Crime Rate In Tuscon Arizona Verses Myrtle Beach South Carolina - Research Paper Example

Burglary is defined as entering a house without permission for purposes of committing a crime, usually theft. However, common law now defines it as the act of breaking into a house with the intent to commit a crime. Earlier definitions involve the burglar doing so at nighttime but today, burglars strike even during the daytime because this is a crime of opportunity.

This happens when houses seem to be left unattended or unoccupied. Tucson has a slightly above national average rate of burglary (1.46 times) as compared (www.cityrating.com) to Myrtle Beach which has a local rate more than three times the national average (3.66 times). Both figures are from the 2003 FBI-compiled crime report statistics known to law enforcers (www.cityrating.com). In absolute figures, Tucson had around 6,397 burglaries committed in 2003 and 2,643 in 2008 (http://tucsongrowup.com/2008/10/). This is all the more impressive with a big city population of 541,000 and a metro-wide population of around 1 million people. Myrtle Beach had 773 burglaries in 2003 and 782 in 2008 (this had peaked at 1,011 burglaries in 2007). Statistics can be quite misleading since Myrtle Beach's crime rates (against people who are violent crimes and crimes against property) are higher than state levels (www.idcide.com). Its population is also relatively small at around 300,000. The probable reasons for this crime trend are the lack of economic opportunities for its citizens.

This is the case with Myrtle Beach where businesses had folded up and its population had even declined in the 1990s by some 8% but has since recovered by around 15% lately. The place is also highly dependent on tourism receipts which suffered greatly from the recent economic and financial crisis, with tourist arrivals markedly down. Lack of jobs causes crimes.The influx of new migrants from surrounding areas looking for jobs seems to be the reason why crimes go up. This is the case with Myrtle Beach were previous residents left and replaced by newer immigrants from other areas when the population bounced back.