Bibliography

Axel Dessecker, Arbeitsmärkte, Jugendarbeitslosigkeit Dessecker und Delinquenz: ein Überblick, in: Jugendarbeitslosigkeit und Kriminalität, Axel Dessecker (ed.), Wiesbaden 2006, pp. 21ff.

Marcus Dittrich / Gunther Markwardt, Arbeitslosigkeit Dittrich / Markwardt und Kriminalität: Eine mögliche „Doppelte Dividende“ der Arbeitsmarktpolitik?, in: ifo Dresden berichtet 6/2004, pp. 11ff.

Travis Hirschi, Causes of Delinquency, Berkeley and Los Hirschi Angeles 1969.

Claudia Krüger / Manfred Amelang, Arbeitslosigkeit und Krüger / Amelang Kriminalität, Heidelberg 1991.

Timm Kunstreich, Straffälligkeit: eine Folge Kunstreich sozialpolitischer Entscheidungen? Verarmung – Abweichung – Kriminalität. In: Raimund Hompesch, Gabriele Kawamura, Richard Reindl (eds.), Verarmung – Abweichung – Kriminalität: Straffälligenhilfe vor dem Hintergrund gesellschaftspolitischer Polarisierung, Bonn 1996, pp. 18ff.

Günther Schmid, Wege in eine neue Vollbeschäftigung, Schmid Übergangsarbeitsmärkte und aktivierende Arbeitsmarktpolitik, Frankfurt (Main) 2002.

Karl F. Schumann, Berufsbildung, Arbeit und Schumann Delinquenz: empirische Erkenntnisse und praktische Folgerungen aus einer Bremer Längsschnittstudie, in: Jugendarbeitslosigkeit und Kriminalität, Axel Dessecker (ed.), Wiesbaden 2006, pp. 43ff.

Siegfried Weyerer, Arbeitslosigkeit und psychische Weyerer Erkrankung, Ergebnisse neuerer Makro- und Mikrostudien, in: Weg vom Fenster, Arbeitslosigkeit und ihre Folgen, Bernd Klees / Siegfried Weyerer (eds.), Frankfurt (Main) 1986, pp. 90ff.

III

I. Introduction It is a stereotype and a lot of people think it true: Unemployed people are more criminal than others. Based on empirical studies and criminological essays, this paper shall find out if this is actually true.

It shall be examined if there is a direct connection between unemployment and delinquency, focusing on the individuals and the question if unemployment causes them to commit a crime.

To become acquainted with the origins of delinquency and the situation of unemployed individuals, the work of Hirschi and the report of Krüger and Amelang, which contain essential information, have been of great importance. To gather empirical evidence for a connection, criminal statistics and other empirical studies shall be examined at first. Afterwards, the consequences of unemployment and the causes of delinquency shall be described. Eventually it shall be determined if consequences and causes correspond to each other or induce one another. Referring to the results the conclusion will answer the question if there is a link.

II. Empirical studies In this section it shall be determined if there are any empirical data that suggest a link between unemployment and crime.

1) Crime statistics The 2006 crime statistics of North Rhine-Westphalia were the last ones in Germany to indicate the number of suspects that were unemployed. Hereafter it shall be examined if the share of unemployed people in the suspects is higher than their share in the entire population of North Rhine-Westphalia and if the duration of unemployment increases this share.

a) Share in suspects According to the 2006 crime statistics there were 418,074 suspects aged 14 to 59 in North Rhine-Westphalia. 36,791 of them were unemployed. This is a share of 8.8 %. 1

¹ Kriminalitätsentwicklung im Land Nordrhein-Westfalen Jahr 2006, published by

Landeskriminalamt Nordrhein-Westfalen, Duesseldorf 2007, p. 18.

1

In September 2006 there were 976,092 unemployed people in North Rhine-Westphalia. ² There were approximately 11.08 million people aged 14 to 59 staying in North Rhine-Westphalia. ³ Therefore unemployed people had a share in the entire population of 8.8 %. This percentage was thus as high as their share in the suspects. In view thereof it can be stated that unemployed people are not more likely to be suspects than people who have got a job.

b) Duration of unemployment 20,088 of 36,791 unemployed suspects had been unemployed for more than a year. ⁴ Those people and pupils who have come out of school without doing an apprenticeship afterwards receive grants according to the social security code II (SGB II). To determine if the people receiving those grants are more likely to be suspects their share in unemployed suspects must be compared to their share in unemployed people. In 2006 68 % of all unemployed people in North Rhine-Westphalia received grants according to SGB II. ⁵ 64.9 % of unemployed suspects received those grants. ⁶ Receivers of the grants are thus not more likely to be suspects than unemployed people who do not receive them. Therefore the duration of unemployment does not have any effect on the likelihood of being a suspect.

c) Repeated delinquency In 2006 there were altogether 508,528 suspects, which means that there were people caught by the police more than once in 2006. If one divides this number by the number of single suspects – 418,074 – it arises as a result that every suspect was caught 1.21 times.

48,976 unemployed suspects were counted in 2006. Considering the number of single suspects – 36,791 – one concludes that every unemployed suspect was caught 1.33 times. 7

² Monats-/Jahreszahlen 2006 (Arbeitsmarkt in Zahlen), published by Bundesagentur für

Arbeit Statistik, Nuremberg 2006, p. 59.

³ Landesdatenbank NRW (landesdatenbank.nrw.de), population on 12/31/2006.

⁴ Kriminalitätsentwicklung im Land Nordrhein-Westfalen Jahr 2006, p. 20.

⁵ Monats-/Jahreszahlen 2006, p. I.

⁶ Kriminalitätsentwicklung im Land Nordrhein-Westfalen Jahr 2006, p. 20.

⁷ Kriminalitätsentwicklung im Land Nordrhein-Westfalen Jahr 2006, p. 19.

2