NCJ Number
74446
Date Published
1980
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Additional social planning and progrmming to reduce the conditions that breed crime in America are urged.
Abstract
The typical person arrested and imprisoned in America is an urban, young, black, lower-class male. These facts toward socioeconomic conditions as a major cause of crime. Moreover, the income range from lowest to highest in America is second only to France among western industrialized countries. Thus, the poor and the uneducated who cannot successfully compete for jobs in the legitimate marketplace are encouraged to resort to crime as a means of survival. However, socioeconomic planning and programming could decrease the wide range of income disparity and diminish the need for economic crime. In thearea of corrections, programs should be developed that will help the offender increase income-earning skills. Post-release services are particulary importantin that ex-offenders should not be left entirely to their own devices to survive after release. There is no standing national body to advocate and help imple- ment socioeconomic planning that relates to the issues of crime and corrections. Persons aware of the socioeconomic conditions that stimulate, perpetuate, and increase criminal behavior in particular segments of the population have a particular obligation to share their perspective with the public and the politicans charged with shaping socioeconomic policy. Footnotes and seven references are provided.