Recession: Responsible for Increased Crime?

After having a break and entry last week in my own apartment, I have been a little paranoid about leaving during the day.  I normally text my husband throughout the day while I am at work, mostly to let him know that I am thinking about him and that I miss him.  You know, all that sweet stuff.  But the last few days I've been texting him to make sure he's ok on top of letting him know that I miss him.  I have this paranoid feeling that those idiots who broke in last week are going to come back and this time with firearms.  Hopefully, all it is is my paranoia getting the best of me.

With my state of mind, however, I have been looking at area crime reports in my city.  I had no idea how much crime happens where I live every day.  That got me thinking, "Has the crime rate increased?  If so, is it because of this economic uncertainty we have been having to deal with?"  My guess is yes.  I tried to see if I could possibly find a trend report for my town, but all I could find was current criminal activity by day instead of a report of total criminal activity by year.  I could do it the hard way and run the numbers myself, or do a little more research.  But to be honest, it's late and I don't feel like researching too much into it.  

So, has crime increased over the last few years because of our economic situation or am I just paying attention to it more because we have become victims?  It would make sense that the crime rate has risen.  You have gas prices increasing what seems like everyday.  With increased gas prices, transportation of food and other commodities as well as any services that involve sending someone out to your home will increase.  Hypothetically, with unemployment rates high and inflation around the corner people have to get money from somewhere.  And the desperate will do what they can to survive.

Of course, you also have the greedy like a certain MLB star who makes almost $500 thousand a year arrested for stealing $50 worth of merchandise.  Really?  Are your mortgage payments, car payments, and other extravagant bills so incredibly high that you didn't have enough money to pay for whatever it is you stole cause you just had to have it?  How about you live within your means.  I make way less than you do a year and if I needed something that was $50 I would be able to afford it.  I'm sorry, but when I read a news headline like that, it makes me want to take that person's yearly salary and make them live on the streets so that they can see what it's like to really have no money.  Maybe they will take better care of their finances and not be so greedy with their materialistic purchases.

And aside from the poor and the uncontrollable spenders stealing or committing crime, you also have gang activity.  Which may increase because kids or young adults are trying to look for ways to find money, their parents might not be working because of unemployment, or they have dropped out of school because the education funding has been cut in their area and quality education is hopeless.  

Whatever the reason may be, I believe that it is a trickle effect and we have been seeing this effect for a few years.  Of course some area neighborhoods are going to be bad, and maybe always will be.  But the fix of the problem should be more community involvement.  Growing up, I remember having neighborhood block parties where all the neighbors got to know each other and crime watch was active.  I don't see that these days.  Do neighborhoods have crime watch anymore?  If this is a dying program, it might be a good idea to revitalize it.  At least make the neighborhood feel safe.  Who knows, maybe I can voice my concern and get something that was good started back up again.