Free Paper Example: How Employment Status and Crime Correlate

Introduction

For my final paper, I decided to go with the inductive research approach, specifically, Explanatory research. The paper will focus on how employment affects crime, the types of crimes committed based on levels of employment, and why they are committed. My question for this study will be "How do employment and crime correlate?"

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Why did you choose this topic?

I chose this research topic for a number of reasons. For one, I live in one of the highest crime rate cities in New Jersey, and I believe that the employment rate may be a factor. Two, I am truly interested in why certain crimes are committed. Lastly, I believe that it's an informative research topic. This research topic is important to research and relevant to criminology because it gives us a much better understanding of individuals and crime rate and a better understanding makes for better innovations and, ultimately, a better world.

Ideas

My hypothesis for my research question is that "individuals who are part-time or unemployed are more likely to commit crimes than people who are employed and well-paid." I drew that conclusion based on personal observations and knowledge. When conducting my research, I will be sure to be aware of the accuracy. I understand that validity, generalizability, and casualty are all key concerns when conducting research; however, I am willing to uncover all the facts of this study.

Unit of Analysis

My unit of analysis for this study would be crime. My research analysis is how employment status affects crime, the independent variable would be a crime, and the dependent variable would be employment status. In addition to the dependent and independent variables, there is also a possibility of an intervening variable. The intervening variable would include the individual's upbringing. More research is necessary to discuss this possibility further; however, I believe this variable is essential.

Types of Crime

In my view, unemployment rates and development levels are major determinants of the type of crimes people engage in in a given geographical location. Types of crime include homicide, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny theft, and motor vehicle theft. These crimes increase or decrease based on unemployment levels; they are inverse to employment levels (Cantor & Land, 1985). Development, on the other hand, affects violence and theft crimes. Progress in development results in fewer violent crimes than theft crimes, while redundancy in development leads to a spike in violent crimes compared to theft ones (Bennett, 1991). Hence types of crimes are influenced by development and unemployment.

Theories on Crime

Crimes are said to originate from sociological factors affecting people. Crime is influenced by the theory of social control, strain, social learning, and integrated models (Thornberry & Christenson, 1984). Social control theory is said to lead to crime so that an individual cannot control themselves and end up engaging in criminal activities. On the other hand, Strain theory leads to an individual indulging in crime as their environment coerces them to engage. Social learning theory influences individuals to crimes as a result of upholding vices that encourage criminal activities. Integrated models state that crime is a result of all theories thought to influence crime initiation. Hence the four theories indicate sociological factors that lead to crime.

Unemployment and Crime

I can attribute most criminal activities to unemployment. It is because people tend to engage in retrogressive thoughts when idle. With unemployment, there could be a myriad of ideas going through a person's mind, especially one who had been previously employed and somehow lost their job. Factoring this, unemployment could be correlational to unemployment (Thornberry & Christenson, 1984). The cause of the phenomenon could be the drive to seek issues they would attend to when employed, and now they cannot. In short, it means great stress with responsibilities waiting, and no income. Hence unemployment is a primary cause of crime.

Social Control Theory

In employment, individuals tend to conduct themselves as per the standards of the job. The assumption that unemployment affects crime engagement is associated with the contemplation to fit in the job-created status (Thornberry & Christenson, 1984). Having conformed to a conventional way of doing things, employed individuals are straightforward in their engagements. It leaves them with little or no time to engage in activities regarded as criminal. Likewise, if these people get into criminal activities, they may conform to the doings and propel the wrongdoings. Negative social-related issues heavily influence how people approach the temptation to engage in crime (Cantor & Land, 1985). People's inability to condemn societal wrongs only encourages the perpetrators to keep engaging, which could significantly influence crime with unemployment in the picture. Hence the social control theory is an important factor in crime drive.

Strain Theory

In my view, strain theory affects crime as it shows how an individual's environment influences their urge to engage in felonies. This theory argues that crime is bound to be on the rise whenever deserved opportunities by individuals to make a difference are denied (Thornberry & Christenson, 1984). A crime could be influenced when a qualified person misses out on a legitimate opportunity. It could be due to set barriers in structures to lock up some people from accessing the chances. For example, a case where a person is denied a job due to their ethnic background could lead to possible crime engagement. Thus, the strain theory is an important attribute in checking crime rates.

Economic Theory

Unemployment is basically a product of the economy. The availability of legitimate spaces to engage in activities boosts employment; thus, discouraging crime while the unavailability of the same results in unemployment leads to higher crime rates (Thornberry & Christenson, 1984). Crime results in decreased freedom to engage in legitimate economic activities and higher unemployment. Economic development associated with systems and procedures plays a vital role in regulating crime rates (Bennett, 1991). Therefore, it is important that the government foster conducive economies to help curb felonies that arise due to unemployment. Hence, the economic theory is a vital element in showing the relationship between unemployment and crime.

Conclusion

Crime is associated with a myriad of factors in relation to social behaviors and environmental factors all associated with unemployment. As a result, different crimes have occurred due to how individuals handle the effects of employment. Social factors have been associated with individuals engaging in illicit activities such as drug abuse which, as a result, lead to most violence-associated crimes. The crimes as a result of psychological problems associated with unemployment are rape, homicide, and aggravated assaults. On the other hand, economic difficulties associated with unemployment result in theft crimes such as burglary, larceny theft, and car stealing. Therefore, employment status must be streamlined to ensure economic engagement in our societies to alleviate crime.

References

Bennett, R. (1991). Development and Crime: A Cross-National, Time-Series Analysis of Competing Models. The Sociological Quarterly, 32(3), 343-363. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1991.tb00163.x

Cantor, D., & Land, K. (1985). Unemployment and Crime Rates in the Post-World War II United States: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. American Sociological Review, 50(3), 317. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095542

Thornberry, T., & Christenson, R. (1984). Unemployment and Criminal Involvement: An Investigation of Reciprocal Causal Structures. American Sociological Review, 49(3), 398. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095283