EXAMINING THE GENERALITY OF THE UNEMPLOYMENT–CRIME ASSOCIATION

This article examines whether the relationship between unemployment and criminal offending depends on the type of crime analyzed. We rely on fixed‐effects regression models to assess the association between changes in unemployment status and changes in violent crime, property crime, and driving under the influence (DUI) over a 6‐year period. We also examine whether the type of unemployment benefit received moderates the link to criminal behavior. We find significantly positive effects of unemployment on property crime but not on other types of crime. Our estimates also suggest that unemployed young males commit less crime while participating in active labor market programs when compared with periods during which they receive standard unemployment benefits.     

Unemployment: A double burden and a public issue

Almost all European countries suffer from mass unemployment. More than 20 million persons in Europe are out of work. When the unemployment rate reaches such levels it can be assumed that it has implications not only for each unemployed individual but also for society as a whole. In this article, a distinction is made between unemployment as a private trouble and unemployment as a public issue. This distinction with regard to unemployment was introduced by Mills (1959) and illuminates the different, although interrelated, effects of unemployment on the individual and on the overall structure of society. The private trouble perspective raises the question of how individuals are affected by unemployment and the public issue examaines how unemployment affects society as a whole. We apply the reasoning by first discussing the relations between individual consequences of unemployment. We focus on two often neglected aspects, namely, economic hardship and shame. Then the implications for working life and society are discussed. There is much evidence indicating that the social and health consequences of unemployment are not limited to the unemployed and their families but also affect the working life and the overall structure of society. It is argued that mass unemployment might increase the process of social disintegration in society.     

Unemployment and crime: the role of apprehension

An increase in the unemployment rate decreases the opportunity cost of crime and increases the crime rate according to standard microeconomics models. However, a large body of empirical research has shown that an increase in unemployment may increase or decrease crime. By incorporating the return to crime into standard economic models, this paper shows that an increase in unemployment, as in recessions, decreases the opportunity cost of crime and the return to crime as well. As a result, the effect of unemployment on crime is ambiguous and depends on the apprehension rate. An increase in the unemployment rate tends to decrease the crime rate at lower apprehension rates, but to increase it at higher apprehension rates. An increase in the generosity of unemployment insurance benefits does not necessarily reduce the crime rate, and the effect of more generous unemployment insurance on crime depends again on the apprehension rate.     

Driving under the influence of alcohol: a sequence analysis approach

Driving under the influence of alcohol is a contributing factor to a number of road traffic accidents. There is, however, a lack of research into the behaviours that lead to drink driving. The current research used a novel approach, behaviour sequence analysis, to investigate the chains of behaviours that lead to drink driving. Statements were taken from individuals (N?=?60) in an interview, reporting a time they had consumed alcohol and driven a vehicle. Statements were coded and the sequences of behavioural pairs were analysed. Results were presented in a state transition diagram, and indicated a variety of behavioural sequences leading to drink driving. A significant chain of events showed that individuals who had attempted to calculate their blood alcohol concentration and then drive a vehicle felt unsafe to drive, after driving. Also, many individuals did not intend to drink and drive; however, influences such as peer pressure and being surrounded by alcohol lead to them being more likely to consume multiple alcoholic drinks, and then drive a vehicle. The current research outlines future research, and implications for polices and laws on behaviours that surround drink driving, as well as providing a new method for research.     

Death of an 89-year-old man during autosexual activity

Autoerotic fatalities are accidental deaths occurring as a direct result of autosexual activities, mostly involving men in the 2nd to 8th decade of life. Death most often occurs in the domestic environment due to strangulation or asphyxia. However, fatalities related to autosexual activity in a wider sense may also be caused by an accident or sudden death from an internal cause. We report the case of an aged man who died while engaged in outdoor autosexual activities due to a combination of a pre-existing internal disease and an accident (drowning).     

Mediation Verses Arrest Approaches to Domestic Assault: Policy Implications for Addressing Domestic Abuse Among Under-Educated and Jobless Offenders

Mediation as a response to domestic abuse would seem a promising direction in curbing domestic battering among offenders with a low stake in conformity. This study compares the effects of mediation verses arrest on two general types of domestic abusers; one category with a high school education or above and is presently employed, while the other category comprising individuals with less than a high school education and are currently unemployed. Pooled data from three of the original group of six Minneapolis Domestic Violence Project cities are used in this study. The findings show unemployed Blacks with less than a high school education who were mediated were significantly less likely to have re-offended within six months than unemployed non-Blacks similarly mediated with less than a high school education. Also, unemployed Blacks with less than a high school education not mediated were significantly more likely to re-offend than unemployed non-Blacks with less than a high school education and not mediated. Finally, among those in the sample unemployed with less than a high school education and mediated were significantly less likely to re-offend compared to those not mediated. The findings are consistent with seeing mediation as a viable police strategy in curbing domestic abuse among jobless and undereducated offenders.     

An Application of Convergence Theory to Women's Drinking and Driving

Abstract

Convergence theory hypothesizes that as the social roles of the sexes equalize, there will be less differentiation in the social behavior of men and women. Fatal Accident Reporting Systems (FARS) data from 1982 through 1991 were utilized to investigate the convergence hypothesis regarding drinking and driving as a possible explanation for women's increased single vehicle crash deaths. Only driver fatalities were studied: N = 125,504 (17.6% female) with a subset, N = 42,129 (15.3% female) selected by quality of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) reporting for examining alcohol use. Drinking and driving for both sexes has decreased over the ten-year period. Convergence in drinking and driving behavior is not a viable explanation of women's increased traffic deaths. Women now are as likely as men to have a driver's license and women have also increased their annual mileage. Increased exposure to traffic death may provide a better explanation of women's increasing fatalities.     

Unemployment and Crime: Toward Resolving the Paradox

While official crime statistics from many countries show that unemployed people have high crime rates and that communities with a lot of unemployment experience a lot of crime, this cross-sectional relationship is very often not found in time-series studies of unemployment and crime. In Australia there have been no individual-level or cross-sectional studies of unemployment and adult crime which have failed to find a positive relationship and no time-series which have supported a positive relationship. Consistent with this pattern, a time series of homicide from 1921 to 1987 in Australia reveals no significant unemployment effect. A theoretical resolution of this apparent paradox is advanced in terms of the effect of female employment on crime in a partriarchal society. Crime is posited as a function of both total unemployment and female employment. When female employment is added to the model, it has a strong positive effect on homicide, and unemployment also assumes a strong positive effect.     

Unemployment and Crime Rate Fluctuations: A Comment on Greenberg

Several ways in which the specification of the Cantor and Land (1985) conceptual model of transient relationships between aggregate unemployment and crime rate fluctuations differs from that of Greenberg (2001) are noted. It follows that we do not accept Greenberg's Eq. (1) as a valid theoretical representation of the processes of interest. We briefly review the substantive context from which our investigation began in the mid-1980s. We also review the time series properties of our model and of the aggregate unemployment and crime rates used in its estimation. We note how the time series behavior of various crime rates determines which parts of the Cantor and Land model are and are not likely to be estimated as statistically significant for those series. We conclude with some comments on the limitations of aggregate time series research designs for testing the behavioral hypotheses used to generate expected relationships between aggregate unemployment and crime rates and suggest some alternative research designs.     

Problem Drinking, Unemployment, and Intimate Partner Violence among a Sample of Construction Industry Workers and their Partners

The purpose of this study is to determine the contribution of male unemployment and each partner’s problem drinking to risk for male-to-female partner violence (MFPV) and female-to-male partner violence (FMPV) among a sample of construction industry workers and their spouses/partners. Participants in the sample (n = 848 couples) completed cross-sectional health behavior surveys. Multivariate logistic regression models of MFPV and FMPV, with adjustment for demographic and psychosocial variables, were developed. Approximately 20% of couples reported MFPV, and 24% reported FMPV. Results indicated that couples in which the male was a problem drinker, and in which the male worker reported being currently unemployed, were at risk for MFPV. Number of months unemployed by the male worker was significantly associated with FMPV, but problem drinking was not associated with this outcome. Male and female impulsivity were significantly associated with risk for MFPV and FMPV, and the male’s report of adverse childhood events was associated with increased likelihood of MFPV. There was no evidence for the effects of unemployment being moderated (exacerbated) by problem drinking. Workplace-based prevention efforts may be a feasible and important strategy to reduce problem drinking and partner violence among high-risk occupational groups.     

Alternative Strategies for Identifying the Link Between Unemployment and Crime

National-level time series data are a crude tool for distinguishing between two alternative behavioral explanations for a link between unemployment and crime. Consequently, inferences drawn from aggregate time series estimates are likely to be misleading. A more fruitful approach to learning about the link between unemployment and crime would be to utilize a menagerie of different methodological approaches such as cross-section and panel data analysis of less geographically aggregated areas, natural experiments, international data, individual-level data, and ethnography.     

Democratic Party Control Reduces Gender Inequality

Women earn less than men who work in the same job with the same level of experience. We know much about this gender wage gap but relatively little about its political or partisan sources. In this article, we examine the effects of party control of state government on gender inequality in income, wages, unemployment, and poverty. Employing both a regression discontinuity design and a dynamic difference‐in‐difference analysis, we find that electing a Democratic majority to the state house leads to substantial improvement in women's incomes, wages, and unemployment relative to men—especially in recent years. We also show that greater female representation in office and more liberal policymaking on policies related to women's rights could be driving that process. We find, however, fewer clear effects on poverty and less robust results for partisan control of the governor's office or the state senate. Parties and politics matter, but not always.     

Heroin addictions in Italians: Evaluation of OPRM1 genetic variants by case–control association study

The opportunities to analyse the genetic variations related to the risk of addiction are of interest to forensics, who beside their involvement in drugs-related fatalities may also be required to assess driving and working ability as well as permanent invalidity due to drugs-related conditions. Several genetic variants have been shown to be associated with heroin addiction. The most investigated gene is OPMR1 that encode the μ-opioid receptor. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of genetics variants in OPRM1 to the susceptibility to addiction.     

Fatal firearm accidents in Sweden

According to Swedish law, it is prohibited to possess and use firearms without a special permission (license), which is given only after a detailed personal investigation. This restrictive legislation accounts for the fact that deaths due to firearms in Sweden are rare in an international comparison. The number of accidental firearm fatalities in Sweden is 0.074/100,000 living persons. We have previously published a series of accidental firearm fatalities during hunting, and now we present an investigation on the non-hunting fatalities. The mean age of the victims was 27 years, and males predominated. Handguns, military rifles, and shotguns caused most of the accidents. The first published case of fatal thoracic airgun wound is also included. Slightly more than half of the accidents were caused by another person and were inflicted at close range. Unsafe handling of the guns, especially "playing" with the gun or during military training caused most of the accidents. It is doubtful that one could further decrease the low number of fatal firearm accidents in Sweden by even more restrictive legislation. Instead, it is concluded that the most important factor to stress is the safer handling of weapons.     

A tale of two counties: Unemployment and sentence severity

This study explores the relationship between the offender's employment status and sentence severity. We use data on felony offenders sentenced in 1993 in Chicago and in Kansas City to test a number of hypotheses concerning the effect of unemployment on the likelihood of incarceration and the length of the prison sentence. Our analyses reveal a complex relationship between unemployment and sentence severity: Unemployment had a direct effect on the decision to incarcerate or not only in Kansas City, and directly affected sentence length only in Chicago. In addition, unemployment interacted with other offender characteristics. The offender's employment status had no effect on either measure of sentence severity in either jurisdiction if the offender was white. In Chicago, unemployment increased the odds of incarceration for young males and for young Hispanic males, and increased the length of the sentence for males, young males, and black males. In Kansas City, unemployment had no effect on sentence length for any subgroups of the population but influenced the decision to incarcerate if the offender was a black male. We suggest that our results support the proposition that certain types of unemployed offenders are perceived as “social dynamite” (Spitzer 1975) in need of formal social control.     

Accidental railway-related fatalities. The Metro Dade County experience, 1980-1984

A study of accidental railway-related fatalities was performed using the case files of the Office of the Medical Examiner of Metropolitan Dade County in Miami, Florida, during the years 1980-1984. The nine cases that were collected are presented here in some detail. A discussion ensues concerning the most common type of accidental railway-related fatalities, why they occur, and what future work remains in order to avoid such fatalities. Evidently, fatalities more frequently result from victims' disregard for safety--either by crossing the tracks despite warning, or by utilizing railroad trestles as a fishing pier--than from mass disaster. Future work involving forensic engineers, forensic pathologists, and lawyers along with community activists should include both public education and a design of less accessible trestles to avoid such tragedies. In conclusion, it is hoped that this article will serve as a catalyst for further research on this subject.     

Comparison of the variables affecting the recovery of DNA from common drinking containers

As the boundaries of forensic DNA profiling continue to expand, less obvious sources of biological evidence are being collected at crime scenes for DNA profiling. One example is the recovery of biological evidence from common drink containers, such as bottles and cans, which have been found at crime scenes. There are many variables that may have an impact on recovering a DNA profile from such exhibits. In this research, the effects of person to person variation, time, type of drink (including alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages), and type of drink container, were assessed for their impact on the major analytical outcomes of the DNA process. The results show that the alpha-amylase activity varies from individual to individual and is reduced in the presence of some alcoholic drinks. A reasonable DNA yield was obtained from all samples, however, the concentrations exhibited significant person to person variation. The type of drink container influenced the DNA yield with cans giving a higher yield than bottles of the same drink type. To a reduced extent the presence or absence of alcohol affected the overall DNA yield and when partial or failed DNA profiles were produced they were more likely to be associated with alcoholic drinks than non-alcoholic drinks.     

Wandering Dementia—A Syndrome with Forensic Implications

Wandering behavior in dementia may result in significant injury or death. Search of files at Forensic Science South Australia over a 20‐year period (1998–2018) identified nine individuals with dementia who were found deceased having been reported as missing from home/residential facilities (M:F, 6:3; age range, 54–92 years; average, 77.7 years; median, 80 years). The established clinical diagnoses were of dementia in seven cases and Alzheimer disease in two. Deaths were unnatural in six cases: hypo/hyperthermia three, drowning two, train impact one; natural in two cases due to ischemic (N=1) and valvular heart disease (N=1); and undetermined in one case due to marked decomposition. There were five fatalities in winter. Exposure and drowning were significant causes of death. The increasing aging population means cases of lethal wandering dementia will be more often encountered among forensic cases in future. Issues around duty of care and suicide should be considered in evaluating cases.