Ethnic differences and crime in Israel

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship between crime and ethnic differences in the state of Israel. The problems which were created by the large-scale immigration of ipeople from many countries of diverse cultures are often explained in terms of ethnic stratification. This stratification left its imprint on social, economic, and political levels. Among these ethnic communities, the European immigrant Jews is at the top, Arabs at the bottan, and the Oriental immigrants located between the two extremes, across the various dimension of the socio-economic hierarchy. It seems likely, that this ethnic stratification will persist into the foreseeable future in Israel. The data analysis of this study is based on the information compiled by the government's Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Abstract of Israel, which provides basic quantitive data on the population, the economy and the society of Israel. A cultural conflict is found among Israel ethnic communities which can be attributable to social, demographic, and cultural factors of old and new immigrants. It is concluded on the basis of available data in Israel, as in many other developing countries, a steady rise in crime is taking place. This growth of criminality -1X1-in Israel goes back to the particular social dynamic of Israel as a country' cf diverse immigrants, and tD the current economic and political crisis in present days. -iv-