Social gap spurs violent crimes such as assaults and robberies, says Labor
by Brendan Nicholson
The Age, Melbourne
25 November 1999
The growing gap between rich and poor has brought a sharp increase in violent crime, the federal Opposition has warned.
Labor's justice spokesman, Mr Duncan Kerr, said the increase in crime indicated that many people felt they were excluded from Australia's economic success.
He was commenting on the latest crime figures from the Australian Institute of Criminology, which show the number of robberies in Australia increased by 10.6 per cent last year to 23,778.
Armed robberies jumped by 20 per cent to 10,850, which the institute said was an increase of 69 per cent on 1995.
Police investigated 132,297 assaults in 1998, up 6 per cent from 1997.
Assaults occurred at the rate of 15 an hour across Australia, 40 per cent of them in homes. Those most at risk of assaults were males and females aged from 15 to 24.
The proposition of Australians in jails rose by 52 per cent between 1983 and 1998, with the overall imprisonment rate jumping from 91.6 of each 100,000 people to 139.2.
Mr Kerr said the figures appeared to reflect a growing economic and social division. "The only plausible explanation appears to be that there is a growing anti-social response by people who feel that they have been left out, left behind, and that they are not part of Australia's economic success.
"More and more people are being drawn into the criminal cycle. "Australia has split into a country with haves and have-nots and there are dangerous signs that the glue which holds Australia together may be starting to dissolve."
The Institute's director, Dr Adam Graycar, warned recently that rapid technological change was producing an angry, isolated and unemployable underclass of Australians who were likely to turn to crime as a lifestyle.
He said globalitation was driving the restructuring of Australia's economy. The winners in this process were those with skills that were adaptable, transferable and in high demand.
They would live well and ride the wave of demographic and economic boom and bust.
The losers would be the victims of structural change who would socially and demographically isolated - "young people without skills, people with substance abuse problems, older people who find the new technology bewildering".
Significant among the losers would be a cohort to young, angry males who were umemployed and probably living for the moment with no prospects for the future.
They would seek gratification when and where they could obtain it.
Dr Graycar said many criminologists had focused recently on th idea of an "underclass" that appeared to be a product of changing social structures.
"These persons are likely to have a limited education, are unlikely to ever be employed and often engage in crime as part of a lifestyle which includes rejection of social norms." he said.
Crime on the rise
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Armed robberies: 10,850 in 1998. 20% up on 1997.
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Total robberies : 23, 778 in 1998, up to 10.6% on 1997.
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Assaults: 132,297 in 1998, up 6% on 1997.
Assault Details
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Most at risk males and females aged 15 to 24.
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40% of assaults occur at home.
Prisons
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The proportion of Australians in jails rose by 52% in the 15 years from 1983 to 1998.
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