The Trend of Unemployment and Crime Index during COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the number of unemployed to increase in Malaysia and the issue of unemployment has become a social problem that has always been positively linked to criminal activity. However, the crime index in Malaysia showed a decrease over the period of the Movement Control Order (MCO). This study aims to explore the issue using secondary data taken from various sources such as journals, books, proceedings, and press reports. The results of the study found that the crime index decreased even though the number of unemployed increased because it was in line with the theory of crime opportunity. As the community needs to stay at home during the MCO period, the chances of committing index crime are low because the home as well as property are monitored as well as individuals are not exposed to violent crime. However, the domino effect is non -index crime is reported to increase due to the stress of life that makes the individual is motivated to commit non-index crime. The results of the analysis of this study are expected to help the government, especially the Department of Social Welfare to be more efficient by helping and supporting the victims of non-index crime. The results of this study are also expected to provide an explanation to the community on the question of why the unemployment rate is negatively related to index crime as well as remove the negative impression of the report given by the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP). However, the results of this study are only a preliminary analysis and it is suggested that empirical studies can be conducted to support the results of this analysis.