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It's nicked
Feb. 10th, 2010 02:12 pmA nice Gladwellesque piece here today (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100210/tuk-uk-britain-burglars-fa6b408.html).
Clearly the land of crime is subject to the same economic forces as it always is. However, the article maintains the view, held since at least the Victorian ere, that there is "a criminal underclass".
Not, as is surely the case more than once: "gave up crime" or "turned to drug dealing" or "decided to become hedge fund managers".
Are there statistics on this? I know that improving home security, thus making burglaries harder, tends to increase the number of crimes on the person. But the vagaries of crime statistics reporting, and the self-interest involved in the police and the government departments concerned, makes accuracy harder to come by.
However, notwithstanding these minor matters, it's clear that if property is theft, it's not worth as much as it was. Gone are the days when TVs cost people three month's wages. The stuff that costs money now is labour, and you can't nick that -- unless they bring back slavery.
But this doesn't seem to explain to me why domestic burglaries have dropped 50%. The potential penalties for mugging someone of their mobile phone are greater than the penalty for stealing it from their home. And although TVs and electrical equipment are hardly worth stealing, there's usually at least one great attraction -- car keys.
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Clearly the land of crime is subject to the same economic forces as it always is. However, the article maintains the view, held since at least the Victorian ere, that there is "a criminal underclass".
An influx of cheap electronic goods from China and the Far East has prompted burglars to turn to other crimes such as robberies and muggings.
Not, as is surely the case more than once: "gave up crime" or "turned to drug dealing" or "decided to become hedge fund managers".
Are there statistics on this? I know that improving home security, thus making burglaries harder, tends to increase the number of crimes on the person. But the vagaries of crime statistics reporting, and the self-interest involved in the police and the government departments concerned, makes accuracy harder to come by.
However, notwithstanding these minor matters, it's clear that if property is theft, it's not worth as much as it was. Gone are the days when TVs cost people three month's wages. The stuff that costs money now is labour, and you can't nick that -- unless they bring back slavery.
But this doesn't seem to explain to me why domestic burglaries have dropped 50%. The potential penalties for mugging someone of their mobile phone are greater than the penalty for stealing it from their home. And although TVs and electrical equipment are hardly worth stealing, there's usually at least one great attraction -- car keys.
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