| FACTORS RELATED TO CRIME |
AMOUNT OF INFLUENCE
(You can use a scale of 1-5; Minimum-Medium-Maximum; or any other type scale that makes sense to you.) |
NATURE OF INFLUENCE (How are they related to crime?) |
| Poverty |
There is a lack of a direct relationship between poverty and crime since there are people who live in extreme poverty and yet do not commit a crime. The influence of poverty on crime is indirect though critical. |
Unemployment leads to crime and a significant proportion of criminals come from poor and a disadvantaged background. Property crime results from reduced financial stability, as a factor of extended unemployment and social, economic disadvantage among families leads to parental negligence to children that lead to juvenile offences. |
| Mental Illness |
Mental illness is one of the most causes of crime in a community. |
In a society, people with a mental disorder are more likely to commit violent crime than the usual. Individuals with mental disorders are violent and responsible for possible homicides as a result of untreated mental illness with conditions like paranoid schizophrenia that lead to offences like murders and domestic violence. |
| Low Education Level |
It is evident that most criminals are of inferior education and this to a big extent is responsible for increased crime. |
Education adds human capital and value to an individual and, as a result, such individuals will avoid evil. However, unemployment is related to low education results to poverty that drives people in committing an offence in their society. Low wages that will not sustain the life and needs of individuals due to unemployment results in robbery and other crime. |
| Drug /Alcohol Abuse |
Drug and Alcohol abuse contribute to crime. It tops the causes of crime both in colleges and the community. |
Offences related to alcohol and drug abuse range from petty to capital crimes. Accidents on roads and sexual assault claim a good number of both the innocent and those on drugs. |
| Family Problems (fighting, divorce, criminal history) |
There is less direct relationship between families problems, to a small crime are caused by family problems. |
Divorce in most cases affect the children and may lead to crime. Observations show that most divorced families give less care to the children. Negligence leads them to commit juvenile offences for survival. |
| Greed |
Greed causes crime. However, it is associated in with other factors. A subtle percentage of crime is as a result of greed. |
Circumstances such as poverty and low education make individuals not to afford morals hence involving in crime. People think of getting what they may desire easily without due process that drives them to robbery and assault. |
| Unemployment and
Underemployment
|
Unemployment could be the major cause of crime in the present world. Unemployment has a major effect on crime. |
A good paying job creates personal and social linkage between a person and their community. Unemployment influences the possibility of evil. Individuals are less likely to commit an offence if they are tied and respected by their communities. When the community sets goals for the members but creates a barrier through unemployment and or underemployment leads to crime. |
| Peer Pressure |
Peer pressure is the primary cause of crime in young individuals. Individuals tend to do what the rest of the group decides to do whether right or wrong to match the group. |
Children especially from disadvantaged families that cannot afford education requirements may abandon schools to join criminal gangs since their presence in the group earns respect, income and street fame. Peer groups in most cases are interested in material and extortion through robbery and many street crimes. |
| Bad Neighborhoods |
Focus on the community is an important factor in finding out the causes of crime. It is a major factor that causes crime frequently in a society. |
Many people avoid evil not because they fear being arrested but because they respect and want to retain a good relationship with their neighbors. Dangerous neighborhoods bear less responsibility to their neighbors and offend them with less concern. Also neighboring thieves, mentally ill and drug addicts will lead to high frequency of crime through assault robbery and rape. |
| Anger or Revenge |
Very few people will commit a crime as a result of revenge and anger. |
Anger and revenge are common to people of distorted background. People who grow up abused are likely to abuse others in a form of revenge. |
| Poor Parenting |
It is an important cause of crime among children who later turn into real criminals. |
Negligence by parents and lack of proper parenting is a significant cause crime among children. They get involved in drugs and alcohol abuse due to less or no guidance by their parents that leads to crime. |
| Low Self-Control |
Self-control is an important factor if one is to avoid or get involved in crime. |
Low self-control directly leads to crime such as assault, robbery, rape. It is the primary factor that will lure an individual into crime. Low self-control one is not able to decide on what to avoid even if desired. |
| Low Self-Esteem |
It is a relatively important factor in evaluating crime. |
Low self-esteem is very critical in crime as evidenced in rehabilitation facilities where violence and abusive behaviors are very high. |