Overpopulation and Crime

For my last unit of my STEAM class Population, we learned about our population and how in 2050 it is estimated for there to be 10 billion people on earth. We also went over arithmetic and geometric sequences. Arithmetic is a sequence that uses addition and subtraction and geometric is when they use multiplication and division. Then, we went over different problems overpopulation might bring up like lack of food and water resources. Bringing me to the action project; we had to pick a topic that might become an issue with overpopulation. The issue I have chosen was crime and with this, I had to come up with a script to a comic strip on the issue. We also did the math together to see for ourselves on how many there would be exactly and we came up with 10,715,465,520. We used a geometric sequence because the number wasn't constant. This is a very good estimate, and something that could make the population higher is if we find more cures for diseases. What could lower it is if more diseases reach all around the world.

NVA "2050 population" 2014. Chicago

Mel, George "Crime" 2009. 

[Mark and Mary having dinner talking about different issues in the world, mainly crime at this point]

Mark: Hey, what do you think is the greatest cause of crime. I think it has to do with different things like politics or racism. (1)

Mary: Really? What about the overpopulation?

Mark: Not really because crime has to do with stuff that is happening around a person.

Mary: And you think overpopulation isn’t something that is happening around someone? Think about it, if we have an increase in people, then everyone is going have to fight for resources like food or water and might lead to thefts. Our lives would become a big competition. (2)

Mark: Maybe, but in the last couple of years crime has dropped 5% from 2008 to 2009, and if I’m not mistaken, population is always going up so that just makes that percentage grow. (3)

Mary: Yes, but think about it, the government would not be able to control our living conditions like they do now, meaning more crimes could happen, and the government wouldn't be able to do anything. That percentage just went down. (4)

[Mark looks around in the room]

Mark: I guess, because if the population did grow too much, this restaurant might not be here.

Mary: Don’t you see now... yes, maybe crime is caused by other factors but if so and the population grows, those problems would grow and cause more crime in an area. Crime and population affect each other all the time.

Mark: Hey Mary?

Mary: Yeah?

Mark: Can we move to the country side?

1. “Top 10 Causes of Crime” Inferix. Top Yaps. n.d.
2. “Effects of Human Population” n.p. Everything Connects. 2013
3. “A Crime Puzzle: Violent Crime Declines in America” Claude Fischer. Berkeley Blog. 2010
4. “Negative Effects on Overpopulation” n.p. Essay Forum. 2013