Unemployment and Crime

When I talk to people around the Valley about the economy, a common prediction/concern from the audience is a spike in crime. There are certainly plenty of links between crime and unemployment, so this is a reasonable expectation.

In a bit of good news, so far I haven't seen evidence of a crime wave in the area. Sacramento just set a record for consecutive days without a homicide (sorry I don't have a link), and crime is actually down in Stockton (though with a tragedy of Sandra Cantu, last month's courthouse judge attack, and the proposed citizen militia, media coverage of crime in San Joaquin county is up.) From the Stockton police chief in today's Record:

Ulring said crime overall in Stockton in the first three months of 2009 was down significantly from the first three months of 2008.
Violent crime was down 10.9 percent, and property crime was down 21.4 percent, he said. Auto theft was down 26.9 percent, he said.