An Analysis of the Relationship Between Income Inequality and Crime

This project delves into the complex relationship between income inequality and crime, aiming to understand how income disparities influence crime rates. The research begins with an introduction to the topic, followed by clearly defined project objectives and scope, which includes both sociological and economic perspectives. A comprehensive literature review explores the impact of income inequality on risk-taking behavior, the types of crimes associated with inequality, and the existing associations between crime and income inequality. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, including both qualitative and quantitative research designs. The qualitative section involves interviews with sociologists and economists, while the quantitative section uses surveys to gather data. The methodology section details sampling techniques, data collection methods, and the specification of variables, along with approaches to ensure reliability and validity. The project also acknowledges potential limitations related to data validation, time constraints, and the scope of the research. The project concludes with a discussion of findings and recommendations. The research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the socioeconomic factors driving crime and potential solutions for addressing these issues.

Running head: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCOME INEQUALITY AND CRIME
Relationship between Income Inequality & Crime
Name of the University:
Name of the Student:
Authors Note:

1RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCOME INEQUALITY AND CRIME
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Project Objectives........................................................................................................................3
3. Project Scope...............................................................................................................................3
4. Literature Review........................................................................................................................4
4.1. Increase in Income Inequality and Risk Taking Conduct Reasons......................................4
4.2. Crimes Related with Income Inequality...............................................................................4
4.3. Association Among Crime and Income Inequality..............................................................5
5. Research Questions/ Hypothesis..................................................................................................5
6. Research Design and Methodology.............................................................................................6
6.1. Qualitative Research.............................................................................................................6
6.1.1. Sampling and Sample Size..........................................................................................6
6.1.2. Data Collection Method..............................................................................................7
6.1.3. Variables Specification................................................................................................7
6.1.4. Reliability and Validity Approaches..........................................................................7
6.2. Quantitative Research...........................................................................................................7
6.2.1. Research Instrument...................................................................................................7
6.2.2. Quantitative Data Analysis Process...........................................................................8
6.2.3. Sampling and Sample Size..........................................................................................8
6.2.4. Surveying and Questionnaires’ Design......................................................................8

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6.2.5. Data Reliability and Validity......................................................................................9
7. Research Limitations.................................................................................................................10
8. Time Schedule...........................................................................................................................10
9. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

3RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCOME INEQUALITY AND CRIME
1. Introduction
The association between income inequality and crime occurrence has always been a
research subject. Crime rates might rely on penalties and this might also focus on the difference
between opportunity cost and commitment of crime. The concept associated with relative
depreciation indicates that inequality might be associated with social attention on the poor people
(Bapuji, 2015). Such feeling of disadvantage and unfairness might cause them to gain
satisfaction in committing crime. The objective of the paper is to explain the concept of crime
and income inequality that can be explained from sociological and economic feature.
2. Project Objectives
The objectives of the research are explained under:
 To suggest certain likely ways in addressing the concern related with crime and income
inequality
 To maintain relationship among the crime and income inequality
 To reveal the reasons behind increase in income inequality within the deprived areas
 To recognize kinds of crime related with income inequality
3. Project Scope
The scope of this research is to reveal the relationship between the crime and income
inequality by employing certain secondary resources encompassing first-hand information. The
research will investigate several scholarly articles related with psychology and sociology to
explain the concept of income inequality and crime (Bergstrand et al. 2015). Moreover, this
study will also be relied on psycho-sociological perspectives focusing on risk-seeking behavior
of individuals belonging to lower income group.

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4. Literature Review
4.1. Increase in Income Inequality and Risk Taking Conduct Reasons
According to Bradley, (2015) variations within the income distribution is a new reason
that causes income inequality in developed nations and this have started since 1970s. The causes
associated with income inequality are linked with interaction of several factors. Within the
developed nations, the globalization decreases the employment chances that lessen availability of
skilled laborers. Cheung and Lucas, (2016) indicated that the individuals are losing jobs due to
high competition and basically they are shifting to the low-wage countries like Asian nations
along with developing nations such as Egypt, Brazil, China and India. These researchers
indicated that certain prompt progress in information technology results in high demand of
skilled and educated laborers. Daly, (2017) stated that there are welfare policies for the backward
class and the states requires to support labor laws, tax laws along with equal right laws for
bringing class within the mainstream.
4.2. Crimes Related with Income Inequality
Eckenrode et al., (2014) explained that crime is among the function that explains getting
involved in anti-social act. For this reason, it is likely that several poor individuals consider
doing illegal activities as they consider legal conducts does not provide advantages in the short
term perspective. Enamorado et al., (2016) stated that crimes are conducted by poor individuals
who have been experiencing unequal income following emotional motivation mechanism and
rational calculation. In contrast, a nation’s economic growth might effect in decreasing the crime
occurrences as development in GDP might decrease gap in income inequality. According to
Ferrer‐i‐Carbonell and Ramos, (2014) International Statistics on Crime and Justice presented a

5RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCOME INEQUALITY AND CRIME
report in the year 2015 and such dataset indicates certain crime incidences within developing and
developed nations, robbery, murder and assault.
4.3. Association among Crime and Income Inequality
As elucidated by Florida and Mellander, (2016) in certain developed nations and
numerous African nations, the income inequity measurement does not account for accumulation
of wealth. The income inequality greatly effects on property crime within African along with
European nations as people consider to take the same as transitory and permanent income. Hurst,
Gibbon and Nurse, (2016) indicated that an area in which there is less income inequality and
permanent income of the people are increased, the crime rate is less. Moreover, such places
might offer a wide distribution of transitory income. The younger generation is dealing with the
concern of long term income shock for such income is computed by random growth model.
Klinger et al., (2016) stated that if permanent income shock increases, the inequality might bring
considerable impact on the three categories as the individuals might try to have transitory
income.
5. Research Questions/ Hypothesis
The primary question that is to be answered through this research is:
 Does income inequality results in crime within the deprived areas of the world?
Certain secondary questions those are to be addressed in the paper are addressed below:
 What are the kinds of crime are related with income inequality?
 What might be certain possible solutions to control income inequality along with crimes
within the deprived section?
 What are kinds of crime that is related with the income inequality?

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6. Research Design and Methodology
For carrying out this research project, both primary and secondary data will be gathered
on the part of the researcher. The government reports, journals, reliable websites, library books
and articles will be used to accumulate secondary data. On the other hand, with the help of
survey and interview, primary data will be obtained.
6.1. Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is a vast methodological approach, which encompasses different
research methods. From the conventional perspective, qualitative methods fetch information only
on the specific cases studied (Newman, Johnston & Lown, 2015). Thus, a qualitative researcher
believes that the understanding of a situation or phenomenon or event comes from exploring the
totality of the situation.
6.1.1. Sampling and Sample Size
With the help of sampling, the most pertinent source of primary data would be used for
mixing pertinent information that matches with the research objectives and aims. In this research
project, the interview sessions will be carried out with the sociologists and economists living in
Australia. The researcher has managed to identify two sociologists and two economists and the
researcher will contact them via Facebook. In this case, the researcher will use non-probability
sampling in the form of convenience sampling, as it would help the researcher to select a subset
from the overall population (Pare & Felson, 2014).
6.1.2. Data Collection Method
The researcher will carry out the interview process with the help of Skype, since meeting
the persons physically is not possible. 8 open-ended questions regarding income inequality and
societal crime will be prepared on the part of the researcher. The type of the interview will be

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semi-structured. The collected data will be assessed with the technique of qualitative data
analysis.
6.1.3. Variables Specification
In this case, the variables used for this specific research project include inequality and
crime in the society. In this case, the dependent variable would be crime in the society and
inequality would be treated as the independent variable.
6.1.4. Reliability and Validity Approaches
The researcher will accumulate the data from the most authentic sources and the human
responses. The researcher has made an attempt to maintain the reliability of the data gathered by
using interpretive applications to analyze the information provided. In addition, the researcher
has also used the most relevant and authentic websites in selecting the personnel for addressing
the research issues.
6.2. Quantitative Research
6.2.1. Research Instrument
In this particular research, the researcher will obtain the primary data with the help of a
survey. The researcher will develop 15 close-ended questions in order to obtain data regarding
inequality in income and crime in the society.
6.2.2. Quantitative Data Analysis Process
The quantitative data implies the fragment of information, which could be evaluated to
deduce the information with respect to the research results. According to Pickett and Wilkinson,
(2015), the quantitative data provides the information on the subject of the inclination of human
perception concerning particular study information. The researcher will frame the questions of

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two categories, which include demographic category and subjective category. The questions will
be published on the page of Google and the link of the questionnaire will be published on the
Facebook page of an Australian community. In addition, for doing this, the researcher has
already obtained permission from the said community.
6.2.3. Sampling and Sample Size
With the help of sampling, the most pertinent source of primary data would be used for
mixing pertinent information that matches with the research objectives and aims Rueda &
Stegmueller, (2016). There are above 500 members in the group and the researcher will select
150 respondents depending on probability sampling in the form of simple random sampling
providing all the responses. Quantitative data analysis will be the procedure of data analysis.
This is because quantitative data is involved in dealing with numerical findings (Kennedy et al.,
2017). The simple random sampling has been used to conduct a survey with the professionals, as
it provides equal opportunities to the respondents of being selected in the survey. Therefore,
quantitative data has been obtained by using random sampling from a large sample.
6.2.4. Surveying and Questionnaires’ Design
The researcher will gather primary data by surveying the professionals working in the
Australian community. For performing the study, the researcher has arranged a planned
questionnaire, which includes both open-ended and close-ended questions. In this context, Wang,
Pan and Luo, (2015) stated that survey is the best option to gather quantitative data, since it
enables to gather considerable data from a large sample size. For the current study, the survey
questionnaire has been developed based on research objects in order to gather the relevant
information. The researcher primarily invited the persons involved in the Facebook page related
to the Australian community. However, the researcher has also distributed the questionnaires by

9RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCOME INEQUALITY AND CRIME
sending e-mails to the respondents, who have shown interest. The respondents have been given a
period of seven days for filling up the questionnaire.
6.2.5. Data Reliability and Validity
The researcher will accumulate the data from the most authentic sources and the human
responses. The researcher has made an attempt to maintain the reliability of the data gathered by
using interpretive applications to analyze the information provided. In addition, the researcher
has also used the most relevant and authentic websites in selecting the personnel for addressing
the research issues.

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7. Research Limitations
Despite having several implications, the research has some limitations that includes
concern about data validation within the section of literature review as there must be certain
judgmental news and reviews. Another limitation might deal with the limitation of evaluation of
online pdf due to the financial boundary (Pare & Felson, 2014). The researcher might deal with
the concern of time constraint in the review of the literature. Moreover, in gathering the data
based on the survey, the researcher can deal with the limitation to filter unbiased data from more
than 150 respondents. The research is deemed to be cross sectional, however the primary data
will just indicate responses of Australian citizens and for this it could fail to consider the global
perspective.
8. Time Schedule
Activities Week 1 Week 4 Week 8 Week 12 Week 16 Week 20 Week 24
Research topic
selection
✓
Reviewing the
literature
✓
Choice of research
methods
✓
Gathering of
primary data
(Interview and
Survey)
✓

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Obtaining
conclusion
✓
Offering
recommendations
✓
Submission of
paper
✓
9. Conclusion
The research proposal intended to explain that crime statistics rely on crime reporting and
aggregate statistics reporting. There are chances of distortions to be explained at every step. The
assessable resources to gather data are less in poorer areas than wealthier areas in the world.
Moreover, there might be an occasion of deviancy down impact in which these statistics are
attenuated. The researcher might deal with the concern of time constraint in the review of the
literature. Moreover, in gathering the data based on the survey, the researcher can deal with the
limitation to filter unbiased data from more than 150 respondents. The time schedule indicates
that the research is to be accomplished by week 24 positively.

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References
Bapuji, H. (2015). Individuals, interactions and institutions: How economic inequality affects
organizations. Human Relations, 68(7), 1059-1083.
Bergstrand, K., Mayer, B., Brumback, B., & Zhang, Y. (2015). Assessing the relationship
between social vulnerability and community resilience to hazards. Social indicators
research, 122(2), 391-409.
Bradley, H. (2015). Fractured identities: Changing patterns of inequality. John Wiley & Sons.
Cheung, F., & Lucas, R. E. (2016). Income inequality is associated with stronger social
comparison effects: The effect of relative income on life satisfaction. Journal of
personality and social psychology, 110(2), 332.
Daly, M. (2017). Killing the competition: Economic inequality and homicide. Routledge.
Eckenrode, J., Smith, E. G., McCarthy, M. E., & Dineen, M. (2014). Income inequality and child
maltreatment in the United States. Pediatrics, 133(3), 454-461.
Enamorado, T., López-Calva, L. F., Rodríguez-Castelán, C., & Winkler, H. (2016). Income
inequality and violent crime: Evidence from Mexico's drug war. Journal of Development
Economics, 120, 128-143.
Ferrer‐i‐Carbonell, A., & Ramos, X. (2014). Inequality and happiness. Journal of Economic
Surveys, 28(5), 1016-1027.
Florida, R., & Mellander, C. (2016). The geography of inequality: Difference and determinants
of wage and income inequality across US metros. Regional Studies, 50(1), 79-92.

13RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCOME INEQUALITY AND CRIME
Hurst, C. E., Gibbon, H. M. F., & Nurse, A. M. (2016). Social inequality: Forms, causes, and
consequences. Routledge.
Klinger, D., Rosenfeld, R., Isom, D., & Deckard, M. (2016). Race, crime, and the micro ‐ecology
of deadly force. Criminology & Public Policy, 15(1), 193-222.
Newman, B. J., Johnston, C. D., & Lown, P. L. (2015). False consciousness or class awareness?
Local income inequality, personal economic position, and belief in American
meritocracy. American Journal of Political Science, 59(2), 326-340.
Pare, P. P., & Felson, R. (2014). Income inequality, poverty and crime across nations. The
British journal of sociology, 65(3), 434-458.
Pickett, K. E., & Wilkinson, R. G. (2015). Income inequality and health: a causal review. Social
science & medicine, 128, 316-326.
Rueda, D., & Stegmueller, D. (2016). The externalities of inequality: Fear of crime and
preferences for redistribution in Western Europe. American Journal of Political
Science, 60(2), 472-489.
Wang, P., Pan, J., & Luo, Z. (2015). The impact of income inequality on individual happiness:
Evidence from China. Social Indicators Research, 121(2), 413-435.