NCJ Number
90372
Date Published
1982
Length
27 pages
Annotation
Conference discussions dealt with approaches to economic opportunity and crime, aggregate economic conditions and crime, youth unemployment and crime, and program interventions and experiments.
Abstract
The conference presentation of empirical evidence to support a relationship between economic opportunity and crime was not very persuasive, especially research using aggregate data. Plagued by data problems which preclude the accurate characterization of the choices open to persons on the margin between legal and illegal activities, attempts at analysis of the labor supply hypothesis using aggregate data have been unsuccessful. Similarly, the anxiety and alienation linkages between economic conditions and crime appear to be sensitive to the time period selected for analysis and inclusion of other variables which measure demographic characteristics likely to affect both aggregate unemployment and crime rates. The experiments and interventions were designed to increase the accessibility of legal opportunities for persons likely to commit crimes. These experiments yielded, at best, ambiguous results on the relationship between program incentives and crime. Further, the relationship between program incentives and actual economic opportunity for the participants is often tenuous. Finally, entrance requirements for the experimental programs range from conviction for committing a crime to special efforts by the person seeking help. Such special and self-selected samples pose serious problems for the analyst and make generalization of any results difficult. Six bibliographic listings are provided, and conference participants' names, addresses, and phone numbers are included. (Author summary modified)