§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what studies he has made of any correlation between the change in regional unemployment rates with the change in crime rates over the last 18 months; and what were the results.
§ Mr. John PattenResearch has not shown significant associations between changes in recorded crime and changes in unemployment. The article "Unemployment and Crime", in Home Office research bulletin No. 14/82, copies of which are in the Library, reviewed research evidence on the association between unemployment and crime and concluded that little further could be learnt from studies of this topic at aggregate level.