Wider Society Flashcards
INTRO
The Oxford Dictionary defines a crime as an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law. A crime is a fact, a matter of law and it is not an opinion. Crime does not just affect individuals. Communities which experience higher levels of crime are also adversely affected. A total of 246,516 crimes were reported by Police Scotland in 2019-20, up less than 1%. This compares to the record of 572,921 in 1991. This essay will analyse the different social and economic impacts of crime such as pushing residents out, effects on house prices, costs to the government and NHS plus other impacts and how they affect wider society, to come to the conclusion that there are in fact many social and economic impacts of crime as wider society can be affected in a number of ways.
1P
One social impact of crime on wider society is that it may push residents out from communities.
1E
This is due to people moving to different areas or avoiding locations where violent incidents have occured.
1E
For example, Xie and McDowall (2008) found that regardless of their own victimisation people were more likely to move when households nearby had been burgled as they percieved the neighbourhood to be unsafe.
1A
This therefore shows that crime has a social impact on wider society because a high prevalance of violent incidents can push people to move to safer areas.
1R
Furthermore, crime also has an economic impact on communties due to its effect on house prices.
1E
This is because areas with high rates of crime will deter people from buying a house in that area and ultimately force down house prices as people are not attracted to such areas.
1E
For example, official police data and the 2018 UK House Price Index found that of the 23 districts in England that witnessed a fall in house prices, 83% of these districts also had a significant increase in the number of reported crimes.
1A
This shows that being close to crime concentrations has a depressive effect on the housing market as buyers are willing to pay more to live in a safer neighbourhood with less crime.
1L
While residents may decide to move from areas which have been impacted by crime, this can lead to them being considered unsafe to live in, which will in turn negatively affect property values. These enviromental cues translate into residents’ increasing desire to move away, which also affects the attractiveness of an area. This suggests that there are clearly many social and economic impacts of crime on wider society.
2P
Another impact of crime on wider society is that it may affect government spending.
2E
This is because both the Scottish and UK governments spend billions of pounds dealing with the consequences of crime.
2E
For example, according to the Scottish Government, over 2.5 billion was budgeted for criminal justice in 2016-17 (figures published in Dec 2019). This represents the third highest area of spending behind health and local government.
2A
This therefore shows that crime has an economic impact on wider society because if crime levels rise, there will be less money for other services such as education and healthcare.
2R
Furthermore, another economic impact on crime on wider society is the strain on the NHS.
2E
This is because health service costs aim to capture the costs to the NHS and other healthcare providers of responding to the physical and emotional harms of crime.
2E
For example, in 2019, Professor Chris Moran, national clinical director for trauma, NHS England, warned that hospital visits linked to knife crime are a ‘major cause for concern and put extra pressure on our expert staff.’
2A
This shows that costs to the health service as a result of crime are also a social cost. If fewer people were injured through crime, then the recources used to treat them could be used in alternate productive activities.
2L
Overall, it can be argued that as a result of crime, the government’s spending can be affected as the government must either increase taxes or spend more from the tax revenues they already collect in order to deal with the consequences of crime. However, this puts a strain on the NHS as it will take away funding for those who are genuinely ill through no fault of their own. This suggests that there are numerous economic impacts of crime that affect wider society.
3P
Another economic impact of crime on wider society is that it can affect the costs of businesses.
3E
This is because crimes such as shoplifting and fraud cost businesses in the UK billions of pounds each year.
3E
For example, in 2015, the cost of business crime in Scotland was over 5 billion. Furthermore, a report by insider.co.uk (Feb 2018) stated that ‘Cyber crime has cost Scottish businesses and individuals more than 7 million in less than a year, according to police.’
3A
This therefore shows that crime has an economic impact on wider society as it costs individuals through higher prices in shops for goods and services. As a result of crime, businesses can lose money to crime and they pass this cost on to costumers by increasing prices.
CONC
Overall, it is evident that there are many social and economic impacts of crime on wider society. In areas where there are high crime rates, the whole community can find itself socially and economically impacted by crime. High crime rates can lead to the value of house prices in a community dropping. This affects those living in the area, but can also lead to them having less money to spend in shops in the area which may lead them to close. This could also create a socially excluded community which can have greater costs on services such as the NHS. Money from taxation has to be used to pay for the consequences of crime and the overall cost of crime in the UK runs into billions of pounds. This can affect essential services like healthcare. As a result of crime, different social and economic impacts of crime can often lead one to another. Therefore, there are clearly many social and economic impacts of crime on wider society.
