and crime rate. They’re not the prettiest of terms, but they do raise a few eyebrows. The economic situation that the world has been in for the past few years has truly kept everyone on their toes regarding job security. Shouldn’t be surprising when the unemployment rate from 2007, which was 4.6%, more than doubled by the end of 2009 to 10% (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Without the steady income of a job, it’s common sense to infer that some people have to take drastic measures to reach end’s meet. Bruce Weinberg, an associate professor of economics at Ohio State University, says, "A decline in wages increases the relative payoff of criminal activity. It seems obvious that economic conditions should have an impact on crime…”
Due to the high rate of unemployment, people have turned to a life of crime in order to stay. Most people do not intend to do harm to another person, however, while trying to commit even the smallest crime such as a robbery someone can get hurt or even worse die. That is why according to the report on CNN, there has been an increase in small time robberies such as convenient stores and gas stations. Those types of stores are small and have almost everything someone’s needs to survive. The robbers are not doing it because they want, but they are doing it because they have no other way of acquiring food for their family. Feeding your family has been a natural instinct, and most parents would do anything to have food for their kids. Not having a job does not help the parents get food. Even though there may be job openings, getting a job is a lot harder today than it has ever been. Employers look at employment history, level of education, references, resume and several interviews before someone is chosen. In the past, just a degree from college was needed, however in the modern day, a master degree is required in most forms of job applications. That is why more and more people are turning to a life of crime.
Crime has always been around since the early ages. Over the years crime has evolved from small fights over things, to one country fighting another country, and especially civil wars were even considered crimes. According to the dictionary.com the word crime means “an action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state and that is legally prohibited.” Crime comes in all sorts of ways from small acts such as lying in court to murder. There have been huge debates on what should be considered breaking the law or not. The most common and argued topic would be having an abortion. There are several people who believe that if someone has an abortion then they are committing a crime. They believe that ending the life of an un-born child is a crime. However, the other side of the argument is that some people are not ready to have babies. Especially if the mother or parents are teenagers, then it would cause the child to be more in danger alive.
The most common form of crime is robberies. According to dictionary.com the word robbery means “the felonious taking of the property of another from his or her person or in his or her immediate presence, against his or her will, by violence or intimidation.” Robberies happen all over the world and are not kind to anyone. When a robbery takes place, it leaves a major impact on the victims. Daniel W. Van Ness wrote in his “Crime and Its Victims” book that victims of robberies go through difficult adjustments periods following the robbery.” The book summarizes how the victims don’t have to be physically hurt to be impacted. Anytime a robbery happens, the victim loses a sense of security and protection that he/she once had. In form of house robberies, not only are the adults affected but the children are as well. A home is supposed to be a safe haven for children, but after a robbery takes place the children start to fear stepping inside the house. They lost a sense of safety and security that their parents cannot bring back.
It is no wonder that the dropout rate from not only colleges but high school’s has increased over the past decade. Students fear that the high cost of tuitions and the longer years of studying well not help them pay bills. By dropping out, they start to do illegal activities to make money fast. The most common form of crime done by teenagers is dealing drugs. It’s simple to do and the reward is huge. Selling drugs brings for a week would bring in more income than most minimum and medium paying jobs in a month. The reward may be high, but the risk of getting caught is even higher. Police have been cracking down on drugs deals and are putting more and more criminals in jail for this. However, due to the high population of criminals in jail, small time drug dealers are getting early releases. This is causing them to have a mind set of not having to fear going to prison, allowing them to sell drugs more openly and with more self-confidence.
A common crime committed by females is the act of prostitution. It refers to the act of a female or a male selling a females body for sexual favors in exchange for money. This is a very common crime woman are known to be involved in. Donna M. Hughes wrote a paper about women and prostitution, the heading for her paper was the strongest part “men create the demand, women are the supplies.” That is very true in the prostitution industry, because men always want to have sex and woman become their need. The reason prostitution is famous for woman is because unlike men, woman do not have the tendency to sell drugs or rob things. Most women sell their body because they love having sex and it’s the easiest way for them to make money. If women have children at home that they need to feed and if they have job or education then they sell their bodies to bring home income. They are forced to turn to the life of crime to feed their families.
Although, from far away unemployment does not look like it has an effect on crime, by looking more closely and deeply does one noticed the vast impact. Not having a job causes men to sell drugs, rob houses. It causes women to enter the prostitution ring because that is the easiest way for them to create income. Not having a job affects not only the adults but also the children. That is that most family adults turn to the life of crime, not for themselves but for their families. In order to stop crime, the government must create jobs that will help stabilize the world and create more jobs. Only with the unemployment rate at 0 percent can crime really start to decrease. Otherwise as the rate of unemployment increases, so does the crime rate.

Bibliography
1. -US Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=z1ebjpgk2654c1_&met_y=unemployment_rate&idim=country:US&fdim_y=seasonality:S&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rate
2. Bruce Weinberg quote http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive//crimwage.htm
3. Daniel W. Van Ness author of “Crime and Its Victims”
4. Donna M. Hughes author of the paper from
a. http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/demand.htm