With the economy's current troubles, many people assume a crime wave is just around the corner. But criminologists say that's just an American myth. In the 1920s the economy was great and the crime rate was high. In the 1950s and '60s the economy was great, but crime rates rose every single year.

Experts say there will always be some people who take to robbing liquor stores in tough times. But those people were already likely to rob stores even in good times, making it a statistical wash. And there's something else: When the economy goes bad, many people move in with parents or relatives, and they stay home more — both of which appear to have a calming effect on crime.
 
So property crime may not go up, but domestic violence and others crimes might. Just a few years after the stock market crashed in 1987, murder rates hit historic highs in cities across the country. But criminologists now believe that peak was the result of the introduction of crack cocaine into cities — and the gang warfare that followed.

But there is one way the economy is already affecting the ability  to combat crime: Police department budgets are getting slashed. Without the money to fight the crime there is, we could see the crime increase we all fear.