Causes of Crime

Causes of Crime/ Crime Prevention

Open Ended

What causes crime? Describe your favourite theory.

Multiple Select

Which of these might explain the trend in this graph? Choose any which are plausible.

• There was an improvement in policing in the late 90's which led to a reduction in murder rates

• There was an improvement in policing in the late 90's which led to an increase in murder rates

• There was an decrease in the use of around the 80s, which led to less brain damage in infants and thus, less murderers

• An increase in material wealth worldwide is correlated with declining crime rates

Open Ended

According to the theories just mentioned, which countries would you expect to have high crime rates? (those with low social capital/trust)?

Multiple Choice

Looking at the countries circled, what is the general relationship between the level of trust in a country and the homicide rate?

• The higher the level of trust, the higher the homicide rate.

• The higher the level of trust, the lower the homicide rate.

• The level of trust and the homicide rate are not related

• Neither trust nor homicide are important

This map shows the level of inequality in each country- the US is more unequal than the UK.

Open Ended

Does poverty cause crime, or does crime cause poverty? Which do you think is most likely? Why?

Open Ended

Why do you think that lower IQ may be correlated with criminal behaviour?