Title: Factors Influencing the Crime Rate | Legal Beagle
Headings: Factors Influencing the Crime Rate
Factors Influencing the Crime Rate
Poverty Level and Job Availability
Social Level of Morality
Police Policy
Age of the Population
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Content: Poverty Level and Job Availability
Statistically, poverty goes hand-in-hand with crime. Where poverty is prevalent in a community, that community will experience higher levels of crime. Generally, it's not the poverty itself that leads to higher crime rates but the factors associated with poverty, such as chronic joblessness, less access to quality schools, employment, role models and the real or perceived lack of opportunity. Crime offers a way for less-advantaged people to access goods they may not otherwise afford. Often, the prize outweighs the risk of being caught, since impoverished people may believe they have less to lose than does a wealthy person. Social Level of Morality
Different homes and communities have different degrees of morality. In some families and communities, deviant behavior is tolerated and encouraged. In others, even minor transgressions are reported and corrected. People's upbringing and social environment can shape their view of the world and directly affect their decisions in the future. For example, research shows that people who have been physically, sexually or emotionally abused as children are three times more likely than non-abused adults to commit acts of violence.