Poverty-Crime Relationship
Cluster debates the link between poverty and crime, questioning if poverty causes criminal behavior, excuses it, or if cultural and enforcement factors are more significant.
Activity Over Time
Top Contributors
Keywords
Sample Comments
Crime is a reaction to poverty? Source?
AFAIK places with high rates of crime don't tend to be very prosperous on average. The same is not true for places with systems that help the poor.
That is crime, not affluence. Poor people aren't automatically criminals.
Crime disproportionately affects the poor.
no, because poverty is largely what causes those (and most) crimes
It's not a matter of belief, there's a well known link between poverty and crime.The ultimate reason is that if you are poor, the proceeds of crime (theft, burglary, robbery etc) are comparatively more meaningful than to somebody who is wealthy, while the cost of getting caught is comparatively less. A rich professional does not steal loaves of bread to feed their family, because they don't need to and they risk losing their entire livelihood if they do. If you're poor, u
It's wild how poverty and depressed circumstances among lower income people, especially when they see business profits continuing to grow in spite of wages, can lead to crime!
A product of circumstance in the sense that murders and theft often occur in low income, low education areas. It doesn't excuse the behavior, but it does shine a light in a place we can make drastic improvements.
In almost all of the West, crime is associated to poverty. If you commit a robbery, being a poor is an "explanation". Individuals are rarely blamed, your circumstances determine your behaviour not your values.This assumption breaks down once you leave almost any inner-city area, see levels of poverty that are at least as high in rural areas and there are very little crimes against people (although things like drugs are often common).Drugs are part of it, culture, attitudes toward
I am pretty damn poor but don't commit crimes. Crime happens when people decide that's the route they want to take over other routes. It's as much a cultural thing as it is an economic thing. There are wide swaths of the public now in the US making excuses why crime is the best option for many.