Though it is often said that crime is caused by poverty, there is little to no evidence to actually back up this claim. On the contrary it seems the more affluent people are more likely to commit property crimes. The Guardian has a nice article about this strange phenomenon:
Category Archives: crime
Omega-3 against crime
Earlier we discussed the link between environmental lead concentration and criminal behaviour. New research lead by Jill Portnoy has indicated that another substance might have significant effect on criminal behaviour: omega 3. Continue reading Omega-3 against crime
Situational crime prevention
According to the crime opportunity theory the main cause of crime is the opportunity for prospective criminals to commit crime. Consequently crime can be reduced by eliminating opportunities for committing crimes, a strategy also known as situational prevention. In other words, by making it harder for people to commit crimes, more would-be offenders will abstain from illegal activities. Continue reading Situational crime prevention
Building codes and crime prevention
Two interesting explanations for the rise and fall of crime in Western societies are the crime opportunity theory and lead crime hypothesis. Though both approach crime from a different angle, there are not mutually exclusive and in fact I believe both provide usual insights for a sensible government policy aimed at crime reduction. Continue reading Building codes and crime prevention
Public enemy #1?
Recently I came across the lead crime hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, proposed by Rick Nevin, crime rates are related to the exposure to lead. More precisely Nevin argues that the crime bulge seen in multiple Western countries could be related by the use of leaded gasoline. Continue reading Public enemy #1?
Counter-lobbyism
Many will have heard of terms like counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence. These are concepts used by intelligence agencies around the world. The former refers to identifying and arresting (potential) terrorists and the latter to identifying foreign spies. Continue reading Counter-lobbyism
Follow up: child slavery
Here the link to The Sun‘s article on the trade in Nepalese child slaves to the UK:
Brit families buy child slaves
Some people have really no conscience at all.
The horrible story of child slaves
The Guardian reports that the UK government is about to investigate allegations that the child survivors of the Nepalese earthquake have been sold into the UK as domestic slaves. Continue reading The horrible story of child slaves
Crime prevention
There is a Dutch saying “gelegenheid maakt de dief” which means that occasion creates the thief. This proverb is essentially the behind the theory on crime prevention developed by Dutch criminologist Jan van Dijk. Continue reading Crime prevention
Types of homicide
Homicide is a container term covering several instances of people killing other people. Some killers have been planning to kill one for years, while others are killed by accident. Too often all cases of homicide are referred to as “murder”, which is very unfortunate.
In this article we propose the following classification of homicide crimes.
