The relationship between poverty and crime - Term Paper Example

? Poverty and Crime The relationship between poverty and crime Introduction The link between poverty and crime has remained a controversial topic for decades. For a long period of time, criminologists and social researchers have determined poverty using income. The assumption, when using income as measure poverty is that when a family’s income falls below the designated poverty level in a given area that particular family must be poor. Based on this assumption there is the question of whether income alone is a valid or reliable measure of poverty. There exists some evidence that support that poverty is a complicated measure that can not only be measured from income level. This due to the fact that poverty holds some behavioral signs that lack any relationship to how much income a family gets (Castillo-Ch’avez et al, 2008). Taking the United States as an example, people living under poverty conditions tend to settle in certain neighborhoods instead of being distributed across all regions. One thing that comes out is that signs of poverty come out in various behavioral ways. Therefore, determining poverty is not just about the amount of income a person earns, but also the behavioral factors present in a person. There is sufficient support from researchers that poverty should not only be considered as the lowness of income because income only shows people’s capabilities and lack of material. One common belief among crime researchers and sociologists is that there is a strong connection between poverty and crime. This assumption may not be true since some studies indicate there may be weak or no link at all between poverty and crime (Castillo-Ch’avez et al, 2008). Determining poverty It would be of importance to have a general overview on how poverty is determined as one way of understanding the link between poverty and crime. In the United States, measures of poverty are determined by comparing needs and resources. The needs are expressed in terms of the dollar amount referred to as poverty thresholds. The thresholds provide the benchmarks against which an individual’s resources are compared to determine if the individual is under the poverty. However, this approach faces some opposition for failing to take into consideration factors that are thought to be critical to material well-being of an individual. On the other hand, criminologists determine poverty using social class income and a man’s occupation (Brady, 2003). Social class, unemployment, and crime The subject of social class and crime is one of the widely studied areas by criminologists. The most common conclusion made by researchers is that crime rates are high in the lower class. In the 1940s and 50s, research on this area did not give much on the link between a person’s social class and level of crime in the respective social classes. Continued research on this subject indicates that the link between social class and crime may be absent. In addition, the assumption that crime rates are high in lower class has turned out not to be the case as significant levels of crime have been observed across all social classes (Dunaway et al, 2000). The prevalence of crime in developing nations worsens the volatility of the matter. Crime is considered to be the violation of criminal law, which comes with harsh penalties provided by government authorities. Acts of crime offend the morality of a society as well as violating the divine law. Governments across the world put endless efforts in attempting to fight and eradicate crime. It is worth noting that, in places where rates of unemployment are high, crime rates are also likely to be high. This is because people are easily lured into criminal activities due to poverty, frustration, and hopelessness. To elaborate on this, unemployed persons lack access to legal income resources hence the pressure to gain income from unlawful activities. In addition to this, unemployment, and low income drive people, to earn high incentives in order to commit a crime (Brady, 2003). The labor market in a country has a lot to contribute to the reduction of the poverty level, which translates to reduced crime rates. Increased unemployment leads to a decline in earning opportunities and crime is likely to go up because the cost of committing a crime is low for the unemployed (Brady, 2003). Based on the assumption that people living under poverty are lazy and refuse to work hard, one can argue that such people will opt to engage in crime activities since it is the easy way. Apart from the factors explained in the utilitarian rational calculus, there may be a number of other factors that explain the relationship between poverty and crime. Considering direct methods of determining the relationship between poverty and crime, one can argue that, if there is a relationship between poverty and crime, societies with an increased rate of poverty should experience high crime rates. In relation to this, such societies should experience increased crime rates in times of economic depression and lower crime rates when economic conditions improve. The other point is that crime rates are more likely to be high in poor communities than in the middle or upper class communities (Raphael & Winter-Ember, 2001). The issue of unemployment has been applied by criminologists and sociologists in measuring the relationship between poverty and crime. This is because unemployment is either high or low depending on periods of economic prosperity or depression. However, the subject of unemployment and crime has produced varying opinions. Criminologists conclude that there is lack of relationship between unemployment and crime, and if there is any, it is insignificant. Understanding poverty has also been done through the analysis of other factors such as the number of persons living in specific communities. Results obtained in different analysis have produced inconsistent and contradictory reports. An example is the lack of any correlation between poverty and high crime rates in communities living under the poverty level. This was evident in a study conducted in the US that aimed to find out whether cities with populations living below the poverty level had high incidences of crime (Raphael & Winter-Ember, 2001). A different analysis found a positive relationship between poverty and crime after adopting a different approach. The analysis obtained that as the number of households getting less than 50% of the median family income decreased or increased, the level of property crime responded equally. Another analysis obtained a positive relationship between poverty and crime after establishing that the level homicide cases are high in times of harsh economical times. This was attributed to the inability to cope with such harsh moments. Looking into social inequality and crime, studies support that there are higher rates of crime in populations marked with high degrees of economic inequality. In the US, cities such as New York and Los Angeles, which offer bigger gaps between the rich and the poor are likely to produce high rates of crime (Iceland, 2003). Confusion as to whether there is a relationship between crime and poverty As already observed in earlier sections of this paper, studies on poverty and crime revolve around two theoretical assumptions. The first assumption is that there exists a negative relationship between poverty and crime. The second assumption is that the relationship between poverty and crime is a positive one. One issue that is worth mentioning at this point is that crime tends to increase as the economic conditions improve. This can be supported by the fact that crime is an extension of ordinary economic activity. In an example, it is highly likely for persons with sufficient disposable income to use part of that money on illegal affairs such as prostitution, drugs, gambling including other illegal activities. As underground groups develop to meet the demands of people with high disposable income, there is the emergence of more crimes such as wars among drug cartels (Raphael & Winter-Ember, 2001). It is expected that crime rates should decline in times of economic depression, but this is not always the case. Inconsistency and variations in current literature is also evident from the relationship between unemployment and crime. Three sets of relationship are present across the different studies conducted in relation to this subject. A section of studies supports that there is a positive relationship between unemployment and crime. On the other hand, there is a section of studies that support that the relationship is a negative one while others argue that there exists no relationship between the two. One conclusion has been that understanding unemployment and crime have produced mixed evidence. A study analyzing United State level data found out that there was a significant reduction in US property crime in the 1990s, which was attributed to the reduction of the unemployment rate (Iceland, 2003). In similar analysis using country level data, it was discovered that the rate of unemployment for non-college educated males had a positive relationship with property crime. An analysis on the relationship between poverty and crime in Madagascar after 2002 general elections gave different views regarding the subject. Results obtained from the analysis found out that an increase in one type of crime is directly proportional to an increase in poverty. However, study found out that crimes such as homicide and burglaries had no direct connection with increased poverty. A number of research reports support that studies on criminal activities in advanced countries are well developed, but in other regions it still in its infancy (Dunaway et al, 2000). One factor attributed to the variation of crime rates across countries is poverty and to a lesser extent demographic factors. There is an increasing agreement among sociologists and criminologists that acts of crime take a heavy charge on the welfare of the poor. It is interesting to note that families living under poverty have a strong desire to improve security than the rich people. A survey using data from South Africa found out that lack of equality within a population has a strong correlation with violent crime as well as property crime. An interesting observation was once made in India after an analysis on cross-sectional data revealed that murder rates had no correlation with poverty (Dunaway et al, 2000). Revisiting Madagascar, it was observed that rates of crime are high in isolated, less populated areas, and not in urban regions as it is the situation in rich countries. This shows that the geographical structure of crime in third world countries is different from that in first world countries. In most cases, the expectation is always that crime activities will respond differently to variations in poverty. Therefore, some types of crime are a sign of desperate response to poverty such as when a person steals food to eat. These types of crime are likely to be high when levels of poverty are high (Castillo-Ch’avez et al, 2008). There are other forms of crimes that are largely influenced by the demand for illegal goods and services. This includes crimes in prostitution and drugs. In these forms of crime, a rise in levels of poverty would cause an increase in the supply criminals, but there would be a reduction in the demand for the illegal goods and services. Therefore, the total effect on crime can either be an increase or a decrease, which is influenced by the relative strength of the two effects. There are other forms of crime activities that occur within properly organized networks. These forms of crime require availability of sufficient money to run the crime activities. For this reason, people living under poverty can not engage in such crimes, which make it difficult for organized crimes to respond to poverty shocks(Castillo-Ch’avez et al, 2008). Cost of crime activities From the discussion so far, it remains difficult to ascertain the exact relationship between poverty and crime due to the varying findings from the numerous studies conducted on this subject to date. However, much literature was in support of the existence of a direct correlation between poverty and crime. The Becker’s economic theory of crime postulates that people opt to engage in crime when the cost of doing a crime are less than the gained benefits. Therefore, persons living under poverty are more prone to committing a crime than the other population. An analysis on property crime indicates that this form of crime is a major issue of concern in metropolises (Raphael & Winter-Ember, 2001). In 2005, the Bronx region of New York City alone had 247 complaints on property crime reported in a week. In the same year, there were over 36,000 complaints on property crime reported in New York. The poverty level in Bronx is estimated to be about 37% and a population of over 1.3 million people. It is estimated that every crime activity costs the society an estimate of $5,700 per Annum as a result of loss of productivity. In the United States, over $24 billion in goods is lost per year due to property crime. In addition to this, persons affected by acts of crime suffer an estimated loss of about $472 billion per year, which includes losses from physical and mental suffering (Anderson, 2000). These statistics are a clear indication that crime activities are an important issue that must be dealt with accordingly. The traditional way of dealing with criminals has been the use of incapacitation and rehabilitation programs. However, it is important to look carefully into the overall effect of these programs in fighting crime. It is estimated that about $ 25,000 is spent on detaining a criminal in a federal prison per year. In addition, it is estimated that about $100, 000 is spent in the construction of new prison cells. The situation gets worse as the population of prisoners continues to increase. From an economist’s point of view, it is clear that the cost of detaining criminals is much higher than the cost of crimes. The main goal is to reduce the level of crimes in the society, but of most concern is to do it through a cost effective manner (Anderson, 2000). The way forward As the discussion comes to an end, one question that requires some attention is whether poverty cause crime since it is evident that there is a link between poverty and crime. An eight year study conducted in the United States with an aim of understanding mental health problems in children living in Eastern North Carolina helps in answering the question. During the study, families of children involved in the study received financial benefits after they were involved in running of a casino that opened four years into the study. The families got payments as part of profits generated from the casino. The financial gains helped a third of the families to shift from below the poverty line during the first four year period to above the poverty line. It was then observed that children from those families had a 40% decline in opposition defiant disorder and conduct disorder, which are behavioral disorders that are closely associated with juvenile crime. This interesting observation further indicated that, after the eight years of study, the children had reduced rates of behavioral disorders associated with crime just like their counterparts from rich families (Costello et al, 2003). This study was a clear indication that poverty cause crime, which supports that efforts in reducing poverty are essential in lowering the rate of crime. In the United States, a high number of children are likely to be living in poverty than any other group. Research based evidence indicate that earlier years of a child living under poverty creates the biggest risk of engaging in crime later in life. Therefore, reducing poverty is central in reducing rates of crime in societies (Costello et al, 2003). References Anderson, D. A. (2000). The Aggregate Burden of Crime. Journal of Law and Economics 42(2), pp.611-642. Brady, D. (2003). Rethinking the sociological measurement of poverty. Social Forces 81(3), pp.715-751. Castillo-Ch’avez, C. Feng, Z., & Zhao, H. (2008). The Dynamics of Poverty and Crime. CA: University of California, Press. Costello, E.J., Compton, S.N., Keeler, G., & Angold, A. (2003). Relationship between poverty and psychopathology. Journal of the American Medical Association 290 (2), pp.2023-2029. Dunaway, R., Cullen, F., Burton, V., & Evans, T. (2000). The myth of social class and crime revisited: An examination of class and adult criminality. Criminology 38 (2), pp.589-632. Iceland, J. (2003). Poverty in America, Berkeley, CA, University of California, Press. Raphael, S. & Winter-Ember, R. (2001). Identifying the Effect of Unemployment on Crime. Journal of Law and Economics 44(1), pp.259-283. Read More