Crime and Poverty
- For the period 2008-12-
- -Persons in poor households at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (39.8 per 1,000) had more than double the rate of violent victimization as persons in high-income households (16.9 per 1,000).
- -Persons in poor households had a higher rate of violence involving a firearm (3.5 per 1,000) compared to persons above the FPL (0.8-2.5 per 1,000).
- -The overall pattern of poor persons having the highest rates of violent victimization was consistent for both whites and blacks. However, the rate of violent victimization for Hispanics did not vary across poverty levels.
- -Poor Hispanics (25.3 per 1,000) had lower rates of violence compared to poor whites (46.4 per 1,000) and poor blacks (43.4 per 1,000).
- Poor persons living in urban areas (43.9 per 1,000) had violent victimization rates similar to poor persons living in rural areas (38.8 per 1,000).
- -Poor urban blacks (51.3 per 1,000) had rates of violence similar to poor urban whites (56.4 per 1,000).
Correlation
Side Score: 2
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Causation
Side Score: 1
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Poverty can be a driving force for people to lift themselves out of their hardship through ambition, ability and hard work. Those with a predisposition to criminality who are born into poverty will quickly and willingly succumb to their lawless instincts in order to make a ''quick buck'' regardless of who it hurts. After WW2 most people in Europe were desperately poor but the crime rate was a fraction of what it in today's much more affluent society. Side: Correlation
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A life of crime often leads to poverty. But a life in poverty usually does not lead to crime (especially for Hispanic families apparently). Crime causes the criminal to be poor, but in the vast majority of cases, poverty does not cause the poor to commit crime. Since crime leads to poverty, more crime is prevalent among the poor, most of whom are not criminals. Side: Causation
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