ONCE AGAIN, THE ECONOMIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF CRIME

Abstract

This article presents the possibility of using economic crime approach in the study, which is known by foreign criminologists for more than fifty years. The essence of this approach is to analyze the relationship between the state of the economy as the level of a common crime so the certain areas. The economic method in relation to social and criminal situation allows determining the main reasons why some individuals and groups of individuals are inclined to commit crimes.        

Frontline between the law-abiding and deviant behavior is the inner person's confidence that he will not be unmasked and punished. Only under this condition the vast majority of “wavering” people go to commit offenses. Therefore to eliminate the motivation for it, society and the state should increase the probability of the inevitability of punishment for any offense. Consequently this will involve the waiver from it in many cases.

With the economic approach an analogy between the essence of legal and illegal business on the basis of cost-benefit theory can be drawn. The amount of criminal income, which is the main goal of any crime, depends on several factors: the level of intelligence, education, professional activities, etc. On this basis it is possible to develop a methodology of responding to changes in the state of crime in certain lines and in a particular region.

In Kazakhstan the economic approach has not yet become the basis for the improvement of the state policy on combating crime, but it has significant prospects. This method allows optimizing the expenses of the state and society to control crime, which is very relevant in the current global financial crisis. In this regard it is suggested to pay more attention to this crime prevention mechanism.