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ECONOMIC MOBILITY AND CRIME INVOLVEMENT Class Reflection: Economic mobility and Crime Involvement Salem Alqahtani February 5, 2023 1
ECONOMIC MOBILITY AND CRIME INVOLVEMENT Economic Mobility and Crime Involvement One of the major reasons why people commit crimes is due to lack of means to access essential basic needs and services due to economic challenges. Many of the incarcerated people who have been involved in various crimes are mainly the poor in the society. Apparently, poverty and the lack of economic mobility is one of the reasons these are pushed in crime as a solution to their problems.   Some of the categories of crime that people are forced to commit in order to make ends meet are robberies, prostitution, cybercrime, burglaries, and indulgence into drug sales. The American society has been heavily segregated which makes it quite difficult for people to move up the economic ladder. This statement holds true mainly to African Americans who have been engrossed in poverty generations after generations. As a result, this is one of the reasons why African Americans are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system compared to the other races. This research paper will examine the various ways in which limited economic mobility and concentrated disadvantage may put economically disadvantaged people at increased risk for crime involvement Income, wealth and financial assets In order to understand the correlation between economic immobility and crime, it is crucial to differentiate between income, wealth and financial assets. Wealth can be defined as the net worth of a person, which mainly entails the difference between their assets and liabilities. Income on the other hand is the amount of money that a person gets compensated for their services, sales of goods or even as proceeds from investments (Barak et al., 2018). Lastly, financial assets are the investments assets whose value is gotten from contractual claims, which they represent. Examples of financial assets 2
ECONOMIC MOBILITY AND CRIME INVOLVEMENT include bonds, loans, and accounts (Barak et al., 2018). The earning of income or even the amassing of financial assets is short term and does not always mean a translation into wealth although they both play a crucial role in the building of wealth. Economic mobility means the building of wealth so that one moves from one financial class to another. The fact that most of the poor people do not have jobs or are in poorly paying jobs means that they lack meaningful income which can be used to build wealth which can elevate their living standards hence taking them away from the probability of committing crimes (Bell, 2017). Theories and Explanations of Crime due to Limited Economic Mobility 1) Institutional Anomie Theory According to a study done by Ansar et al. on 1000 participants, it was revealed that wealth, health and education are strong predictors of crime and they should thus be aligned with trade policies in order to empower people and elevate their economic power if a nation is to be successful in combating crime. Many theorists have decided to explain the trend of economic immobility and crime in the world. One of the popular theories which tries to explain how economic immobility and deprivation cause crime is the Institutional Anomie Theory. The Institutional Anomie Theory states that violence and crime in the society are as a result of weakened social controls, which are brought about by imbalances of values that favor the economy (Barak et al., 2018). Anomie leads to new moral standards that deviate from the norm arising and these new standards encourage the people to be flexible in order to achieve their goals. This theory is always in application since it is evident in almost all low-income areas such as the ghettos. There are limited job opportunities in the low-income area that means that residents in these 3
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ECONOMIC MOBILITY AND CRIME INVOLVEMENT areas do not have a form to sustain their livelihoods. These economic struggles force the economically disadvantaged people to look for alternative forms of livelihood and the answer always lies in crime. As a result, violent robberies, burglary, theft and drug sales become common in these areas. In areas where people are empowered such as in the middle income and high-income areas, crime tendencies are less since there is a source of livelihood for the citizens. Therefore, it is clear that the lack of livelihood is one major cause of crimes in the society especially in the economically immobile areas. 2)Strain Theory Another theory that attempts to explain crime in the economically immobile areas is the strain theory. This theory states that the pressures derived from social factors usually pushes people to commit crimes (Barak et al., 2018). For instance, socially accepted goals such as the American Dream have pushed many people to commit crimes so as to show that they are actually living the dream. People living in poor areas have to commit crimes such as selling drugs, robberies or prostitution in order to show that they conform to the social pressures. Additionally, this social pressure increases the chances of deviant behavior among children born in poor families, which might push them into crime. For instance, children born into poor families are thrust into the cruel world early in their lives whereby they might be forced to be deviant in order to conform to the “code of the streets” (Sharkey & Torrats-Espinosa, 2017). In low-income areas, boys are expected by their peers to show acts of manliness early in their lives, which might involve engaging in crime. Normally, this crime starts with small acts such as pickpocketing and gradually grows into armed and violent crime in order to satisfy their desire for financial security (Sharkey & Torrats-Espinosa, 2017). 4
ECONOMIC MOBILITY AND CRIME INVOLVEMENT 3) Poor Education The last explanation as to why limited economic mobility and concentrated disadvantage leads to higher risk of crime involvement is the fact that economic immobility translates to poor education. Many people in poor areas have low educational attainment because of the fact they cannot afford to cater for costs of education. This is apparently true in low-income areas that are inhabited by Blacks whereby the dropout rates of African America s in both high school and college is high compared to those of the other races (Barak et al., 2018). This leads to a lot of unskilled labor which makes it hard to secure any well paying jobs. As a result, most people eventually commit crime so that they can earn enough money to cater for their needs. Additionally, the lack of proper education is one of the major factors which leads to loose morals among young people which forces them to indulge into crime (Barak et al., 2018). Schools instill good morals that ensure that people desist from crime. Schools also remove youngsters from bad elements in the society and keep them preoccupied with schoolwork, which eliminates criminal thinking from them. However, the lack of financial means to take children to school leaves them exposed to these bad elements in the society, which leads to indulgence in crime at a very early age. This is evident in The Pew Charitable Trusts (2010) article, which states that “More young (20 to 34-year-old) African American men without a high school diploma or GED are currently behind bars (37 percent) than employed (26 percent)”.       5
ECONOMIC MOBILITY AND CRIME INVOLVEMENT Conclusion One of the major causes of the crimes in the society is the lack of economic progression, which pushed people to commit crimes in order to achieve this widely sought economic mobility. While many people might be currently earning incomes and possessing crucial financial assets, it might not be enough to create wealth, which might uplift them out of poverty. Some of the theories which have attempted to explain the relation between economic position of an individual and probability of crime are the Institutional Anomie Theory and the strain theory. The Institutional Anomie Theory blames weak social controls as a result of the focus on economic power to be blamed for the rise of crimes in the society. Strain theory on the other hand states that the pressures imposed on the people due to the desire to achieve financial and economic autonomy is to blame for the rise of crimes in the society. The last explanation to crimes in the society is the lack of sufficient education which can enable people to secure well paying jobs which can improve their living standards. Therefore, it is clear that all these factors have been playing a crucial role in the high incarceration rates of African Americans. It is high time the government economically empowers the poor in the society if criminal tendencies are to be completely eliminated in the society.     6
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ECONOMIC MOBILITY AND CRIME INVOLVEMENT References Anser, M. K., Yousaf, Z., Nassani, A. A., Alotaibi, S. M., Kabbani, A., & Zaman, K. (2020). Dynamic linkages between poverty, inequality, crime, and social expenditures in a panel of 16 countries: Two-step GMM Estimates. Journal of Economic Structures , 9 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40008-020-00220-6 Barak, G., Leighton, P., & Cotton, A. (2018). Class, race, gender, and crime: The social realities of justice in America (5th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Bell, D. (2017). Crime as an American way of life: A queer ladder of social mobility. Transnational Organized Crime , 25–48. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315084565-4 Sharkey, P., & Torrats-Espinosa, G. (2017). The effect of violent crime on Economic Mobility. Journal of Urban Economics , 102 , 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2017.07.001 The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2010.  Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility   Links to an external site. . Washington, DC: The Pew Charitable Trusts. 7