Causes

• Individualist


  Believe that people make a choice whether to obey the law or not. They believe that if the punishments were stronger and the police and courts had more powers, there would be less crime.
• Collectivists


  Feel that it is the person's environment which causes them to commit crimes, when saying: poor housing, lack of employment opportunities and inequalities make crime more attractive for some people.
• White-collar crime


  Involves the use of deception to make financial gain: this includes crimes such as tax evasion, fraud, money laundering and false accounting. White-collar crimes are usually committed by people of respectability and high social status in the course of their job.
• Most crime takes place where there is a lot of people and a lot of poverty.
• Evidence shows that crime is not evenly spread throughout the country and some areas suffer higher crime rates than others, these areas are known as 'hot spots'.
• Nearly half (42%) of all violent crimes are committed while individuals are under the influence of alcohol; this amounts to approximately 100,000 alcohol-related violent crimes every year.
• There is a lot of evidence to support the idea that those with a dependency on drug use are more likely to be arrested for crimes such as burglary or shop theft/crimes that will help pay for the drug addiction.
• By far the majority of crime in Scotland is committed by men.
• Reasons women have less opportunity to commit crime compared to men

  • Work - fewer women than men work, therefore less opportunity exists for the commissioning of crime within the workplace
  • Child-care - women are more likely than men to have primary responsibility for child-care, which restricts opportunities for various types of criminal behaviour
  • Behaviour - a female's behaviour is more closely watched/controlled