thesis statement about poverty and crime

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How Poverty is The Main Cause of Crime

• Categories: Criminal Behavior

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Published: Dec 16, 2021

Words: 593 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

• brooklyn eagle. (2019,October 15). New York's most desperate caught up in 'crimes of poverty'. Retrieved from https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2019/10/15/new-yorks-most-desperate-caught-up-in-crimes-of-poverty/
• Ginni Correa. (2020,june 18). Addiction center. Retrieved from https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/low-income-americans/
• OSAC. (6/18/2019). Venezuela 2019 Crime & Safety Report. Retrieved from https://www.osac.gov/Country/Venezuela/Content/Detail/Report/b0933dac-4154-4dc2-89c1-160ca3b2c4c2
• Tom Mack. (3 JAN 2020). Leicestershire live . Retrieved from https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/man-stealing-metal-feed-family-3699993

Should follow an “upside down” triangle format, meaning, the writer should start off broad and introduce the text and author or topic being discussed, and then get more specific to the thesis statement.

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Should follow a right side up triangle format, meaning, specifics should be mentioned first such as restating the thesis, and then get more broad about the topic at hand. Lastly, leave the reader with something to think about and ponder once they are done reading.

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Poverty and Crime

How it works

Poverty isn’t the ‘mother of crime.’ However it is one noteworthy benefactor. Crime exists, since individuals need something they don’t have, and are not willing to comply with the law(s) on the books to get it. What poverty does is, it decreases the things needy individuals have accessible to them, along these lines offering undeniably more things for needy individuals to want—and substantially more inspiration to them to carry out a crime to get it.

Along these lines, more needy individuals perpetrate crimes than individuals who aren’t.

Be that as it may, this is definitely not a causal relationship, it is a parallel one. Similar variables that reason poverty are the elements that expansion crime rates among poor populaces. That is the reason just tossing cash at poor networks doesn’t help. Until the point that we address the elements that reason the poverty itself, we can’t address the existing together crime rates.

Poverty isn’t the ‘mother’ of crime. It is just home to it. Poverty isn’t having a job, fear for the future and living for one day at a time. Poverty is feebleness, absence of opportunity.

Individuals in evident poverty come up short on the fundamental things of being a living person. This makes them frantic. Urgent individuals will effectively get what they require. It is science. I have a straightforward investigation that may encourage you (or anybody with a similar inquiry) to get it.

Think about a food that you truly don’t like. I am not discussing the food that disturbs or sickens you, however one that you just truly don’t like and that you could never eat. Presently, go three or four days without eating anything. Toward the finish of that period, get a portion of that food that you don’t like. How would you respond to it now?

It’s obvious, while a few criminals are greedy and unenergetic, and keeping in mind that a few people appear to be conceived ‘terrible’, numerous individuals in poverty have no real way to get what they require as people outside of taking it. Along these lines, they swing to crime.

Not all time Poverty is mother of all crimes and in some cases the rich people also commit crime due to their wealth as they think that their wealth can hide their all crimes. So we can say that crimes are not only associated with poverty as it also have involvement of wealthy and rich people.

However there may be a little of positive connection among poverty and crimes. suppose that if you are a poor or an employee with salary , salary that even cannot fulfill your basic needs ,what you will do, you could get baffled or pressured; this pressure would explode any time. Suppose you have children and they are hungry and you don’t have cash, what might you do? You might steal cash to feed them.

According to relative-deprivation theory, individuals commit crimes to send a signal to the State that the system they are forced to live in is inherently biased against them and their socio-economic standing in the society (Chester, 1976; Hughes and Carter, 1981; Stack, 1984). In this manner, even people with business and real salary gaining opportunity will be slanted towards carrying out crime in light of hardship of essential needs and general imbalance in the public arena. In any case, not all exploration around there passes on that financial variables and crime are positively related. Certain theories hypothesize a negative connection between total or relative poverty and property crime with the under lying clarification that crime dies down with boundless perpetual poverty by bringing returns down to crime.

Cohen, Kluegel and Land (1981: 511) state that “income inequality results in housing, employment and activity patterns by upper income individuals that lower criminal opportunity”. Returns to crime and opportunity theories contend that, controlling for the general income distribution, a reduction in absolute poverty is associated with a proportional growth in all income groups including that of the potential victims and offender.

Poverty can’t prompt crime or originate from the demonstration of being stupid. No one will want to born poor. It is a power a lot more prominent than what we can imagine that has the ability to compose or change predetermination. Good and bad is given. It is educated. Not all underprivileged take, murder, explicitly assault or perpetrate crime. A perfect example is Oprah Winfrey. She was naturally introduced to poverty in rustic Mississipi. She didn’t assault or carry out a crime; rather she ended up a standout amongst the most practiced ladies on the planet. Helping other people who used to resemble her. JK Rowling, a creator of the smash hit, Harry Potter was once on welfare installments. She too did not perpetrate any criminal demonstrations in spite of being poor. Here and there being with next to nothing make oneself more propelled to run, to escape from poverty.

As hard and as quick as one can run, in some cases there is no chance to get exit. In all nations and countries there will be a considerable measure of crime and natives breaking a lot of laws. However , this may just occur in times of distress. A period where one can never have enough pay to pay for the necessities throughout everyday life. Along these lines, it is right to take from others with the end goal to get by, to ensure family. Thus poverty is equipped for crime. It is just human nature to do as such. By and by not all poverty prompts crime. Particularly in nations, for example, Australia. Australia being one of the simple not many that give welfare installments to the individuals who don’t acquire enough to help themselves or their family. It is up to the low salary workers to utilize and ensure that cash admirably. A simple way out. A getaway course from poverty, the mother of crime.

rich individuals likewise do enormous crimes however are not been rebuffed on account of their cash influence. What’s more, the poor ones victimize or take to feed their family as the rich one don’t offer occupations to them and subsequently it makes them to be a criminal itself. Numerous individuals who are rich have been picked up that cash by crimes like burglary and so forth. The needy individuals additionally get rebuffed on their crimes and will in general take in an exercise from it however the rich ones utilize their cash to pay the attorneys and to decrease or complete their discipline.

The best killers, ruffians and exchanging weapons were truly well off some were previous specialists hijackers seize for no particular reason it might unravel some crime, however greed is dependably around the corner. Mostly are those who were abused by their folks or family members and take out their rage on others. Insights demonstrate that 90% of the time their friends, folks or somebody near them have had a criminal record.

A popular thing to say, may be it is true or not, is that, People who rob, rape, and murder do so because they lack a functioning conscience and moral self-control. It is not poverty that causes violent crime, but poor character.2 Different sorts of Poverty, Physical Poverty does not cause crime. Generally, Immigrants are dependably the poorest, however in truth the absolute most joyful to be here.

Poverty of the Spirit is the causal factor. Absence of guardians, awful guardians, absence of direction in life prompts Poverty of the soul, which leads to crime. Physical poverty can contribute, however isn’t a main driver. Being poor has never been the catalyst for somebody to act criminally. There are numerous crimes propelled by sheer insatiability and which are frequently carried out by individuals who are as of now well-to-do or even inside and out rich. Additionally, there are yet different classifications of crimes which are propelled by various things inside and out. Sex crimes, for example, might be the consequence of impulses caused by clinical conditions like ‘paraphilias’, or by different sorts of psychological instability.

Many top achievers worldwide come from a underprivileged background. The enormous corruption in our country is not committed by the poor, but by people with jobs, food, houses and cars. Wealthy and sometimes very wealthy individuals and even companies commit crime. Who said needy individuals can’t be greedy? Some destitute individuals are far more greedy than the rich. It’s simply the ethical conviction and control that has the effect. Thinking that the reduction of poverty will solve our crime problem is pie in the sky. The main thing that will change is the criminal will currently have a full stomach when he goes out to murder, assault and take. Crime is digging in for the long haul except if our administration actualizes more serious ramifications for offenders and responsibility. Poverty does not cause crime. Crime causes poverty. If poverty is the mother of crime, lack of good sense is its father.

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Relationship Between Crime Rates and Poverty Research Paper

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Statistic test

Scatter plots, calculating the correlation coefficient, the chi-square test, accuracy of the results, implication of the results, works cited.

Crime is a geographically dispersed social problem with economic implications on people and nations (Wolf, Gray, and Fazel 2). However, a causal relationship between crime and poverty is not obvious because crime can affect either the affluent or the poor in society. This leads to the question of if a correlation exists between poverty and crime. This is because crime rates in many countries such as the USA have reduced significantly between 2000 and 2008. Examples include states such as Minneapolis, with a 47% decrease, 31% for New York, 39% for Seattle, and 17% for Los Angele (Sudbury 3).

However, poverty causes certain stress among different people which results in individuals committing a poverty-related crime (Jones 2). While the statistics fail to positively correlate crime with poverty, other studies elsewhere affirm otherwise. This is evident in the period between 2009 and 2012, which shows a positive correlation between poverty and crime (Townsend 8). The goal of this study is to establish whether there is a positive correlation between poverty and crime (Bradshaw 8). The topic of discussion is important because it is not only interesting but provides an explanation that links poverty with the crime.

We used data from 40 countries that were hosted on two websites which shows the crime index and the percentage of people living below the poverty line. The data was analyzed using both SPSS and excel spreadsheets. Typically, there was no data collected on other variables that could affect the poverty index in the countries.

The first step was to run the data on SPSS and generate the descriptive statistics showing that data was taken from 40 countries. As shown in table 1, the minimum percentage of people living below the poverty line is 7.90% and the maximum value is 80% in the countries of interest. The mean and standard deviations are 30.4100 and 14.90599 respectively. The minimum value for Crime Index is 22 and the maximum value is 84 while the mean is 53.74 and the standard deviation 14.884. In both cases, the standard deviations show that the results are widely dispersed from the mean. This implies that there is a state of unequal difference because of different factors underlying crime in different countries.

The histogram in figure 1 shows that the variable, crime index is fairly distributed with a normal bell-shaped curve. This shows that crime across the countries is normally distributed with a mean of 5374 and a standard deviation of 14.884.

On the other hand, the curve in figure 2 is not symmetrical about the y-axis and the mean, which indicates that crime is not equally distributed across the countries that were investigated for the relationship between poverty and crime.

To determine the correlation coefficient between the crime index and the people living below the poverty line, a correlational study was run on a 2-tailed test at a 0.01 significance test and the results showed a Pearson Correlation coefficient of.427 ** . This shows that the strength of the relationship between the crime index and people living below the line of poverty is.427. Despite the relationship is positive, it is evident that the relationship is weak.

The line of best fit, which is shown in the scatter plot in figure 3 shows a positive relationship between the crime index and the people living below the poverty line.

As shown in Table 3, the Adjusted R Square value is 0.160 which is16%. This is another indicator of the weak relationship between poverty and crime index. The regression test calculated on excel as shown in table 4 shows that the values of interest, which include R 2 (0.181) and multiple regression (0.426) are less than unity. This affirms further that poverty is not the only cause of crime, but it is one of the causes of crime.

The scatter plot, which appears in figure 3, was used to calculate the R 2 value, and to determine the line of best fit. It is s critical for determining the nature of the best-line-of-fit. Figure 3 shows the coefficient of determination, R 2 , which is 0.182 and it measures the total variation of the variable crime index and the below poverty line. This is where the regression of the crime index on the ‘below poverty line’ is shown to be 16%.In theory, when R 2 is below 2%, it is deemed to be weak. In this result, the R 2 , value is 0.182, which shows that despite the relationship between the crime index and the people living below the line of poverty is weak.

The correlation coefficient is calculated by using the following formula.

It is important to keep the value of r in the range of +1 and -1.a value of r > 0, shows a positive relationship but a value of r <0 indicates a negative relationship among the variables. The correlation coefficient was calculated by running the data on excel Using the excel scatter plot and the CORREL () function, the correlation coefficient was calculated and found to be 0.426023.

Typically, the regression equation is expressed as: y=bx+a

By taking all the values of the Crime Index and the ‘below poverty line’, the regression equation results from the y=0.426 xs+7.449. The coefficients are shown in table 6. These values were used to derive the regression equation as shown.

The Anova test shown in Table 5 provides the F-statistic with a Sig. of.006 b, which shows that the level of poverty has a direct effect on the crime index, despite the relationship being weak. The rationale is that the F-statistic is 8.454. Because of the Sig. value is above 0.005, the result must be accepted to be true.

The results in table 6 were used to establish whether as those people living below the line of poverty increase, the crime index increases, and this is confirmed with the positive value of the Beta coefficient of.427. In both cases, the standardized and unstandardized values are positive. Typically, this leads to the equation: y=0.427 xs+7.449. The results show that an increase in the number of people under the poverty line increases the crime in society.

It is important to note that the values of the column, ‘Pearson Chi-Square’ are 1520.0 and p-0.241respectively. This shows there is some degree of association between living below the line of poverty and the crime index is weak. Such a weak association shows that there are other factors except for poverty that can be associated with crime.

Various statistical measures such as internal and external validity were used to evaluate the accuracy of the statistical output (Foster, Diamond & Jefferies 9). The results for the test statistics were conducted on a 0.01%, 2-tailed significance test, and the findings were pegged on secondary data. A causal relationship was established between the two variables despite the threats such as a central threat.

The accuracy depends on various factors which include the tools that were used to collect the data and the interpretation that was done on the statistical results. Based on the various tests, it is imperative to note that a high degree of accuracy was achieved because the consistency of the results happens for different statistical tests. The association between the percentage of people living under the poverty line and the crime index is positive for each test.

The analysis shows two things. The first one is that crime cannot be completely attributed to poverty. Other reasons that lead people to commit crimes in society exist and poverty is one of them. This is revealed in the low R 2 value and the Pearson Chi-Square of.241among other statistical measures.

Reliability of the results

To make the results reliable, this investigation used historical data from the past years. Besides, various statistical tests were done on the data to check for consistency and reliability. This was an effective way of solving the statistical problem by using historical data. Single group threats based on history threats is where changes in crime index happen as a result of changes in economic and political variables presented the greatest limitations. The second limitation was due to the selection-testing threat where differences happen in variables that define the groups being tested.

Here, the explanation for this is that a country can be at war or face increased levels of poverty and declining levels of income but declining levels of crime. When such cases have been detected, it is necessary to conduct further studies to determine other causes of crime.

Bradshaw, Jonathan. The Well-being of Children in the UK . Policy Press, 2016.

Foster, Liam, Ian Diamond, and Julie Jefferies. Beginning statistics: an introduction for social scientists . Sage, 2014.

Jones, Gareth Stedman. Outcast London: a study in the relationship between classes in Victorian society . Verso Books, 2014.

Sudbury, Julia. Global Lockdown: Race, gender, and the prison-industrial complex. Routledge, 2014.

Townsend, Peter. International analysis poverty. Routledge, 2014.

Wolf, Achim, Ron Gray, and Seena Fazel. “Violence as a public health problem: an ecological study of 169 countries.” Social Science & Medicine vol. 1, no.104, 2014, pp. 220-227.

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The Relationship between Poverty and Crime: A Comprehensive Analysis

• M.Iqbal Shahid Okara University

The intricate relationship between poverty and crime has long been a subject of scholarly debate and societal concern. This scholarly article critically examines the multifaceted dynamics between poverty and crime, exploring their complex interplay, causal mechanisms, and socio-economic implications. Drawing on empirical research, criminological theories, and sociological perspectives, this paper investigates the correlation between poverty and various forms of crime, addressing the nuanced factors contributing to criminal behavior in impoverished communities. It sheds light on socio-economic disparities, structural inequalities, and policy implications for addressing crime and poverty in contemporary society.

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Name of Journal:  Journal of Social Signs Review

Journal Frequency:   Biennial

Print ISSN: 3006-4651

Online ISSN: 3006-466X

Language:   English.

Name of Publisher:  KNOWLEDGE KEY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Review Type:  Double Blind Peer Review

Area of Publication:  Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

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‘Poverty Is The Parent Of Revolution And Crime’ – Aristotle

• September 15, 2020
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Poor countries are disproportionately affected by domestic war and other forms of conflict. The World Bank acknowledges that “on average, a country that experiences major violence has a poverty rate significantly higher than a country that had no violence.” The ten poorest countries, as reported by the World Bank in 2019, have a GDP per capita of less than USD 600. The list includes war-ridden countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Of course, there are outliers – Malawi and Sierra Leone, for example, ranked 59th and 46th, respectively, on the Global Peace Index. The index weighs factors including a country’s level of violent crime, political terror, conflicts fought, and percentage of displaced people. Of the top ten richest countries represented on the Global Peace Index, all but one ranked in the top 27th. Four ranked within the top ten, with Iceland placing 1st. This stark contrast paints a harsh picture of the relationship between wealth and peace.

The first of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere.” The World Bank reported a decrease in global poverty of approximately 26% between 1990 and 2015. These years saw nearly 1.1 billion people leave extreme poverty (began earning more than USD 1.90 a day). Increased productivity and the expansion of the middle class are largely responsible for this reduction in global poverty.

However, COVID-19 raises serious concerns that this progress may be reversed. It is likely that those who can least afford to weather it will feel the global recession the most. The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research predicts that the pandemic is likely to increase global poverty by 500 million people – 8% of the global population. Further, the World Bank estimates that between 40-60 million people may fall into the category of extreme poverty.

Not enough is being done to eradicate poverty and create a more equitable distribution of resources. According to the United Nations, nearly one in every ten employed workers lived in extreme poverty in 2018. Approximately 20,000 people die every day from malnutrition when the earth has enough resources to feed the world one and a half times over. In 2017, Oxfam, a charitable organization, revealed that the “world’s richest 1% get 82% of the [world’s] wealth.” Oxfam also claimed that the 22 wealthiest men on earth have more wealth than all the women in Africa – of which there are over 500 million.

The UN Millennium Project found that poor countries are “more likely to have weak governments.” Weak government institutions positively reinforce poverty because state institutions rely on public funding to maintain public goods, such as education, trade regulations, the justice system, police forces, and healthcare. When state institutions are insufficiently funded, the goods they can provide to the public are limited. In 2000, the World Health Organization ranked 191 countries’ health system performance. In that same year, the ten countries with the lowest GDP per capita all ranked lower than 143 rd place. Myanmar and Sierra Leonne ranked 190 th and 191 st , respectively. Without the resources to enable taxpayers to prosper, public institutions further diminish their source of income, trapping poor countries in a vicious cycle.

“Poor and hungry societies are much more likely than high-income societies to fall into conflict over scarce vital resources, such as watering holes and arable land,” says the UN Millennium Project. In 1997, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hurdled into a civil war. In that same year, DRC also experienced its lowest GDP per capita (USD 140) since it gained independence in 1960. Militia groups and the country’s military fought for control over the country’s east, and although the war technically ended in 2004, internal conflict continues. Many militia groups extract the county’s natural resources, particularly coltan, which is plentiful in DRC. Tantalum, which is extracted from coltan, is a common – and, therefore, highly sought-after – component in electrical devices like mobile phones. Guerillas have exploited these resources to fund weapon purchases. In 2012, the United States implemented the Dodd-Frank Act to ban companies from using “conflict materials” like tantalum. However, this had the unintended consequence of increasing unemployment in the industry. As their poverty worsened, many of the newly unemployed workers were driven to join militia groups instead.

Poverty is not the only cause of war. A country’s socio-political environment, its history, or its geography may all be factors. Wars also often have a religious or ethnic component. Whether poverty is a cause of war or merely a symptom, it reinforces the likelihood of internal conflict.

The cost of poverty is too high. Poverty is intolerable on its own. Paired with an increased likelihood of war, it is beyond unjustifiable. It is relatively easier for developed countries to look inward and prioritize inequalities at home. However, it is a global responsibility to eliminate all forms of poverty, everywhere. To eradicate poverty, world leaders must first let go of their nationalistic ideologies. Barack Obama once said, “As the wealthiest nation on Earth, I believe the United States has a moral obligation to lead the fight against hunger and malnutrition, and to partner with others.” This “we are all in this together” philosophy will be essential if the world has any hope of achieving the United Nation’s target of eliminating extreme poverty by 2030.

Changing the world’s wealth distribution will rely heavily on rich countries. The developed world holds an inequitable amount of wealth. Free from political or religious motives, privileged countries should work collaboratively to raise the standard of living in the poorest countries. This will mean less money to spend on domestic issues. However, in perspective, it makes sense for the world to focus its resources on those who need them most. This is not to say developed countries should not spend public money at home – they should. It is to say that where first world countries can go without, they should, to help their neighbors. The biggest barrier to this approach is the peoples’ capacity for compassion. Compassion will dictate the sacrifices people are willing to endure. In turn, this will influence the countries’ political will to substantially help those in need.

Billionaires are a first world problem, but they affect us all. A large proportion of the world’s wealth is heavily concentrated on a small percentage of the upper class. According to an analysis by Forbes, the top 10 richest men hold more wealth than many countries, the likes of Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Belgium included. One person should not legally be allowed to have more money than they can spend, while another does not have enough to eat. Ending the era of billionaires would drastically narrow the income inequality gap.

Beyond all else, people must believe they can lift the world out of poverty. The world has already achieved more than it thought possible. International newspaper The Economist reported in 2017 that “someone escapes extreme poverty every 1.2 seconds.” In 2015, 1.1 billion fewer people were living in extreme poverty than there were in 1950. That should be evidence enough that change is possible.

Eradicating global poverty is not insurmountable. It will be hard. But it is necessary.

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• Crime in Texas: Security Strategies Words: 1959
• Situational and Social Crime Prevention Approaches Words: 3518
• Crimes Against Persons Words: 1378
• Fight Against Crime and Its General Characteristics Words: 2489
• Crime in Society: Costs and Response Words: 2153
• Crime Types and Their Harm to Society Words: 1432

Relationship Between Poverty and Crime

The psychology and root causes of global crime are not yet fully explored and are at the centre of a heated debate. Some people believe that poverty incites and is to blame for the majority of casual crimes, others argue that the problem lies within deeper institutional and class inequalities. This paper will consider both sides of the argument and make case for inequality rather than poverty being the prime reason for people committing crimes.

First of all, there is a reasonable amount of evidence linking poverty with crime, however, stating that it is the only cause of crime would be far too trivial. Webster and Kingston (2014) suggest that although poverty may be considered a necessary circumstance for committing a crime, the people that commit them are often driven by other reasons. For instance, research has shown that people committing crimes often feel powerless and frustrated being “exploited and experiencing violence and abuse” (Webster and Kingston, 2014, p. 5). Ultimately, the authors argue that poverty, defined as mere lack of material needs, in most cases cannot be the only cause for committing a crime. In turn, it is often accompanied by psychological problems and poor mental well-being which are larger consequences of social inequality.

Furthermore, apart from the specific psychological background of each committed crime, there are more common social problems caused by inequality that drive people to become criminals. In particular, the literature review on crime prevention done by WWF (2020) gives an example of countries with high poverty that do not necessarily have higher crime rates and vice versa. Moreover, the paper confirms that factors causing crime include “breakdown in social norms and values… unemployment, incomplete education, a break down in family structures, limited opportunities and exclusion from the formal economy” (WWF, 2020, p. 3). Therefore, the report confirms the ideas of Webster and Kingston by linking the causes of crime to a variety of factors associated with poverty and inequality alike.

Finally, though the aforementioned authors have proven that poverty cannot be a single root cause for committing crimes, it is still one of the major factors influencing people’s decisions. Papaioannou (2017) proposes that poverty may indeed be regarded as a decisive motive for the crime. The author argues that people constantly living on the line of poverty are, on average, more likely to commit a crime in cases when they feel that their well-being, income and lifestyle are put in jeopardy. Papaioannou elaborates on this idea by providing an example of Asian ex-British colonies where a “standard deviation decrease in annual rice production increases property crime by 21.2 percent” (2017, p. 25). However, the provided case study is too narrow to extrapolate its results to the entire world as well as the conclusions of the author do not really contradict the ideas presented in the previous paragraphs.

In conclusion, though it is hard to deny that poverty is a major reason for people committing crimes, it is far from being the only root cause. In fact, the prime motivators for committing a crime can be classified into two distinct categories: psychological and social. The former is often associated with feelings of helplessness and frustration caused as well as potential trauma of abuse caused by the living conditions of the lower class. The latter encompasses a variety of factors such as low levels of employment and lack of education which are, similar to psychological factors, are often caused by social inequalities rather than poverty itself.

Papaioannou, K. J. (2017). “Hunger makes a thief of any man”: Poverty and crime in British colonial Asia . European Review of Economic History, Volume 21, Issue 1, 2017, Pages 1–28.

Webster, C. S. and Kingston, S. (2014). Anti-poverty strategies for the UK: Poverty and crime review. Joseph Rowntree Foundation .

WWF. (2020). Literature review: Crime prevention and high-value poaching . USAID.

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Poverty and crime

Poverty and crime have a complex and often contentious relationship. Though it is increasingly accepted that poverty does not cause crime, there is still much evidence linking the two. The cost of being unable to afford necessities, combined with the lack of opportunity for social and economic advancement, creates a breeding ground for criminal activity.

The direct relationship between poverty and crime is a complicated one, and there are a variety of factors that contribute to criminal behaviour. Studies show that individuals with limited educational opportunities, lack of access to positive role models, and limited employment options, may turn to crime as a means of survival or income. Furthermore, poverty is often accompanied by overcrowding and related stressors, which may serve as triggers for criminal activity.

Though poverty does not directly cause crime, there is a strong correlation between poverty and criminal activity. The cost of being unable to afford necessities, combined with the lack of opportunity for social and economic advancement, creates a breeding ground for criminal activity. Additionally, the indirect links between poverty and crime, such as structural inequality and systemic racism, contribute to the prevalence of crime in deprived areas. It is essential, therefore, for policymakers to address the structural barriers that prevent people from escaping poverty in order to reduce crime and create a more equitable society.

It’s clear that the prison system is failing and has been for many years. It’s time for governments to look for more effective alternatives and create a justice system that is truly fit for purpose.

Analysis – “Although not much of the information here is shocking or new, it is somewhat refreshing to read. There are so many topics on banking, what is a bank, what AI can do for it, the latest crypto that can solve an issue, and Chase bank breaking all-time records, etc.

But there are people, and many, that suffer the consequences of not having enough money. Not only do they not get to live the lives they watch other people live, but some of them resort to a life of crime and ultimately give up years and lifetimes of life in prison.

The last statement in the article –

“It’s clear that the prison system is failing and has been for many years. It’s time for governments to look for more effective alternatives and create a justice system that is truly fit for purpose.”

Prison is not failing, business is actually booming. The cycle of crime is by design and a wealth inequality perpetuating machine.” – Easton Nguyen

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The Connection Between Poverty, Inequality and Firearm Violence

The Connection Between Poverty, Inequality and Firearm Violence UCLA Luskin’s Mark Kaplan explains how circumstances in U.S. urban centers go hand in hand with gun violence

By Stan Paul

A fatal gunshot wound. This is a slide that Mark Kaplan , professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, shows early in his presentation on gun violence.

As he recites annual gun death statistics in the United States, the vivid and unsettling scene serves as a backdrop.

“This might have been a suicide, this might have been a homicide; we’re not exactly sure. All I can tell you is that it was a fatal gunshot wound,” said Kaplan who spoke on “Poverty, Inequality and Firearm Violence,” Jan. 26, 2017 at the Luskin School as part of the Public Child Welfare Seminar series.

“The reason for putting this up is because quite often the discussion about guns is sanitized.” Kaplan explained, “We often treat the issue of gun violence as an abstraction but when you talk to people who are working in emergency departments, when you talk to coroners and medical centers, this is what people tell you. This is the net effect of guns.”

Across the nation, that net effect amounts to more than 33,000 similar scenes recorded each year on average, and more than 36,000 for 2015, Kaplan reported as the latest available data. What stands out for Kaplan is that two-thirds are suicides, his area of research . Kaplan, who holds adjunct appointments in psychiatry at the Oregon Health & Science University and in epidemiology and community medicine at the University of Ottawa, focuses on using population-wide data to understand suicide risk factors and firearm violence among vulnerable populations.

“So, the problem of gun violence in this country is primarily a suicide problem, less so a homicide problem,” said Kaplan to the audience, which included future social workers who are students in the master of social welfare (MSW) program. While recognizing the spike in gun deaths in cities such as Chicago – more than 50 in January in that city alone — Kaplan said that over the past 10-15 years there has been an overall national decline in the rate of gun deaths.

Kaplan said gun ownership in the U.S. is at more than 300 million and growing, and the death rate is only part of the story. He pointed out that for all of the recorded deaths by guns, there were more than 81,000 people – more than 200 per day – injured nationwide by guns in 2014.

“There are a lot of individuals who are shot, who survive, who wind up in emergency departments, are hospitalized and often disabled for life.”

A relationship exists between the high rate of guns and gun ownership and the number of homicides, suicides and injuries. Kaplan said that work is needed “on the ground” in America’s cities, such as limiting access to guns that would “go a long way to reducing some of the fatalities that we’re experiencing both in the homicide and suicide.”

He pointed to the work of one of his doctoral students that showed almost 90 percent of suicides involved guns in some parts of the country. California is an exception, according to Kaplan, who credited the state’s stringent gun control measures.

“California is an outlier. There aren’t many states like us,” he noted, suggesting that California could serve as a role model for the rest of the country. Unfortunately, two-thirds of states fall into the quadrant with both high rates of gun violence and lax restrictions on gun ownership, he said. “We are a gun-toting, gun-culture nation, and that’s going to make things a little bit challenging.”

The U.S. stands out among industrialized nations, Kaplan said. Gun homicides in the U.S. are 25 times higher than the average of other high-income countries. Factors such as poverty and inequality are contributing factors, he said.

“You all hear about poverty, but inequality is another measure of economic well-being. And there is a strong correlation between homicide per million and income inequality,” said Kaplan, pointing out that countries that are most equal have the lowest rates of gun-related homicides.

In terms of race and ethnicity, Kaplan said that 77 percent of white gun deaths in the U.S. are suicides, while less than 1 in 5 (19 percent) is a homicide. The figures are nearly opposite for African Americans, for which only 14 percent are suicides.

African American males in the 20-29 age group have the highest risk (89 per 100,000) in terms of the firearm homicide rate, a figure that is comparable with Honduras (90.4 murders per 100,000 people).

“In many ways we look like what some developing or Third World countries are experiencing,” Kaplan said.

Citing recent scholarship published by the Brookings Institution, he said that people who witness gun violence are also at increased risk for a variety mental health issues that can manifest as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, poor academic performance, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, delinquency and violent behavior – a “constellation of interconnected pathologies.”

Cities such as Los Angeles and New York have been stereotyped as “dangerous big cities,” Kaplan said, but both have benefitted from gun control measures. “Look how well we do in Los Angeles. New York is another place where the homicide rate has declined quite dramatically in the past 10-15, maybe 20, years.”

In contrast, Philadelphia today still has a high homicide rate, he said. And Texas, which has some of the least restrictive gun law on the books (with both Dallas and Houston appearing close to the bottom), has among the highest rates of gun deaths in the United States.

UCLA Luskin’s Mark Kaplan talks about a spike in gun violence in Chicago, a topic that has been much discussed by President Donald Trump and others. Photo by Stan Paul

Kaplan, who was born in Chicago, spoke about that city’s spike in murders in the past few years – nearly 300 shootings this January. One of Kaplan’s slides showed a recent tweet by President Trump about gun homicides in Chicago.

“We don’t know what [Trump] is going to do, but he is reacting to something legitimate” that is not occurring randomly, Kaplan said in reference to the accuracy of the numbers.

“You can approach this problem as a criminal justice problem … or approach it as a public health or social welfare or social justice problem, and that’s was missing in the discussion,” Kaplan said. Social inequality and income inequality are to some extent fueling the gun violence epidemic in Chicago, he noted.

Over the long term, however, little has really changed in Chicago, which has concentrated areas of poverty and racial segregation. Some areas are 90 percent African American. “Neighborhoods still look the same way as they did 10, 15, 20, maybe even 30, years ago. Chicago is a very divided city socio-economically,” Kaplan said.

The addition of guns increases violence. “The more guns, the more lethal the assault. When guns are absent, people are more likely to survive an assault,” said Kaplan. “If we could just tamp down the levels of gun ownership, that might – might – be the first step in trying to reduce the rate of gun violence.”

Compared to other leading causes of death in the U.S., the national investment in trying to understand and prevent gun deaths “pales by comparison” to what is spent on other causes of death and other major health problems, he said. A prohibition in the United States related to research on firearms doesn’t help.

“There is so much we need to know,” Kaplan said. “That’s what depresses me and keep me up at night.”

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The Hate U Give

Angie thomas.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

The Hate U Give depicts gangs, drugs, and violence as largely the result of lack of opportunity. The deck is stacked against many residents of Garden Heights, who may turn to gangs and drug dealing as their only means of supporting their loved ones and protecting themselves. This, in turn, traps the community in a vicious cycle of poverty and crime.

The cycle of crime is especially evident in Maverick , whose father was one of the biggest drug dealers in Garden Heights. Maverick was born into a life of “kinging” and joined the gang at just twelve years old, he tells Starr and DeVante , because “that was the only way to survive.” For Maverick, joining a gang was, ironically, the best means of protection from gang violence. “Somebody was always coming at me ‘cause of my pops,” he continues, “but if I was a King Lord I had folks to watch my back.” DeVante echoes this sense of security when he tells Starr, “With King Lords, we had a whole bunch of folks who had our backs, no matter what.” He appreciates the community and protection that the King Lords offer, even as they contribute to the insecurity of the neighborhood on the whole. Further illustrating the need for alternative forms of protection in Garden Heights is the fact that, after a brick is thrown through the Carters’ window, King Lords help protect the Carter family when the police can’t (or won’t).

Even for those not so explicitly born into crime, Thomas creates nuanced portrayals of characters who choose to sell drugs even when they can see the harm this has on their communities. At first, Starr cannot understand why Khalil would sell the same drugs that have ruined his mother’s life. DeVante explains Khalil’s specific motivations—paying back his mother’s debt to King—and also the broader pressures created by poverty. “Nobody likes selling drugs,” he says, “But I hated seeing my momma and my sisters go hungry, you know?” Once a part of that world, however, it is nearly impossible to get out; Maverick had to go to prison to escape, becoming a felon in the process—another mark against him in society that makes it even more difficult to get a job and support his family even years later.

It’s important to note that Thomas also highlights her characters’ resiliency and strength throughout the novel, painting a picture of a community defined as much by perseverance as oppression. In illustrating the cycle of poverty and crime, however, she rebuts the common racist narrative that her characters’ circumstances are the result of personal failings rather than broad, systemic injustice. The novel thus suggests that, unable to trust police and largely abandoned by the rest of society, Garden Heights has been forced to create its own system of economic opportunity and justice. The irony, of course, is that this system—powered by gangs and drugs—further entrenches Garden Heights in the issues its residents want to escape.

The Cycle of Poverty and Crime ThemeTracker

The Cycle of Poverty and Crime Quotes in The Hate U Give

Garden Heights has been a battlefield for the past two months over some stupid territory wars. I was born a “queen” ‘cause Daddy used to be a King Lord. But when he left the game, my street royalty status ended. But even if I’d grown up in it, I wouldn't understand fighting over streets nobody owns.

Listen! The Hate U-the letter U-Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody. T-H-U-G L-I-F-E. Meaning what society give us as youth, it bites them in the ass when we wild out. Get it?

But I swear I wanna cuss Khalil out. How he could sell the very stuff that took his momma from him? Did he realize that he was taking somebody else's momma from them? Did he realize that if he does become a hashtag, some people will only see him as a drug dealer?

He was so much more than that.

[Tupac] explains Thug Life like Khalil said he did. The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody. ‘Pac spells out “Fucks” because that kid is looking dead in his face. When Khalil told me what it meant I kinda understood it. I really understand it now.

“That's the so-called gun,” Ms. Ofrah explains. “Officer Cruise claims he saw it in the car door, and he assumed Khalil was reaching for it. The handle was thick enough, black enough, for him to assume it was a gun.”

“And Khalil was black enough,” Daddy adds.

A hairbrush. Khalil died over a fucking hairbrush.

“I've tried to forget it, but I remember everything. The shots, the look on Natasha's face. They never caught the person who did it. I guess it didn't matter enough. But it did matter. She mattered.” I look at Ms. Ofrah, but I can barely see her for all the tears. “And I want everyone to know that Khalil mattered too.”

Funny. Slave masters thought they were making a difference in black people's lives too. Saving them from their wild African ways. Same shit, different century. I wish people like them would stop thinking that people like me need saving.

Hailey hands me two pictures. One is Khalil's thugshot, as Daddy calls it. One of the pictures they've shown on the news. Hailey printed it off the internet. Khalil wears a smirk, gripping a handful of money and throwing up a sideways peace sign.

The other picture, he's twelve. I know because I'm twelve in it too. It's my birthday party at this laser tag place downtown. Khalil's on one side of me, shoveling strawberry cake into his mouth, and Hailey's on my other side, grinning for the camera along with me.

He said Thug Life stood for “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.” We did all that stuff last night because we were pissed, and it fucked all of us. Now we have to somehow un-fuck everybody.

It would be easy to quit if it was just about me, Khalil, that night, and that cop. It's about way more than that though. It's about Seven. Sekani. Kenya. DeVante.

It's also about Oscar.

It's even about that little boy in 1955 who nobody recognized at first—Emmett.

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Essay Sample: The Relationship Between Poverty and Crime

Scholars from different fields hold are that poverty and crime are intimate. Poverty and crime have similar implication in the society. For example, in the process of trying to fight poverty in the society, the government encounters criminal activities. In most cities, criminal activities are many in dark streets inhabited by poor people (Haushofer, and Fehr. 2014). The purpose of this essay is to explain the relationship between poverty and crime.

Crime creates a vicious circle of poverty. Most African leaders are corrupt and deprive the citizens of the fund for developments and eradication of poverty. The economic instability, high levels of unemployment leave people with few alternatives to meet their daily needs. Often, in situations where the poverty level is very high, people resolve to either to look for legal jobs or engage in criminal activities to earn some income. Poverty pushes the people to limited choices to earn a living. Criminal activities exist in different forms. There individuals who resolve to engage in robbery with violence and others who decide to engage in illegal businesses such as drug smuggling. For this reason, poverty pushes people into criminal activities while attempting to meet all their needs.

An inequality causes social aggression. In some societies, some communities are discriminated because of race. The people who are discriminated develop aggressive behavior counteract the social bias. Injustices result from social bias cause pain and violence. The resultant animosity among the neighbors provokes violence and criminal activities. Discriminations in the society make some section of the populations rich and the other section poor (Raphael, 2015). The poor community develops jealousy and wage war against the source of the oppression. There are police operations in communities with many criminal activities and violence.

Idleness weakens cohesion in the community. It is apparent that in places where the majority of the people are jobless, there is no cohesion in the community. It is a difficult task to restore cohesion in the community when criminal activities are many (Coggins, 2015). The high level of poverty in the community increases the level of poverty thus creating a vicious circle of poverty. In such cases, people resolve in stealing and venture into illegal business. An illegal business such drug trafficking makes drugs available to young people. Drug abuse is the main cause of divisions in the community. For decades, poor people abuse drugs to avoid the pains of poverty. It is common in the streets to find poor people abusing drugs because they are idle and wish to void facing the reality.

Poverty halts children from attaining their dreams. It is difficult for families living in abject poverty to finance education for their children (Caetano et al., 2017). In most cases, children born to poor parents are aggressive and desire to improve the standards of living of their families. However, the lack of education prevents the children from getting good jobs that can bring changes in their families. As a result, such aggressive children will accept any kind of job that will help them earn a living. The children of this type are willing to engage in violence and criminal activities to help their families. Besides, intelligent people that fail to secure well-paying jobs resolve to criminal activities to live their dream life.

Caetano, R., Schafer, J. and Cunradi, C.B., 2017. Alcohol-related intimate partner violence among white, black, and Hispanic couples in the United States. Domestic Violence: The Five Big Questions.

Coggins, B.L., 2015. Does state failure cause terrorism? An empirical analysis (19992008). Journal of Conflict Resolution, 59(3), pp.455-483.

Haushofer, J. and Fehr, E., 2014. On the psychology of poverty. Science, 344(6186), pp.862-867.Raphael, J., 2015. Listening to Olivia: Violence, poverty, and prostitution. Northeastern University Press.

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