Victimization and Life Satisfaction: Evidence from a High Crime Country

This study quantifies the relationship between crime and life satisfaction for Jamaica, a country that records the highest rates for violent crimes relative to the rest of the world and has one of the highest regional crime expenditure. We utilize individual-level survey data from 2006–2014 that capture victimization and other characteristics related to life satisfaction. Controlling for potential confounders reveals that crime is significantly and negatively related to life satisfaction. More importantly, we find that for this high-crime country, the cost to life satisfaction of being a crime victim amounts to roughly 65% of annual household expenditure. We also find heterogeneous effects for reported assault and robbery even though only the monetary losses incurred from assault are economically significant.