Income inequality, not poverty, responsible for crime — NSCB

MANILA – Forget what you learned about poverty causing crime. According to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), crime is more a function of income inequality.

In a report, NSCB secretary-general Jose Ramon Albert said crime thrives in areas with high disparities in income.

He cited the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which has the lowest income inequality of 0.2948 and the lowest crime rate of 54 per 100,000 people.

In contrast, Northern Mindanao, which has an income inequality of 0.4737, recorded the highest crime rate of 1,069 per 100,000 people.

“Thus, it is important for our economic managers to find ways of reducing income inequalities with more income redistribution interventions, such as progressive income taxation, and the conditional cash transfer. These interventions are essentially one of the pathways towards inclusive growth — with every Filipino being part in the growing Philippine economy,” Albert said.

Last year, the Philippine economy expanded by 6.6 percent, higher than Vietnam’s 5.4 percent and Singapore’s 1.1 percent.

The NSCB said crime incidence has fallen from 2009 to 2012, but at a decelerating rate.

From 502,665 in 2009, the number of reported crimes has fallen to 324,083 in 2010, a 35.5 percent decrease year-on-year.

Criminal incidents fell from 246,958 in 2011 to 217,812 last year, a decline of 11.8 percent year-on-year.

“Note, that while the reported volume of crimes committed between 2011 and 2012 has decreased year on year, the 2012 crime figures still translates to an average of 597 crimes being committed per day in the country,” Albert said.

For the period between 1999 and 2008, the volume of reported crimes increased after an election year in two out of three instances, 2002 and 2008.

Last year, the number of index crimes stood 129,161, accounting for 59.3 percent of the total reported crimes in the country. Index crimes refer to two types: crimes against persons such as murder, homicide, physical injuries and rape; and crimes against property such as robbery, theft, carnapping and cattle rustling.

One in every four crimes committed last year was against a person. Crimes against persons are broken down as follows: murder at 3.9 percent; homicide, 1.4 percent; physical injuries, 16.0 percent; and rape, 2.2 percent.

“If we were to examine the trends in the volume of intentional homicides, based on data compiled by the United Nations across countries, and look at these numbers in South East Asia economies, we will find that the Philippines fares comparatively well to our neighbors,” Albert said.

“So, it’s not only more fun, but more safe in the Philippines, at least compared to Myanmar and Indonesia, which have far worse homicide statistics,” he said.

“If we examine the trends in homicides, we will find no significant difference in homicide statistics (whether rates, or volume per 100 thousand persons) in the Philippines between an election year and a non-election year,” he added. –Darwin G. Amojelar, InterAksyon.com