The cost of crime to society annually runs into the billions of dollars. Economists Mark Levitt of Harvard and Mark Cohen of Vanderbilt have worked to accurately measure this cost. Cohen tallied up all the costs associated with various kinds of crime, from loss of income sustained by a murder victim's family to the cost of counseling by a rape victim to the diminished value of houses in a high-burglary neighborhood.
These "quality of life" costs - based largely on actual compensatory damages awarded to crime victims in civil cases- reflect the true impact of crime on our standard of living. When the "quality of life" costs are added to the actual costs, we find that the total cost of a murder is $2.7 million, a rape $50,600, an assault $12,000, a robbery $17,800, and a burglary $1,600.
Our emergency rooms and intensive care units are full of people suffering from stab and gunshot wounds. In most cases, it is the American people who pick up the tab for treating these victims. The tab continues to mount long after the victim leaves the hospital. Expensive rehabilitation and missed employment costs are borne by us all.
Other costs of crime are smaller but still significant. Crime leads to higher auto and homeowner's insurance premiums and it causes us to spend more money on things like locks, burglar bars, security alarms and self-defense training. People also "pay" for crime by altering their behavior and life style. One study estimated that the crime increases in the early 1980s caused 150,000 more New Yorkers to take taxis instead of public transportation.
Economic prosperity bypasses places where crime runs rampant. High-crime neighborhoods are saturated with examples of lost economic opportunity and broken dreams. Boarded up storefronts and boarded up houses line once vibrant streets. Property values in these neighborhoods tend to be stagnant or even in decline. Sadly, these are the very same neighborhoods where America's lower and middle-class homeowners are most heavily invested.
If America is to fulfill its promise of freedom and economic prosperity for all, we must come to grips with our crime problem. Studies show that one in two Americans will at some point in their life become a crime victim. Whether or not we ourselves are victimized, we still pay for crime everyday through higher insurance premiems, diminished economic opportunity, and a reduced quality of life.
