Unemployment and Crime in the Society - Research Proposal Example

Introduction The crime rate in the society has been on the increase in the recent past. Several studies have associated the rate of increase in crime with escalating unemployment rate among the youth (Esbensen & Maxson, 2011, p. 63). The arguments of most researchers are that unemployment contributes to poverty in the society hence causing people to indulge in criminal activities. Most studies have associated unemployment with laziness, poor work mid-set, discouragement from the erroneous government welfare support, and negative response to investing in proper skills. However, unemployed persons who engage in criminal activities represent an individual matter that should not be associated with unemployment per se. Unemployed people are ready and willing to take work any time if it is offered to them. They are ready to work and earn a decent living, but the challenge is the scarcity of job opportunities to absorb all the employment (Tonry, 2011, p. 475). The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between crime and unemployment in the society. The investigation will involve the convicts of various crimes in society on a selected region in U.K. between the 1990 and 2013. The investigation will be conducted using questionnaires, observations and interviews, and will target about two hundred respondents and gather details regarding the cause of conviction, respondents’ occupation prior to prior to conviction and the duration of imprisonment. The outcome of the investigation will be used to establish the extent to which unemployment has contributed to the crimes in the society and the effect of law in deterring crimes in the society. Even though many people associate unemployment with criminal activities, the current increase in crime rate in the society is as a result of failure of the security structures to deal with offenders and redress justice for the victims of crimes. Literature review Crimes are unlawful conducts stipulated by the state in the constitution of the country. The law specifies what is unlawful and the consequences of engaging in the unlawful conducts (Esbensen & Maxson, 2011, p. 68). There are many arguments that associated increase in the rate of unemployment with increasing rate of crimes in the society. Some researchers have linked poverty and unemployment of the youth to increasing criminal activities, and they argue that if the government does come up with strategies to curb the increasing poverty due to unemployment the society will be chaotic and uncontrollable (Tonry, 2011, p. 484). However, crimes can be traced in the history of mankind since the time of Cain who murdered his brother Abel. The reason for Cain murdering his brother had no relationship with unemployment, and Cain was not poor either. Many unemployed people engage in legal activities to earn their living and avoid dirtying their hands by all means (Muncie, 2004, p.142). For example, most of the unemployed people engage in self-employment activities, and they are able to earn a decent living. It is illogical to associate unemployed people with criminals because they are just victims of circumstances and they find themselves in circumstances that are not of their making. However, not all criminals are unemployed, and not all employed people are law abiding. On the contrary, people with criminal minds are the ones responsible for the increase in crime in the society. There are various crimes committed by different people according to their social status (Esbensen & Maxson, 2011, p.72). For example, most of the poor people engage in petty crimes while rich people are involved in sophisticated crimes. The worst crimes on the increase in the modern society are associated with politics. For example, the crimes of genocide and terrorism are gaining momentum in the society. The masterminds of genocide are senior people in the political system whose interest is to downplay their political opponents (Tonry, 2011, p. 486). On the other hand, terrorism has been the latest form of international crime against humanity. The terrorists aim to cause fear in the society. Therefore, the execution of genocide and terror attacks has not been linked with unemployment in any way. The technological advancement and religious affiliations could be some of the major contributors of crime of terrorism in the society. The technicalities of some criminal activities prohibit poor people from committing such crimes. For example, some crimes are committed using very sophisticated machinery that is out of the reach of the poor. Some of those crimes include sea piracy that uses machines worth millions of dollars to implement. Some of the latest incidences and probably the worst case of terrorism is the September 11th attack on U.S. embassy (Esbensen & Maxson, 2011, p. 76). The main intention of terrorism is to instil fear in the society and gain control of the social and political powers in the society. A crime can result from an act of omission to do what one is bound by law to do. For example, if a person witnessed a suspect engaging in a criminal activity, that person should notify the police and record a statement of what they witnessed (Tonry, 2011, p. 493). It is a crime for an eye witness to fail to report the scene of crime to the police illegal action against the offender. Many people in the society have witnessed scenes of crimes and have not taken an action to report the crimes to the police. Since it is an offence for anyone to fail to report the crime to the authority, there is no proof that unemployed people are the ones who fail to report the matter to the authority for legal action (Esbensen & Maxson, 2011, p. 79). However, the blame on this matter can be laid on the security structure for failing to take adequate legal action against such people who fail to report crime scenes to the authority whenever the crime has taken place. There are many criminal activities taking place in the public offices involving the employees who engage in embezzling public resources. In most cases, the co-workers are aware of the offenses, but they never report the matters to the management or to the police (Muncie, 2004, p. 154). Therefore, such crimes cannot be blamed on the unemployed, whereas the ones in the offices are employees only. The employees’ offenses in the public offices are on the increase. Some employees are engaging in crimes whereby they defraud their employers of their resources (Muncie, 2004, p. 164). For example, the employees may form a cartel by teaming up with other supervisors in the supply chain to defraud their employers. The most serious cases have been reported in the banking and security institution with the recent issue involving G4S security firm in which the company lost more than one million U.S. dollars of cash on transit (Tonry, 2011, p. 504). The cash was taken by the people already working for the company and not the unemployed. Finally, the other issue involving criminal activities increase in murder cases between the spouses or lovers. Several incidences involving domestic violence have been reported and are on the increase (Muncie, 2004, p. 186). However, there is no evidence linking the murders of spouses with unemployment. Most of the deaths caused by the spouses are caused by infidelity and not unemployment as many people have always assumed. Irrespective of the economic status of the partners, all marriages or lovers are susceptible to crimes of domestic violence and subsequent crimes of murder. Methodology The data shall be collected through questionnaires, observation and interview techniques. It will be collected from selected police departments and prisons in U.K. The reason for selecting U.K. is because of the current increase rate of unemployment and the associated crimes rate in the country. The police officers are in charge of arresting offenders and bringing them to justice, therefore, they always aware whenever a crime takes place (Tonry, 2011, p. 491). Therefore, interviewing the police officers will give the researcher an opportunity to gather all the details about the different kinds of convicts the police deal with on a daily basis. Although not a crime suspects end up in prison, the proportion of those who are in jail will provide appropriate sample that can lead into making sound conclusion regarding the issue of crime and unemployment. A total of 100 questionnaires will be distributed to the prison warders and the in the selected prisons and one hundred questionnaires will be given to the convicts. The appropriateness of using questionnaires is because of time. It is easy and economic way of gathering data because the respondents can be able to respond to the questions during their convenient time. Furthermore, some of the convicts may be afraid to speak about their personal lives; therefore use of questionnaires will be appropriate because the respondents will be required to write their response on the given questionnaire (Tonry, 2011, p. 518). However, interview will be used in addition to the questionnaire in order to supplement the details missing in the questionnaires. The researcher will make an observation of the victim’s records and the convicts in order to make a conclusion on what may have cause the convicts to indulge in criminal activities. The researcher will take into consideration the age of the convicts in order to identify those who may have been convicted before they attained the working age. The sample for the study will be selected randomly and without any favouritism. Therefore, the sample size will be a fair representation of the entire population of offenders. The data gathered will be interpreted, and the outcome used to conclude the causes of crime and whether it has any relationship with increasing rate of unemployment. The respondents will be grouped according to age brackets, and then categorized as those below the age of eighteen years, those between eighteen to fifty-five and those above fifty five years. The purpose for this grouping by age will take into consideration the age of the convict at the time of committing the and not the age at the time of study (Tonry, 2011, p. 506). The reason for using age factor in the study is because it determines whether the person was legible or not legible for employment. The police officers will provide detail of the crimes committed and those who are responsible such crimes. Police officers are experienced security officers; therefore they will furnish the researcher with details of the crimes and be able to provide information that may link offenders with their occupation (Esbensen & Maxson, 2011, p. 69). After they involved in the investigation of crimes in regard to what caused the crime or what motivated the culprits into the activity. Expected Result and Analysis It is expected that the convicts are a mixture of unemployed and former employees or business people. The convicts are expected to give various reasons for indulging in crimes and the answers are expected to vary. Some of the offenders who may be below or above the working age could not have gotten into criminal activities due to unemployment. Also, those whose motivation was political, or were involved crimes of defrauding companies cannot be assumed they were poor or unemployed (Tonry, 2011, p. 473). Finally, some offenders may have committed crimes due infidelity of their spouse, and it is illogical to conclude such persons committed crimes as a result of unemployment. Therefore, it is expected that the investigation will reveal various reasons caused people to indulge in crimes, and employment will be insignificant facto (Muncie, 2004, p. 186). After all, many people even those who lack formal education are very successful in other areas such as business, and unemployment should not be mistaken for inability or poverty. Conclusion The increase in crime levels in the society should not be related to unemployment. Crime has been in existence since immemorial even before the beginning of learning. Most of the people engaged in crimes are already those in employment. Also, some crimes are not committed to enriching the poor, but for other reasons. For example, terrorism, crime due to domestic violence and defrauding of the companies of other public officers by the employees. The main cause of increase in crime could be other factors such inability of the security system to redress the offended and punish the offenders appropriately. Bibliography Esbensen, F. & Maxson, C. L. (2011). Youth Gangs in International Perspective. Springer. Pp. 57-86. Muncie, J. (2004). Youth and Crime, (2nd ed.). SAGE, London. Pp. 139-231. Tonry, M. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Crime and Criminal Justice. Oxford University Press. Pp. 460-537. Read More