Criminality and economic development: An empirical verification in Italian regions (1980-95)

This research tries to assess the existence of a correlation (positive or negative) between the level of economic development and particular criminal variables (homicide and theft) in the Central/North and Southern Italian regions during the period 1980-95. The results obtained confirm the hypothesis that there exists an inversely proportionate relationship between the level of economic development and the number of homicides in five regions out of eight in Southern Italy. When the rate of theft is considered instead, this relationship can only be established for three regions out of eight in Southern Italy. The first part of this article examines the theories that analyse the relationship between economic development and crime, whilst the second part of the article describes the index factors used to develop this econometric analysis. The research data obtained is discussed in the concluding part of the article.