Investigation of whether Poverty

Causes Crime

Mar 16, 2015 9:02:05 AM

In the current essay we will discuss the fact that poverty

causes crime. Poverty is a characteristic of the economic situation of the individual
or social group in which they cannot satisfy a certain range of the minimum

requirements needed for life saving ability. Poverty is a relative concept and
depends on the overall standard of living in the society.
According to experts, not getting decent wages for their work, young people
gradually lose the desire to marry and to have children - they are full of fear for
tomorrow, not sure that tomorrow they will not be fired because of another
financial crisis. In addition, low wages and lack of jobs, experts say, are pushing
young people to commit crimes in order to get rich quickly. It is, therefore, among
criminals, increases the number of adolescents, aged 18 to 25 years.
Poverty is a consequence of diverse and interrelated reasons, which combine into
the following groups:
- economic (unemployment, low wages, low productivity, lack of competitiveness
of the industry);
- socio-medical (disability, old age, high levels of morbidity);
- Demographic (parent families, a large number of dependents in the family);
- socio-economic (low level of social guarantees);
- educational qualifications (a low level of education, lack of training);
- political (military conflict, forced migration);
- regional-geographic (uneven development of regions).
As well, current crisis makes people react and do something, even if it is illegal,
they start committing a crime. Poverty causes many crimes, as if a person was not
poor and had faith in himself, he would not face the thought that he should
search another ways to get money. According to Crime Causes Poverty (2010),
being poor, which could be caused by different reasons, makes a person unhappy,
incapable to earn enough money, to buy anything he wants or at least something
necessary.
Poverty determines a certain stereotype in a persons thoughts, and he does not
see any constructive solving of the problem, as he wants to choose the easiest
way of getting money, even harming other people. According to Borade (2007),
poverty has a huge psychological influence on people, who become depressed,
desperate and then they decide to commit a crime, as they have not found
anything that can legally get them out of such situation.
Too many problems that a person faces in the modern society makes him get
angrier on the whole situation and forces to look for the new ways of solving his

problem. The desperate economical situation in the country and consequently the
lack of the work places, especially for young people, creates the thoughts and
actions of crime. No guarantees from the government and no proper help to
people who are poor leads to the chaos and misunderstanding, where the only
way out they find, is to commit a crime. Poverty as a social phenomenon in a
historical sense is of lasting value. The extent and depth of "immersion" of the
people in the country reflects two important aspects of society - the level of
development of productive forces and the corresponding character of their
operation principle of social justice.
Most often, poverty is treated as financial insecurity of people, when income of a
person or family does not allow maintaining socially necessary consumption for
life, interfering with normal living and personal development. According to Mac
Donald 2010), poverty serves as guidelines for shaping social policy. This
phenomenon is assessed by using indicators of absolute and relative poverty, its
depth and severity, as well as by the subjective perception of their individual wellbeing and quality of life. To determine the effect of poverty on crime, there may
be also another way: by studying the living conditions of the poor and convicted
before they commit crimes.
As a consequence of the fact that poverty causes crime, criminally distorted
psychology of society, values and personality, as a direct cause of crime are
expressed by more than just greed, aggression, irresponsibility and neglect of
criminal law prohibitions, as stated by Charen (2007). It has several forms: greed,
the cause component of the Organized Crime and Entrepreneurship, parasitism,
irresponsibility, situational robbery, when crimes are committed to meet the
immediate material needs, poverty is an incentive for the physical survival. At a
gain now there is 80% of the totality of the causes of crime at this time. The main
source of crime in any society is the aggravation of his social contradictions. It is
also defined as meaningful and with the quantifiable features of the formation,
which are within the specific time parameters. It is known, that the technologically
advanced capitalist countries do not have the same level of crimes.
As a fact, crimes begin from the childhood. As a rule, if a child was born in a poor
family, there are more chances that he will start committing crimes. All over the
world there is propaganda of a luxurious way of life, of successful people, of
expensive mansions, cars, of beautiful journeys, etc. When children and
adolescents see that and understand that parents will not provide them with all
these things, they start looking for the opportunity to get money fast in order to
buy at least something. And consequently, they decide to commit a crime.

According to Barr (1992), the crimes committed by adolescents are considered the
cruelest. The majority of cases of all crimes show that a driving force of the crimes
is the money. The values of the society are built the way that those people with
the problems in their minds decide to bring closer all these luxurious things.
One of the main aspects that can prevent poverty is education. If children are
educated properly, then they will perceive the reality as it is and they will try to
succeed in legal ways by studying and then getting a job. Sometimes, crimes are
the symptom of the culture, and education can cure the cultural poverty, and only
then the financial poverty will be cured itself as a consequence.
As a fact, not only poor people commit crimes, as there are also rich people who
have no boundaries in their actions and also power and they also commit crimes
to get more money and power, according to McGrath (2009). Considering the
statistics, the total number of the seven index crimes is reported to police per
100,000 inhabitants in the United States. The research states that if to reduce
poverty, crime will be reduced, although with the crisis that has begun in 2008,
there have been registered less crimes, although there are more poor people
because of the crisis. As an example of it, in the first decade of the XXI century
crime in the United States has tended to decline. By the end of the decade, crime
rates, according to many indicators, have fallen dramatically, despite the
economic crisis of 2008-2010. In some cities such as New York, the crime rate has
dropped to the record lows. With the onset of recession in the U.S., many media
outlets have expressed fears that the crisis (for example, increased
unemployment and reduced real incomes of people) will lead to a rapid increase
in crime. FBI report shows that these fears have not yet been met.
Published in the 2008, the study of the Heritage Foundation has shown that the
relationship between economic perturbations and the crime exists, but it is not so
clear. Thus, in the United States there is a nation-wide crime statistics since 1934.
During all this time only for 16 years the crime rate has declined. The crime rate
has steadily increased from 1955 to 1972, although this time the U.S. economy
has experienced a rapid period of development, and then a recession occurred
only in mid-1960. In turn, during the Great Depression - statistics was only for the
period from 1934 to 1938 - criminals have shown less activity.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a preliminary report on crime rates in
the U.S. in 2009. This statistics is based on data provided by about 17 thousand
law enforcement agencies of different jurisdictions. The main conclusions of the
report, compared to 2008, is that the number of property crimes in the U.S.

decreased by 6.1%, violent crimes - by 4,4%. According to the report, this year the
number of murders in the U.S. fell by 10%, robberies - on 6,5%, rape - by 3,3%.
Among property crimes, the most significantly decreased the number of thefts of
cars (by 18.7%), theft (by 5.3%) and burglary (2.5%). The greatest reductions in
crime were noted in cities with populations exceeding one million. In addition to
FBI statistics, the crime rate measures the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics by the
Census Bureau (study called National Crime Victimization Survey). Since 1973,
there have been annually polled 70-80 thousand of households (family or group of
people living together and having a total budget), to identify about how many
actually committed crimes Americans have not informed the police. The last time
similar research was conducted in 2008. It has shown that the victims of the
criminals Americans do not always turn to law enforcement agencies: becoming
the victims of violent crimes, they shall notify the police in 51.2% of the property in 39.6% of cases. Another important indicator for gauging the level of crime in the
U.S. is a traditional study conducted the service Gallup Rating the perception of
crime. Every year Gallup asks Americans to estimate whether increased or
decreased the number of crimes in their area and across the country.
In the recent years, such survey was conducted in September 2009. Then 74% of
Americans said that compared with last year the crime rate in the U.S. grew, and
15% reported that the situation has improved. The rise in crime in their area was
51%, decrease - 29%. As a fact, 12% of respondents said that the situation with
crime in their place of residence was very serious; the crime rate across the
United States similarly estimated 55% of respondents. It is curious that in the last
decade, both of these indicators remain fairly stable, fluctuating slightly.
As a rule, those countries where there is no proper economic regulations, there
are more chances that people will react negatively and commit more crimes, as
the consequence of unhappy life and no perspective in such countries. Although
there is no proof of the direct connection of the fact that poverty is the main
motive to commit a crime, as there are many factors present in the minds of
people who in different situations can act differently. According to Francis (2008),
it is not quite explicable, that the fact that while there is a depression and
economical crisis all over the world, people do not commit more crimes, as the
statistics shows that people do not intend to commit more crimes. The
consequences and the logic of this fact are not fully understandable. In the
modern world everything changes so quickly that people get accustomed to the
situation, they learn the rules of the game and probably they try to find a better
way to earn money and succeed than to commit a crime. There can be also hope

that the more people get more education, the more they get the proper
knowledge, the better they understand life and the rules to survive. The more
people know, the better they understand the situations, the values, the
perspective, the more ideas they have, the more creative they are and the more
they feel capable to find a job and to succeed in life.
In poor countries such as Brazil and the countries of the former Soviet Union,
there are millions of poor people who do not have a way out because of the lack
of any perspectives to find a job, as the level of corruption is extremely high.
According to Langeneckert (2010), in such countries is especially visible the
difference and the gap between the extremely rich and very poor people. There
are almost no middle class people who have a job, a house and other benefits.
According to Crime (2009), there are almost no chances to combat it, as poor and
desperate people in these countries do not see any other opportunity except
committing a crime. The obvious injustice and no social guarantees make people
feel as losers, who see the luxurious life and who cannot touch it. As a fact, there
is a lot of envy because of such a big gap and so much poverty.
Each country has its problems and level of poverty, but there is one main pointthe lack of money. According to Brill (1993), if people had money at least for the
basic needs, there would be no such level of poverty. And as Aristotle said:
Poverty - is a source of disturbance and crime, which means that little problem
becomes a huge problem if there is nothing useful done to prevent it. That is why
the right policy of the country will be able to eliminate poverty and along with that
there will be no crime in the future.
What factors specifically lead to poverty in the countries? This is the high level of
unemployment, a significant number of jobs that do not provide a living wage, as
well as reducing the number of social service costs. It can be emphasized that
poverty reduction should not be a charity event. It must go against strong social
inequalities. The only way to do this is to foster a society of equal opportunities. If
we deal only with short-term problems in order to achieve short term objectives
rather than to focus on strategic issues of economic and social development, we
may miss the last chance to make the country the basis for a viable, long-term
development based on economic and social modernization.
So, the agenda should include the following vital issues:
- Reducing inequality and providing our citizens with the opportunity to realize
their constitutional rights;

- Restoration of a common economic space;

- Infrastructure development through the joint efforts of government and the
private sector (roads, railways, ports, airports, bridges, power lines, electricity,
etc.);
- The solution of demographic problems of the countries;
- The rise of living standards (including environmental problems);
- Eliminating unevenness in the level of regional development;
- Harmonization of interethnic relations in the country and the creation of normal
living conditions for the communities;
- National security and territorial integrity;
- The safety of citizens;
As a fact, it is easier to prevent poverty than to deal with its consequences. The
fact that people commit crimes when they are poor does not justify them. But the
government has to take measures to prevent the poverty, there should be created
more opportunities for people to work, as keeping people busy can prevent
crimes and even the thoughts of it. Proper economical policy, positive changes in
the social sphere, economical issues and employment can guarantee the higher
level of education and understanding the principles, which will help to avoid the
crime in the future. There should be also organized the certain campaigns aimed
at the reduction of poverty, as it in some cases causes crime.
Anyway, if the importance of money was not so crucial these days, probably, the
majority of people would not commit crimes. As it is very difficult to be different
from everyone in the society that values the materialistic ideas, the goods and
products, it becomes a real challenge not to have goals to buy the things or to
own something. It happens because the society judges those who are different,
who have different vision, goals, principles and ideas. That is why people are
almost forced to do everything the right way to be as everyone else is, to work
and to succeed. And if there are no possibilities for that in the country, people
start looking for other wrong ways to reach it anyway. They start looking for the
easiest, quickest and lowest ways to reach their goal, and that is why robberies,
different violent crimes and thefts occur. Some people, after committing them,
feel innocent, as they think that if the government did not give certain things and
possibilities to them, then they have the right to take things or money from the
richer people. Deceiving themselves, people live in their own world that is so

narrow, that allows them to commit a crime and to presume that no one will ever
know.
As a fact, it is sad that a reality is that money takes a very important place in
peoples lives. Everything people do to earn money sometimes in not enough, that
is why arise different problems which lead to the thoughts to commit a crime as
that last opportunity. Everyone wants to live worthily and this desire determines
unexpected behavior. Often people want to prove something to their friends,
family, loved ones, but they do not manage to achieve it in a legal way, choosing
instead the lowest possible way to commit a crime, thinking that from that
moment on everything would change for the better.
It is obvious that money rules the world, which is why almost every crime is based
on the desire to get more money at any cost. Those who commit crime do not
usually think about consequences and they pay for everything they have done
later. Sometimes people just lack the patience and they want to have everything
too soon without any considerable long time efforts. Consequently, this practice
does not work and people are forced to pay for everything they have done.
According to McIlheran (2010), psychological help and support in difficult
situations can help and benefit people to overcome difficulties, challenging times
and other problems. Being open to discussions, to new ideas, to new
opportunities and options, people can stop thinking about committing a crime
because they are poor. The capacity to believe in yourself, in the future
possibilities and in the brighter future lacks in the minds of the people. It is
surprising that people commit crimes, as it is obvious that sooner or later they will
pay for what they have done and it is important to take control of the life.
According to Short (1997), the mistake is that people sometimes consider
themselves cleverer than the others are, and think they are capable of changing
their life easily by harming someone else. This method, fortunately, does not
work. Being realistic and optimistic at the same time can save situation and turn
life to the better.
All in all, only the right policies of the countries can solve this problem and make
people understand and see other right ways to earn money and to get out of
poverty. People are instruments in the hands of the government and they play by
its rules. If there will be more opportunities and proper social conditions for
people to live and work, the crimes that are caused by poverty will not take place
anymore. A lot depends on the country that people live in, and on the fact how
they see their future, which possibilities and advantages they can find and want to
implement in their lives. Anyway, everything depends on a choice a person makes,

wherever he lives and whatever he has.

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