When someone takes something that is not theirs, another person has to pay the bill. Sometimes that bill is financial. Available income is no longer there. It is not always possible to be reimbursed by a bank or insurance company for theft of money, with the result that a carefully worked out budget is no longer workable and the money has to be found elsewhere, often by tightening the belt and doing without. Personal plans for expenditure go on hold.

The insurance companies will raise your premiums to cover the costs of paying for theft. However much they give you, it never quite covers all the expenses incurred because there are always inconveniences which are not claimable or you are not aware of until you find the cost is not recoverable. There is always a shortfall in what is lost and what is returned by insurance. Again the victim pays.

If an individual is injured as a result of crime, medical expenses cost money, loss of time at work reduces income and creates costs for employers and the self employed. Injury usually causes physical pain and this is an unquantifiable cost. The hidden and unreclaimable costs grow. This does not begin to cover the emotional response to the crime.

Theft can leave a person feeling assaulted even when they were not touched. When a house robbery happens, the owners can be left feeling their home is no longer a safe place to be. When damage has been caused to property it has to be repaired at the cost to the victim, again insurance rarely covers everything.

Rape victims will never completely recover. The shadows of their mind will always hold the horror of the experience however well they manage to appear to come to terms with it.

The police have more work than they can do when crimes are committed and there is frequently the expense of legal support, sometimes paid for by society, for the offender.

When a visitor takes a towel or an ashtray from a hotel, it has to be replaced. The hotel then has to raise prices to maintain their standard to service to clients.

While not thought about as crime by the general public, the white collar crime committed within businesses has a knock on effect of raising prices and keeping police busy trying to establish what happened. When it involves identity theft it is particularly cruel.

Some crimes are so clever that it may be some time before the victim discovers what has happened. The amount of sheer audacity and ingeniousness of some crimes makes you wonder why this creativity is not funneled into legitimate work. They would make a fortune - legally.

The true costs of crime to society are financial, emotional insecurity, the destabilizing of society and fear.

Learn more about this author, Rosemary Redfern.
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