What Are Costs of Crime?

Crime is a social phenomenon that has assisted human activity since the very beginning (remember Cain and Abel). It is also a very frequent activity. Victimization surveys show that approximately every one in five to six persons becomes a victim each year (see Kesteren et al. 2000). One can expect that such high victimization rates influence human behavior and by extension the economy. The notion that crime is burdensome is nothing new (see, for example, Smith 1901). However, the attempt to calculate its costs is of rather recent provenance.

Before engaging in a closer examination of the costs of crime, one must first clarify the concept of crime itself. The next section will shortly discuss and delimit the relevant subgroup of crimes in order to facilitate the subsequent analysis.