Use of English- Practice

Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each space. There is an example at the beginning (0).

Crime is on the increase

Crime has become a familiar part (0) of everyday life in many major cities throughout the world. No matter how the police try to cut down on crime, the thieves, muggers and burglars are always one step ahead of (1) ... . Teenage crime particularly has gone up, and these facts have made people ask what (2) ... be making young people turn (3) ... crime.

Unemployment has always (4) ... thought of as one of the main reasons for crimes committed by the young. Many social workers studies by psychologists show that the youngsters come (5) a poor educational background, or often have divorced parents (6) ... one parent already in prison.

On the other hand, research has been carried out (7) ... says the opposite of the above. This second group of research shows that unemployment plays little, if any, part in crime. For instance, "opportunist" crime -mainly young boys (8) ... see an open window and take the chance to take anything they can carry and then sell it - (9) ... going up. When caught, many of them are found to (10) ... working. Their reasons (11) ... what they have done include being bored or that both parents are out at work. (12) ... look at football hooligans found that most of the violence was carried out by young men in (13) ... twenties, married and with good jobs. So (14) ... would seem that unemployment is not the main cause (15) ... crime amongst the young and social workers worldwide will have to keep on looking for the real reason.

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