Just over a quarter of UK adults (that’s 14 million people) commit at least one economic crime a year, according to a study from the University of Portsmouth
The study revealed 17% of respondents commit more than one type of economic crime every year – the average was four crimes per offender. This implies UK adults annually engage in at least 57 million economic crime acts!
Worryingly, compared to 2011 more people now view buying stolen property, bribery, and welfare benefit fraud as ‘justifiable’.
Researchers also calculated ‘Integrity Scores’ for participants based on their responses. Those with the most dishonest disposition are five times more likely to offend than those with the most honest disposition.
And, the study found younger people were more dishonest than older people. The offender rate in the 2023 sample starts at 45% of the 18-25 year group and falls to 7% if the 66 year plus group.
Men were also found to be more dishonest than women, with 65% of the offenders in the study being male. The findings say the higher level of dishonesty in males and younger adults helps to explain their more prolific offending.
One example is the number of people who believe drink-driving is never justified. Only 50 per cent of young men (18 to 40-years-old) agree with this statement, while 100 per cent of older females (aged 61 and over) feel that way.
Lead author, Dr David Shepherd from the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth, said: “While we only looked at the data and not the reasons behind these changes, we can speculate why we may be seeing lower integrity scores among young people. Social media could play a significant role as behaviour is often peer-led.
“Also, a lack of positive role models in the world’s leadership who often set the tone for society. We’ve seen no shortage of authority figures implying it is perfectly acceptable to lie and cheat. One example being Donald Trump, who is a habitual liar but a popular politician in the US. Excluding the lies he told in private, he publicly lied on average 20.9 times a day during the course of his presidency.”
