Since the USA government knows that one significant cause of crime in the United States is severe poverty, why doesn't it whipe it out? It has the ability. But instead, it prefers to BILLIONS of tax dollars to foreign aid.


Why?

ajackson

Hi;

If you wiped out poverty, there would still be crime :

EVS

Hi

I am from South Africa where we have the highest crime rates in the world, however I will state that poverty is one source of crime because of the shear need involved, it is not the entire end all and be all. White collar crime is on the increase and it does not even mean that there is a need, or poverty.

One country that has eradicated poverty at one time was Malawi, and if you look at it today it is rife with crime.

>

ajackson

Read my lips: even if you wiped out poverty, it would not stop people from committing crime. :-/

JimGunther

You are incorrect in the assumption that poverty is a cause of crime. The overwhelming majority of poor people are not criminals. Crime is caused by people who make the decision to do wrong to others in ways prohibited by law. The various factors that lead up the decision the person makes to commit a crime may be related to the fact that they do not have enough resources to obtain everything they want, but this fact in itself does not remove their ability to tell right from wrong.

I am an ex-police officer and have been a probation officer for seven years. Most of the people I have dealt with are poor, have a low-level education, and often have drug, alcohol, or other related problems. Most of them did not commint their crime because they were poor, but because they thought they could get away with it and did not have the moral strength to resist the temptation.

Saying poverty causes crime is like saying guns cause murder. Someone has to make the conscious choice to pull the trigger or commit the crime.

JimGunther

Let me add a bit more to my previous comments. The government does not have the power to wipe out poverty because people have the choice to decide what they are going to do with their lives and how they are going to live them. In this country, we have wiped out poverty to the extent that a poor person on welfare in this country is living at a high standard of living compared to other countries like China and North Korea, for example, where kids live in the street and starve to death because the government allows this to happen. We have social protections to ensure that this does not happen in this country.

If a person decides to drop out of high school, commit crimes, or ruin their lives with drugs or alcohol, they will quite likely end up in poverty. This is the choice they made, and our government does not control these types of personal life choices. Therefore poverty will remain as long as people continue to make these types of choices in their lives.

ajackson

Mr. Gunther is right on point

serialwife

Okay so lets just hypothetically take a look a Wilson's "Broken Window's Theory". The grand theory was that crime was higher in impoverished areas because they were poor and simply didn't care. So these areas were allowed to run down and criminals flocked to these areas. Hence the whole broken windows crack house image. So the city of New York (thanks Guliani) decided to clean up the Ghettos to stop crime to help them get reasonable housing and get rid of the crack houses with broken windows. As they cleaned these area thus increasinf self worth and helping create an economy the crime simply spread into the newly created area and into other neighborhoods.
I am from Eastern Kentucky poverty doesn't cause crime... it cause a cycle of welfare dependants.l

mike145k

my dear friends do not forget that crime has many faces,it comes from everywhere it comes from a cigarrette smoker ,pot smoker.junk food eater.even a girl cannot dress they way she wants no more low cut pants that shows the belly button.i tell you my friends the list goes on and under all of this lies the real crime,you see the gove,with all its rules has raised the crime rate.

fredg

Hi,
I wholeheartedly agree with your statement about spending billions of dollars in foreign aid.
Charity begins at home................
This has been forgotten by Senators and Representatives.
Until the American public demands a different approach to help those in our own United States FIRST, then it will not change. The American public can change course of events, but only if there are enough voters to do it.
For example; Senior Citizens are beginning to have an impact on voting, after many, many years; cause there are now more of us who have the same problems with the government.
Some day, it might change, but only if enough voters fight.
Congress only listens to the votes they receive, or are predicted to receive.
Best wishes,
fredg