By Yusuf Mansur

Outline• The Economics of Honor Killings• Poverty in Jordan • Methodology • Findings• Conclusions• Recommendations

04/12/23 2

The Economics of Honor Killings

• Social scientists have long studied punishment as deterrence (e.g., Beccaria 1963; Becker 1968; Bentham 1948; Piliavin et al. 1986).

• Using economic tools in the analysis of crime was first legitimized by (Becker, 1968): based on rational choice theory, subsumes that the perpetrator of a crime is a rational person who weighs prior to committing the crime, the cost and benefits from committing the crime.

04/12/23 3

Economics of Crime:

The Economics of Honor Killings

• Studies using several data collection approaches have supported the central proposition of rational choice theory, that offenders weigh the costs and benefits of crime in deciding whether to offend

Examples: (Bachman, Paternoster, & Ward, 1992; Bouffard, 2002a;

Decker, Wright, & Logie, 1993; Exum, 2002; Grasmick & Bursik, 1990; Klepper & Nagin, 1989; Nagin & Paternoster, 1993, 1994; Paternoster & Simpson, 1996; Piliavin, Gartner, Thornton, & Matsueda, 1986; Wright & Decker, 1994)

04/12/23 4

Economics of Crime:

The Economics of Honor Killings

• Bouffard (2002) demonstrated that there was individual variability in the consequences reported as relevant to the decision

• Rational choice theory too would seem to gain from recognizing the existence of individual differences in the perception of specific consequences as relevant as well as the ability to predict those differences (Pogarsky, 2002).

04/12/23 5

Economics of Crime:

The Economics of Honor Killings

04/12/23 6

The Supply and Demand of Honor Crimes

SupplyDemand

Equilibrium

Quantity of Crimes

Net

Cos

t/be

nefit

The Economics of Honor Killings

• Quantity supplied of honor crimes decreases when the net benefit decreases

• Quantity demanded decreases when the net cost (the price of the crime) increases

• The Supply and Demand Curves are affected by Society (Community), Government and Welfare

04/12/23 7

The Supply and Demand of Honor Crimes

Poverty in Jordan• According to the 2006 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), the

Jordanian poverty line was JD 46.3 per person per month (JD 278 per month for a family of six, or JD 3336 per household per year).

• In 2006, 13 percent of the population was below the poverty line.

• The highest rate of poverty is observed in the Mafraq Governorate. • Although Amman has the lowest poverty rate of all governorates; it, due to being

home to over 2 million people or one third of the population, is host to the largest number of the poor.

04/12/23 8

Poverty in Jordan

04/12/23 9

100 km

Ma’an 13%

Mafraq 23%

Amman 9.4

Aqaba 16%

Irbid 12%

Tafiela 19%

Karak 22%

Balqa 15%

Zarqa 15%

Ajlun 18% Jarash 16%

Madaba 10%

Poverty Incidence

Poverty in Jordan

04/12/23 10

Ma’an 2%

Mafraq 8 %

Amman 28%

Aqaba 2%

Irbid 17%

Tafiela 2%

Karak 7%

Balqa 8%

Zarqa 17%

Ajlun 3%

Jarash 4 %

100 km

Ma’an 2%

Mafraq 8 %

Amman 28%

Aqaba 2%

Irbid 17%

Tafiela 2%

Karak 7%

Balqa 8%

Zarqa 17%

Ajlun 3%

Jarash 4 %

Poverty Distribution

Poverty in Jordan

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350

JD per person per month

percent of the population

poverty line

04/12/23 11

Poverty in Jordan• Poor adults have significantly lower earning potential than non-poor adults; 52%

of poor adults have less than basic education, compared with a third (34 percent) of non-poor adults.

• Annual earnings per employed person, as a result of lower education attainments, are lower (JD 2,266) among the poor than (JD 3,352) among the non-poor.

• Poor persons are less likely to be employed than the non-poor.

• The poor have a higher rate of dropping out of the labor force.

• Poor households have a higher number of dependent persons to be supported by each adult.

04/12/23 12

Methodology

• Gained access to Public Security Dep. Records and case files (102 crimes during 2000-Feb 2009)

• Used data from study by IRC covering 2000-03• Team at IRC conducted interviews with inmates, 12 of 43

cases refused to be interviewed• Team at IRC collated data on victims and perpetrators• Designed methodology to deal with a highly qualitative data

04/12/23 13

Findings

04/12/23 14

Number of Honor Crimes committed against Women (2000-2009)

Findings

04/12/23 15

The Victims

Findings

04/12/23 16

The Victims

Findings

04/12/23 17

The Victims

Findings

04/12/23 18

The Victims

Findings

04/12/23 19

The Victims

Findings

04/12/23 20

The Victims

Findings

04/12/23 21

The Perpetrators

Findings

04/12/23 22

The Perpetrators

Findings

04/12/23 23

The Perpetrators

Findings

04/12/23 24

The Perpetrators

Findings

04/12/23 25

The Perpetrators

Findings

04/12/23 26

The Perpetrators

Findings

If Young Λ Uneducated Λ Unemployed Λ Unwed Λ Living in High Poverty Area Definitely Poor 1Definitely Poor 1

If Young Λ Uneducated Λ Unemployed Λ Living in High Poverty Area Definitely Poor 1 Definitely Poor 1

If Young Λ Uneducated Λ Living in High Poverty Area Most Likely PoorMost Likely Poor

04/12/23 27

Logical rules to define {Poor}

Conclusion66% of the perpetrators are Poor Males

73% of the victims are Poor Females

Given that the Poor in Jordan represent 30% of the population, the percentage of poor victims should have been 30%, not 73%

This shows a high correlation between the so-called Honor CrimesHonor Crimes and PovertyPoverty.

04/12/23 28

Yusuf MansurCEO, EnConsult

ymansur@enconsult.com

Amman, Jordan October 1, 2009