Is there a link between the rise in crime and the recession?
In Spain, bank robberies are reportedly running 20% ahead of the previous year's figures and it's been blamed on that country's unemployment rate hitting a gob-smacking 20%, the highest in Europe, and the Spanish economy expected to contract by 4.2%.
In recession-stricken Britain, the Daily Mail reports that fraud by company directors is up 313%. Petty theft has risen massive 25%, shoplifting 10% and drug offences are up 6%. British retailers are also claiming there's been a crime wave.
It's tempting to blame it all on the recession but then you get reports saying that major crime in big US cities has actually fallen over the last year, despite more business bankruptcies and soaring unemployment.
That suggests the problem might be more complicated than what some would suggest. Either that, or it says something about the Poms and the Spanish. Still, the US figures could change and it will be interesting to track the trend.
no comment untill now