The Effects of a Redistribution of Wealth on Property Crime

Abstract

The theory that perceived relative deprivation (PRD) is a leading cause of property crime was proposed by the author in the January 1976 issue of Crime & Delinquency. A subsequent article in another journal examined the possibility of reducing unequal economic opportunity (and thus PRD) by greatly stiffening inheritance taxes and by enacting a triennial net worth tax. The present article attacks the wasteful expenditure of public funds on present criminal justice programs and suggests instead the provision of substantial base income grants to individuals, to be financed in part by the wealth taxation mentioned above. The possible effects of the combined wealth tax and base income program are then examined. Finally, it is postulated that a social system rendered more just by increasingly equal economic opportunity will exhibit far lower levels of PRD and thus of property crime.