) Socio-economic Characteristics
There is now widespread acceptance that there is a strong relationship between criminality and socio-economic factors. Socio-economic status has been suggested as a key indicator by several studies and unemployment appears to have special significance (Schmid, 1960; Becker, 1968; Herbert, 1983; Darden, 2001; Edmark, 2005). A large number of studies have shown a consistent and inverse relationship between crime, delinquency, and social class or socio-economic status (Herbert, 1983). Field (1998) pointed out that economic factors have a major influence on trends in both property and personal crime. He found that