Download the file - United Nations Rule of Law

Urban crime and violence: Conditions and trends73are rarely gun purchasers, owners or users. The InternationalAction Network on Small Arms estimates that, globally,30,000 women and girls are murdered by small arms eachyear, while millions of others are injured by guns andsexually abused at gun point. 188 Even if they are not directlyvictims, women become indirectly victimized when malerelatives who are economic providers are murdered. Thisundermines families, and the effects ripple throughoutcommunities and, ultimately, through states and globally.When viewed in psychological and economic terms, thedirect and indirect impacts on children are incalculable, withmany killed, injured or left economically adrift. Thus, it isworth restating that a single incident can have an enormousmultiplier effect. 189Economic studies suggest that domestic violence hasnegative impacts on productivity at broad scales. A studycalculating the costs of domestic violence in terms of lostproductive capacity for women found that the extrapolatedtotal costs were US$1.73 billion in Chile (1 per cent of GDPin 1997) and US$32.7 million in Nicaragua (1.4 per cent ofGDP in 1997). 190 In subsequent research, the direct medicalcosts plus lost productivity were calculated at being equivalentto 2 per cent of GDP in Chile and 1.6 per cent of GDP inNicaragua. 191 As might be expected, the costs of IPV areconsiderably higher in low- to moderate-income nations thanin high-income countries. Unlike wealthy nations wherecosts of violence can be absorbed by resilient social andeconomic structures, in low- to moderate-income nations,the costs of violence are likely to be absorbed through directpublic expenditures and negative effects on investments andeconomic growth.Impacts of the fear of crimeIncreased fear of crime of all types, but particularly violentcrimes such as murder, has a major impact and can be evenmore paralysing and costly than actual criminal events. Forinstance, a World Bank study in Zambia found that fear ofcrime in one poverty-stricken community was preventingteachers from showing up at work. 192 Similarly, a study ofthe ‘timing’ of work concluded that higher homicide ratesreduced the propensity of people willing to work eveningsand nights in large American metropolitan areas. 193 In SouthAfrica, about 24 per cent of respondents to a national crimesurvey reported that fear of crime stopped them from usingpublic transportation systems, with more than 25 per centindicating that they were reluctant to allow their children towalk to school, while more than 30 per cent stopped usingpublic parks. 194Although not easily quantified, these decisions translateinto social quality of life and economic costs toindividuals in terms of lost opportunities and added day-todayexpenditures for transportation and educational andurban services. Other ‘hidden’ costs of the fear of crimeaffecting the quality of urban life play out in the choices thatindividuals make in seemingly mundane decisions, such asdeciding whether to walk somewhere at night, or in morefundamental ways, such as choosing where to live. InNairobi, survey data reveals that more than half of theBox 3.4 Serial murder in a New Delhi slumThe vulnerability of the poor is illustrated by a recent case in New Delhi (India), where analleged serial murderer is reputed to have killed and dismembered as many as 17 women andchildren and disposed of their body parts in a sewer drain behind his home. The victims wereall impoverished and the alleged killer is a wealthy businessman living in an upscale suburb.Police reportedly discounted reports by relatives about their missing family members until apublic outcry was raised after some of the bodies were discovered behind the reputedmurderer’s home. One resident, who came from a nearby slum, came looking for her 16-yearoldson, who had been missing for four months, and said:‘When I told the police he haddisappeared, they told me to look for myself. Things would have been different if I’d been rich.Then I could have bribed them to make them investigate.’Source: Gentleman, 2007citizens worry about crime all the time or very often. 195 In anational survey conducted in South Africa, 26 per cent ofrespondents stated that concerns about crime preventedthem from starting their own business. Such psychologicalimpacts obviously affect individuals, but also drain resourcesfrom social service and healthcare systems.The impacts of these decisions do not fully take intoaccount the social and economic costs of lost work productivity,access to markets, urban sprawl (especially indeveloped nations) or losses incurred from misused publicinfrastructure, all by-products of work timing and traveldecision-making. These costs are compounded in developingand transitional nations, where crime and violence can havedisastrous effects on victims who are unable to access effectivecriminal justice or insurance systems that are widelyavailable in industrialized countries. Both systems providemeasures of indemnification against crime and violence that,in personal and financial terms, are crucial components ofhuman resilience or the ability of people to successfullyadapt to elemental life disruptions.National impacts of crime and violenceAt national levels, high homicide and violent crime rateshave multiple impacts. Some of these may be illustrated byeconomic and healthcare indicators. The former is demonstratedin Kingston (Jamaica), where rising urban homiciderates have been cited as a factor affecting national tourism,with negative economic consequences at every level ofsociety. The World Bank has identified the impact of crimeon business as one of the major reasons for Jamaica’s weakeconomic development. 196 The upsurge in violence andinsecurity that characterized Kenya during the 1990sresulted in the reduction of both the influx of tourists andthe contribution of tourism to foreign exchange earnings. 197A similar phenomenon is noted in Papua New Guinea, whereviolent crime, particularly in some suburbs of Port Moresby,discourages tourists from exploring the country. 198 Urbancrime in Papua New Guinea is seen as the most important ofall business costs. 199 Much of the brain drain in LatinAmerican and Caribbean nations has been attributed to fearof crime and insecurity, compounded by the lack of effectiveresponses from state or civil society. 200 Countries such asthe Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana,Increased fear ofcrime of all types,but particularlyviolent crimes suchas murder, has amajor impact andcan be even moreparalysing and costlythan actual criminalevents