Study suggests check-cashing stores target areas with high crime

Same people who use check-cashing places are more likely to be victims of violent crime

2013-09-20

(Press-News.org) TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2013—Cheque-cashing outlets may be strategically targeting persons who live in high-crime neighbourhoods, according to researchers at St. Michael's Hospital.

Dr. Joel Ray, a physician-researcher at the hospital's Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, compared the density of cheque-cashing places in Toronto neighbourhoods with police-reported crime data. Along with his colleagues, Dr. Ray observed a nearly seven times higher rate of cheque-cashing places in neighbourhoods with the highest rate of violent crime, even after accounting for nearby retail alcohol outlets and bank branches and income levels.

The findings appear online in the journal Sociology Mind.

Dr. Ray said the same people who use cheque-cashing places— single parent mothers, the elderly and young males—are those who are more likely to be victims of violent crime. "Therefore, cheque-cashing places may be strategically placed where customers abound," he said.

With the closing of mainstream banks in many low-income neighbourhoods, cheque-cashing places, or CCPs, proliferated over the last decade. They are often seen as alternative financial institutions to banks and tend to be used by those in need of quick cash, or by those who frequently live from pay cheque to pay cheque, especially government support cheques.

Dr. Ray said that despite their convenience, CCPs may represent a form of "deviant" banking because of their extremely high user fees.

"The cheque cashing place industry, which is largely unregulated, is highly competitive and highly taxing on its users," said Dr. Ray. "It's the notion that the person who uses a CCP is probably in a socially unstable state. The CCP industry knows this. Unfortunately, it's all about product placement."

On average, CCPs charge a flat fee and an additional 2.99 per cent of the cheque value. By cashing a cheque immediately, a CCP provides a short-term loan whose annualized interest rate varies from 100 per cent to 600 per cent.

"A substantial amount of income is lost by the individual who uses a CCP," said Dr. Ray. "Moreover, if an individual on social assistance cashes their cheque through a CCP, then a portion of the tax dollars intended for use by that person goes to the CCP."

Dr. Ray said banks need to step up to the plate and offer more outreach in low income areas, by opening more branches and assisting local residents in setting up an account.

"CCP users may be unaware that cashing a government cheque under $1,500 is free of charge at any mainstream bank, and that banks offer very affordable services," he said.

INFORMATION:

About St. Michael's Hospital

St Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in 27 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

Media contacts

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Dr. Ray, please contact:

Leslie Shepherd
Manager, Media Strategy
St. Michael's Hospital
416-864-6094
shepherdl@smh.ca

Inspired Care. Inspiring Science.
http://www.stmichaelshospital.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stmikeshospital

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New islet cell transplant procedure offers improved outcomes for patients with type 1 diabetes

2013-09-20

Philadelphia – The latest approach to islet transplantation, in which clusters of insulin-producing cells known as islets are transplanted from a donor pancreas into another person's liver, has produced substantially improved results for patients with type 1 diabetes, and may offer a more durable alternative to a whole pancreas transplant. Participants in the new study received islet cells isolated from the pancreas of organ donors to help their bodies produce insulin, the life-sustaining hormone responsible for absorbing glucose from the blood. The new approach, which ...

Researchers tease apart workings of a common gene

2013-09-20

NEW YORK (September 19, 2013) -- Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered why a tiny alteration in a brain gene, found in 20 percent of the population, contributes to the risk for anxiety, depression and memory loss. Their discovery, reported in Nature Communications, describes new functions for the alteration, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene. This gene is a powerful regulator of the growth and function of neurons, and the establishment of brain circuitry. The common alteration occurs when ...

Psychopathic traits in teenagers not cast in stone

2013-09-20

Most youths are concerned about other people's feelings, they feel bad or guilty when they have done something wrong and they adhere to social rules. A small group of youths, however, does not. These youths express psychopathic personality traits that are associated with adult psychopathy, a serious personality disorder that is linked with antisocial behavior and criminality. A study conducted by Selma Salihovic and her research team at Örebro University in Sweden shows that for this small group of youth, psychopathic traits remain quite stable over a period of four years. ...

SLU researcher finds a turtle eye muscle adapts to deal with obstructed vision

2013-09-20

ST. LOUIS – In a recent study published in The Journal of Comparative Neurology, Saint Louis University professor of pharmacological and physiological science Michael Ariel, Ph.D., reported surprising findings about the eye movements of pond turtles who can retract their head deep into their shell. While researchers expected that the pond turtle's eyes would operate like other animals with eyes on the side of their heads, this particular species of turtle appears to have characteristics of both front and side-eyed animals, affecting a specific eye muscle's direction of ...

Journal of AIDS Oct. issue research highlights announced

2013-09-20

Philadelphia, Pa. (September 19, 2013) – JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes announced its research article highlights from the October issue now available on the journal website. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer Health. Earlier HIV Treatment Increases Costs But Improves Survival (note: article first appeared online in April 2013 JAIDS as publish ahead of print) Updates of Lifetime Costs of Care and Quality of Life Estimates for HIV-Infected Persons in the United States: Late Versus Early Diagnosis and Entry into Care, led by Paul G. Farnham, ...

NASA sees heavy rains and hot towers in Hurricane Manuel

2013-09-20

NASA's TRMM satellite passed over Manuel on Sept. 19 at 0116 UTC and measured its rainfall as it was strengthening into a hurricane. TRMM noticed heavy rainfall and some hot towering thunderstorms, which were indications that the storm was intensifying. NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image that showed Manuel was making landfall during the morning of Sept. 19, and at 11 a.m. EDT, Hurricane Manuel officially made landfall near Culican, Mexico. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for La Cruz to Topolobampo and a Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from north of Topolobampo ...

Tropical Depression Humberto fizzling, 2 areas developing

2013-09-20

Imagery from NOAA's GOES-East satellite on Sept. 19 showed Tropical Depression Humberto had lost its organization, while one tropical low struggled near Bermuda, and another one was taking shape in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. NASA's HS3 hurricane mission is sending an unmanned Global Hawk aircraft to investigate the developing system in the Gulf. NOAA's GOES-East satellite provided a visible image of the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 19 at 7:45 a.m. EDT that showed the three tropical systems. The image was created by the NASA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight ...

Disarming HIV with a 'pop'

2013-09-20

VIDEO: The Dual Action Virolytic Entry Inhibitor (DAVEI) molecule tricks HIV into popping itself by making it behave as if it's attached to a healthy cell. DAVEI triggers the virus to... Click here for more information. Pinning down an effective way to combat the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus, the viral precursor to AIDS, has long been challenge task for scientists and physicians, because the virus is an elusive one that mutates frequently and, as a result, ...

Could dog food additive prevent disabling chemotherapy side effect?

2013-09-20

Working with cells in test tubes and in mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a chemical commonly used as a dog food preservative may prevent the kind of painful nerve damage found in the hands and feet of four out of five cancer patients taking the chemotherapy drug Taxol. The Food and Drug Administration-approved preservative, an antioxidant called ethoxyquin, was shown in experiments to bind to certain cell proteins in a way that limits their exposure to the damaging effects of Taxol, the researchers say. The hope, they say, is to build on the protective ...

NIH study establishes benefits of bracing in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis

2013-09-20

Bracing in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis reduces the likelihood that the condition will progress to the point that surgery is needed, according to a study published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The work was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), part of the National Institutes of Health. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a curvature of the spine with no clear underlying cause. In mild cases, monitoring over time by a physician may be all that is needed. However, in more severe ...

Study links exercise with decreased mortality and cardiovascular events in people recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes but no previous cardiovascular disease

Study suggests check-cashing stores target areas with high crime

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: