Etudes par pays volume 2, PDF, 346 p., 1,4 Mo - Femise

11873_2002 Study D2: Poverty, Informal Sector, Health and Labour
neighbourhood. The Club is disputing the international statistics, which
show that Greece occupies a low position on a list of European countries
regarding crime. They explain their view on grounds that the Greeks don’t
trust the effectiveness of the police to resort to when they become victims of
certain criminal acts.
An opinion poll by the Greek section of Transparency International, in
February 2001, presented evidence that 83 per cent of the 920 interviewees
considered Greek society to be infected by corruption, 45 per cent had given
a bribe or ‘’backhander’’ and 18 per cent admitted of having used
connections. This survey found however no connection between corruption
and organized crime. On a scale of 0-10 (10 being the best – the least
corrupted), Greece with a score of 4.2, occupied, in 2001, the 42 nd place in
the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, which is the
lowest place among the EU countries.
5.2. Correlation Between poverty, Health and Crime
Despite the improvements made in the poverty front, the EC maintains that
‘’as a result of the problems in labour market, and of structural
developments – such as the change from a rural to an urban society, the
ageing population, the weakening of family support mechanisms and the
strong immigration flows – poverty and social exclusion continue to
represent a serious challenge’’ (EC, 2002). Greece is experiencing the wellknown
connection between long –term unemployment and low income,
which makes it vulnerable to poverty, in fact, ‘’this risk is considered as a
major factor behind poverty and social exclusion [in Greece]’’ (ibid., p. 24).
The malfunctioning of the Greek labour market and the related to it
unemployment are key factors in generating poverty and of keeping many
young people for lengthy period of times out of work. Economically
suffering households constitute an unhappy and miserable environment for
raising children who become vulnerable to bad influences that may push
them to social deviance and crime. A good experiment that economic and
social exclusion tends to offensive behaviour, and, conversely, that
economic and social integration and employment contains criminality. For
instance, the legalization of immigrants may affect their social conduct.
Stepping out of illegality and being treated equally with the Greeks in the
labour market, they won’t have to resort to crime for their survival. Not that
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