Cost of crime

Question 1

How might perpetrators be economically affected by crime?

Answer 1

According to UK government figures, only around a quarter
(26.5%) of prisoners enter employment after release. A
YouGov survey commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions
found that 50% of employers would not consider employing an ex-offender,
regardless of the offence or sentence received. I

Question 2

Why might we argue that crime impacts victims more?

Answer 2

A recent
Office for National Statistics (ONS) report on violent crime found that 81%
of victims of violence reported being emotionally affected by the incident,
including 17% who were affected very much. Research into the emotional
effects of burglary found that 73% of burglary victims worried about
repeat incidents, 70% were very distressed following the burglary and 40%
were afraid to be alone in their property for some weeks following the
incident.

Question 3

Why might we argue that perpetrators are not as impacted as they once were by loss of job opportunities?

Answer 3

A large number of UK companies have got behind ‘Ban the Box’, a
campaign calling on employers to give former offenders a fair chance to
apply for jobs by taking the tick box out of application forms and asking
about criminal convictions later on in the recruitment process. In addition,
a growing number of companies are working with prisons and offenders
during their sentences in order to skill them up and offer them
employment on release. Timpson is one of the largest employers of exoffenders in the UK. Approximately 10% of their workforce is made up of
people who have criminal convictions. Their CEO, James Timpson says “we
don’t judge people on what they have done in the past, preferring instead
to focus on what they can do in the future.” W

Question 4

Why might children and families bear the biggest cost of crime?

Answer 4

About 16,500 children in Scotland
have a parent in prison at any one time, with just under 2,000 separated
from their mother through imprisonment. More children experience a
parent’s imprisonment than a parent’s divorce.

Question 5

What international evidence is there that children and families face the biggest cost of crime?

Answer 5

. This is a problem the world
over 5 million children (about 7%) in the USA have a parent who is
currently or was previously incarcerated. Children of offenders are six
times more likely to become incarcerated themselves, which is a big cost
to families. A recent study in the UK, Germany and Sweden, found that
children with incarcerated parents were 25% more likely to develop mental
health problems compared to children whose parents were not in prison

Question 6

Describe the similarities of victimisation in Scotland to the US.

Answer 6

According to the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) victims of violent
crime experience strong negative emotions as a result of their
victimisation 54% felt angry, 37% felt annoyed, 30% felt shock, 26% felt
fear, 16% a loss of confidence and 16% suffered from anxiety or panic
attacks. This is comparable to results of the National Crime Victimization
Survey (NCVS) in the USA. 68% of victims of serious violence experienced
socio-emotional problems as a result of their victimisation. Among all
victims of violent crime, the two most widely experienced emotional
symptoms were feeling worried or anxious (72%) and feeling angry (70%)
for a month or more.

Question 7

What evidence is there regarding the cost of crime to the economy?

Answer 7

A recent report for the UK government
estimated that the total costs of crime in England and Wales is around
£50bn for crimes against individuals and £9bn for crimes against
businesses. Added to this, serious and organised crime costs the UK
economy £37 billion a year, according to the National Crime Agency.

Question 8

How are the taxpayers impacted by crime?

Answer 8

the UK spent
approximately £5.6 billion on its prison system in 2020/21 which according
to the Ministry of Justice equates to £44,650 per place. Similarly, in the US
the Bureau of Justice (BoJ) estimates that prisons cost taxpayers around
$80 billion with states paying anywhere between $15,000 to $30,000 per
place.

Question 9

Why are prison sentences thought to be wasting tax payers money?

Answer 9

A Manchester University study
comparing prisons to alternatives to custody suggested that alternative
interventions would save the UK between £19,000 and £88,000 per
offender. A 2016 study in the US by the Brennan Centre for Justice reached
similar conclusions and suggested that by ending prison sentences for some
crimes and shortening them for others not only would it reduce the
numbers imprisoned but that it would save $18 billion whilst having almost
no negative effect on public safety

Question 10

What evidence is there to prove Marxist’s theory of crime when it comes to the impact?

Answer 10

Marxist theory is undermined by the fact that unemployed people (23%)
as likely to be victims of crime as those in jobs (21%) (Office for
National Statistics)

Question 11

What evidence is there to disprove Murray’s theory of underclass when it comes to the cost of crime?

Answer 11

16-24 year olds were most likely (26%) to be victims of crime and not as
Delinquent Sub-Culture theorists claim the perpetrators

Question 12

According to Victim Support (a charity) how a person reacts to a crime will
also depend on:

Answer 12

The type of crime.
* Whether the victim knows the person who committed the crime.
* The support the victim gets (or doesn’t get) from family, friends, the
police and other people around them.
* Things that have happened to the victim in the past (because if you’ve
had to deal with difficult events before they may have found ways of
coping)

Question 13

How does violence affect the impact of crime?

Answer 13

In England and Wales, figures show that the more violent the crime, the
more likely the victim is to be emotionally affected. Where the victim is
actually injured the emotional effect rises further again. Over 80% of
victims injured during violent crime reported being emotionally affected.
A third of assault victims who suffered minor injuries reported being
emotionally affected. Whereas, only a quarter of victims, where they did
not suffer injury, reported being emotionally affected

Question 14

According to Ditton, 1999 what skews the impact of crime on victims?

Answer 14

Anger rather than fear is a more common response to crime.

Question 15

When discussing the psychological cost of crime for victims what do Katz and
Mazur (1979) say?

Answer 15

although serious criminal victimisation, such as rape, results in
depression, full-blown clinical depression is rare

Question 16

What are some of the financial implications of crime for victims?

Answer 16

• Just over half of all property crime resulted in financial loss for the
  victim (53%).
• Cost of medication, mental health counselling/therapy and physical
  therapy
• Loss of wages dues to incapacitation, rehabilitation, taking time off from
  work to repair damage from property crimes, participate in criminal
  justice proceedings, or seeking medical or mental health treatment.
• Loss or damage to personal property
• Cost of replacing locks and changing security devices
• Higher insurance premiums
• Relocation expenses
• For families of homicide victims, funeral and burial expenses and loss of
  income.

Question 17

What is the link between ethnicity and arrest rates?

Answer 17

per 1000 of population, a black person is nearly three times as likely to be
arrested/arrest as a white person, while a person from a mixed ethnicity
group is twice as likely. Asian and White people were slightly underrepresented in the likelihood of arrest. Since arrests are evidence based
this could show a higher likelihood in ethnic minority groups committing
crime.

Question 18

What is further evidence to disprove Murray’s underclass?

Answer 18

Middle class people may perpetrate substantial amounts of crime but
white collar crime tends to be unrecorded e.g. MPs fraudulently claiming
expenses and high ranking police officers taking cash settlements for
disclosing information to journalists.

Question 19

What evidence is there to support labelling and delinquent sub culture theories?

Answer 19

The numbers for
males convicted or cautioned for theft was 123,700 while for women it
was only 45,200 men which supports Labelling and Delinquent Sub Culture
theories.

Question 20

What are some of the costs of crime on the perpetrators?

Answer 20

• Suffering the loss of a job or a lack of employment due to employers being
  unwilling to hire an ex-convict – many jobs require disclosure of criminal
  convictions and many jobs will not hire someone who has drug convictions,
  called Disclosure in Scotland and Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check in
  England.
• Increased risk of reoffending
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• Criminal records may result in curtailing travel abroad as some countries
  such as the USA and Australia have strict visa application procedures and
  may not grant a visa to convicted criminals.
• Criminal records checks may result for mortgage and insurance may result in
  higher premiums.
• Personal lives may be affected by criminal records and prison sentences
• Drink driving conviction for offenders – loss of license can often result in a
  loss of employment.
• Psychologically there is shame and embarrassment associated with having a
  criminal record which in extreme cases can turn to despair, depression or
  suicide.

Question 21

Who is considered as the invisible victims of crime?

Answer 21

Perpetrators families - The primary purpose of a prison sentence (or any form of disposal) is to punish
the offender. However, given practical, financial, social and emotional effects of
imprisonment, a prison sentence can also have punitive consequences for families
outside prison. Prisoners’ families, particularly their children, are often termed
the ‘innocent victims’ of crime (and punishment).

Question 22

How are the perpetrators families financially affected by crime?

Answer 22

Imprisonment tends to impose financial strain on the families of the prisoners in
two ways: by decreasing the family income and by increasing family expenditure,
due to costly visits and phone calls, and handing in money for their loved ones in
prison. Prison thus can exacerbate existing socio-economic disadvantage
(Houchin, 2005).

Question 23

What did the JRF find in terms of the financial impact on families?

Answer 23

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation also conducted a study exploring the financial
disadvantage experienced by prisoners’ families. There are often particular
difficulties associated with prison visiting. Visiting often involves great deal of
time, effort (both physical and emotional) and expense.

Question 24

How might the incapacitation of a perpetrator actually help families?

Answer 24

in some cases imprisonment might be a positive
experience for the family unit: this tends to be in cases where abuse or violence
has been present in the home, and imprisonment offers relief from this

Question 25

What emotional consequences might a family face?

Answer 25

Visiting can be quite an emotional experience, with both positive and negative
feelings in the mix: for example, families usually enjoy seeing their imprisoned
loved one, but due to the brevity of the visit saying ‘goodbye’ comes quickly,
which can be distressing.

Question 26

How are children often impacted by crimes?

Answer 26

• Stigma for children can be manifested in being bullied by classmates in
  school.
• Since the non-incarcerated parent wants to protect their child, it is not
  uncommon for children not to be told the truth, or full truth, about the
  imprisonment. Children might be told that dad is ‘working away’. This can lead
  to confusion and upset, particularly where children visit the family member
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  in an unfamiliar and daunting – and in this case unknown – environment of the
  prison.
• Prisoners’ children are at higher risk of developing mental health problems
  than children without imprisoned parents.
• Visiting can be difficult for children, with poor facilities that are not ‘child
  friendly’ and confusing rules restricting how they can interact with their
  imprisoned family member; families often have to travel long distances to a
  prison, and are often reliant on public transport; visiting times may not be
  compatible with tea time and bed time routines, leaving children irritable or
  tired, which then may impact on school performance the following day.
• Longer-term, children of prisoners are three times are more likely to engage
  in anti-social or offending behaviour than their peers who do not have a
  parent in prison

Question 27

How does crime impact the wider society?

Answer 27

Often the whole community is affected by a criminal act. From the actions of
only a very small group of offenders a local area can gain a “bad” reputation if
there is high levels crime.
Crime can damage community spirit. People may tend to keep themselves to
themselves for fear of harassment. People may avoid going out or avoid going to
public spaces where groups of rowdy youths hang out for fear of potential
attack.

Question 28

How is crime financially draining on society?

Answer 28

Crime can have a financial impact as it is very expensive for society as a whole.
Areas with high levels of crime can contribute to ‘environmental poverty’ and
can lead to depopulation of areas with high levels of crime. The area can become
run down and this means there is a high level of vandalism and graffiti. People
want to move away to escape crime, and often shops close down which means
locals have few services. People who stay will have less to spend. Local business
may not wish to be associated with the area leading them to relocate.
Unemployment may then rise further reducing the desirability of the area.
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Local business will of course suffer as they may have to pay higher insurance
premiums etc. Overall, to suggest that crime only affects the victim is clearly
wrong. It can have a negative impact on the social and economic life of an entire
community.
Money from taxation has to be used to pay for the consequences of crime. The
overall cost of crime in the UK runs into billions of pounds. This can affect
essential services like healthcare. Money is needed for the police to catch
criminals and also courts to prosecute criminals. Money from taxation is used to
pay for prison or alternatives to prison.

Question 29

Quote Edwin Sutherland on the cost of white collar crime

Answer 29

‘the financial cost of white-collar crime is probably several times as great
as the financial cost of all crimes which are customarily regarded as the
‘crime problem’ (Edwin Sutherland)

Question 30

What is the hierarchy of victimisation?

Answer 30

women, ethnic minorities, the elderly, young children and the homeless
are vulnerable groups most likely to disproportionately fall victim to
crime. However, the elderly, women and young children, it is suggested,
are ‘ideal victims’, whereas young men, the homeless, those with drug
problems, and others existing on the margins of society may find it much
more difficult to report crimes, achieve legitimate victim status or
secure a conviction in court which suggests a ‘hierarchy of
victimisation’(Carrabine, 2004).

Question 31

What crimes in particular lead to long term psychological impacts for their victims?

Answer 31

research shows that victims of sexual abuse and domestic assault
experience linked reactions including headaches, fatigue, stomach pains
and loss of appetite after being victims of crime (Stanko and Hobdell,
1993).

Question 32

Victims of what crimes are more likely to identify as a victim of a crime?

Answer 32

victims of property crime are more likely to think that what happened
was a crime (72%), compared to victims of violent crime (49%), and that
the offender should be prosecuted in court (60% and 42% respectively).
Whereas victims of violent crime are more likely than victims of
property crime to experience strong negative emotions like shock (30%
and 16% respectively) and fear (26% and 5% respectively)

Question 33

According to studies, are the majority of people worried or unworried about crime?

Answer 33

further studies show that a majority (around 75%) are unworried about
crime while a quarter worries about crime. However, a sizeable minority
of those who worry about crime take proactive and precautionary action
which makes them feel safer as a result. (Jackson and Gray, 2010).

Question 34

Why do some crimes have more of an impact?

Answer 34

some crimes, for example, sexual crimes and hate crimes, are argued by
some to cause greater harm as they affect the victim, a wider group
within the locale where the crime occurs and have consequences on
other members of these groups in wider society who identify with this
victimisation. Ignaski (2008) argues that this form of crime causes
physical injury, psychological injury and a sense of terror in the wider
groups or communities affected.

Question 35

How do we define the economic cost of crime?

Answer 35

economic and social costs of crime include costs for the anticipation of
crime (for example, defensive expenditure such as household alarms and
insurance administration); the consequences of crime (for example,
value of property stolen/damaged, lost output and emotional or physical
impact of crime); and, in response to crime (for example, police, health
services, prosecution, court, legal aid, criminal justice social work, and
prisons)

Question 36

How does violent crime financially impact South Africa?

Answer 36

in South Africa, the 10th most violent and 19th unsafest country in the
world, the cost of violence is 19% of the country’s GDP — the 16th
highest rate in the world. Violence containment spending in South Africa
amounts to $66·7 billion

Question 37

What is the difference between direct and indirect costs of crime?

Answer 37

For victims of crime there may be a direct and indirect cost as a result of
crime. Direct costs include medical care costs, lost earnings and
property loss or damage. Indirect costs include outlays associated with
the investigation, court proceedings, hospital care, and lifestyle changes
and in some cases house relocation.