Economic recession has great psychological and social effects. Everyone is talking about further decline and is clinging to newspapers or televisions to hear good news. Recession brings a lot of other major issues along with itself; chiefly unemployment, inflation, intensification of mortgage rates and increase in crime rate. It is a common notion that crime rates increase during a bad economy. People lean towards using illegal means to have what they cannot afford any more. A few of the major crimes that increase are:
Crimes against property. According to the FBI annual report “Crime in the United States,” the most widespread crime in the U.S. is crime against property. Property crimes include burglary, robbery and larceny. People try to find means to satisfy their needs by stealing from others. During recession people feel apprehension due to increasing cases of robbery and can suffer from physical and emotional trauma.
Motor vehicle theft. Although in modern times it’s difficult to lift cars due to intricate technology, there is an increased rate in lifting cars due to bad economy. Youngsters and teenagers who are attracted to modern gadgets are particularly involved in car lifting crimes. Bad economy affects the purchasing power of people who cannot afford luxurious items any more.
Offense against state. These include bribery, corruption and perjury. As there are not enough resources to satisfy people’s needs, corruption increases which lead to bribery and perjury. Bribery can increase non merit admissions, jobs etc and corruption leads to prejudice. These activities frustrate the citizens or nationals of a state or a nation.
Excessive use of drugs. Frustration leads to overuse of drugs. Unemployed people can not make beneficial use of their time and become drug addicts. Drug abuse can further increase crime as people need more and more money to buy drugs. Bad economy has the tendency to decline the morals and values of the citizens. Also social issues become prominent during recession. It has been noted that more and more pubs came into existence during the Great Depression.
Increased cyber crimes. Technology is a blessing and a curse. As technology advanced people to check crimes, it has also helped criminals to take well-organized measures to not get caught. People can hack your accounts and gain private information about you including credit card numbers and bank accounts. Fraud websites come into existence. Social networking sites also play a major role as they make it easy for an abuser to manipulate his victims.
Fraudulent insurance claims. People do not have enough money or businesses to generate money so people make fraudulent insurance claims. They damage their property on purpose to gain insurance money. These types of crimes increase as more and more businesses shut down during recession. It is important to keep a check on these crimes as justice needs to be served to these tycoons as well.
Rape and sexual assault. Bad economy has a major affect on the psychology of people. They become more frustrated with the bleak image and try to take their frustration out. One main technique is through rape, sexual abuse and assault. There are increased rape cases ever year but a bad economy gives boost to this rate. According to the FBI, “Rape is a crime of violence in which the victim may suffer serious physical injury and long-term psychological pain.”
Bad economy also raises crimes like racism and discrimination. It can not be denied that there is a correlation between bad economy and increasing crime rate. So to win this war, there is a need to introduce harsh punishment methods and increased law enforcement if a country is facing recession.