At a recent public safety forum sponsored by the National Criminal Justice Association, criminologists from around the country were predicting an increase of crime over the next year, despite statistics that show crime is significantly down in the first six months of 2009 compared to 2008.
One expert predicted that property crime will increase by 400,000 nationwide over the next year, citing a historical correlation between unemployment and property crime. However, alongside conventional wisdom that a recession creates criminals is the fact that crime was significantly up during Prohibition, but then dropped during the Great Depression.
Considering that the FBI and law enforcement agencies across the US are reporting a general drop in crime (a dramatic drop in some areas), what is the reality? And what can average citizens actually expect in the coming months?
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