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Belarus is perhaps the "whitest" country on the planet, yet has a rate of gun violence on a par with the United States (3.31/100,000). So, can we now move on from playing the... race card?
Despite rising unemployment and poverty in the United States, violent crime has been steadily dropping for years...Either that or poverty does not cause crime.
Shall we pic a topic and stick with it? Is the thread about poverty and crime or poverty and violent crime?
When asked about crime, the Left argues that crime is caused by the desperation of poverty; Criminals don't sell drugs or rob people because they're greedy, but because they don't have any money and can't afford to eat. They don't commit rape and murder because they're morally depraved, but because their fathers were forced to work 12 hours a day for minimum wage and would come home, get drunk and beat them when they were younger.
Thus, the Left frequently uses crime prevention as a justification for creating and expanding social welfare programs aimed at alleviating poverty, regardless of its costs or effectiveness.
However, an interesting thing has happened in the Western Hemisphere the past few years, since the onset of the recent economic crisis and the rise of the Leftwing takeover of Latin America.
Despite rising unemployment and poverty in the United States, violent crime has been steadily dropping for years, while in countries like Honduras, Brazil and (especially) Venezuela, countries with Socialist presidents, violent crime such as robbery, kidnapping and murder has exploded. Under Chavez, Venezuela became the most dangerous country in the world to live in. You're more likely to be murdered in Venezuela than you are in neighboring Colombia, a country that's fighting a civil war.
So if poverty really causes crime, then we can either conclude that Socialism in Latin America has made their people far, far poorer.
Either that or poverty does not cause crime.
In Brazil most of the crime is centered around, and comes from, the favelas (shantytowns). So yes poverty is a big factor in crime, but not the only one. Drugs is another factor and trafficking is often linked to poverty.
Before any goes and rebukes the source because it is wikipedia, take note that every statistic on that page is sourced.
My father lives in a very quiet town in Ohio. Poverty is rampant, but crime is not. They only have like, 4 cops or something for the entire city, and they just sit around with nothing to do from what my father tells me. India is a country of vast poverty, yet is homicide rate is half what America's is.
I doubt left leaning politics are associated with higher crime. Canada and Western Europe are more socialistic than America is (some countries being much more socialistic) and America's homicide rate is 4 times higher than theirs. Eastern Europe has very high crime. Perhaps due to its socialist past, but all records show that crime in Eastern Europe shot up following the fall of Socialism.
50 years ago poverty did not cause crime. it still does not but now everybody says it does. 50 years ago people admitted they had robbed a bank killed somebody and raped somebody. now they say somebody made them do it.
50 years ago poverty did not cause crime. it still does not but now everybody says it does. 50 years ago people admitted they had robbed a bank killed somebody and raped somebody. now they say somebody made them do it.
Yes. The blame game seems to be one of the loose threads in our unraveling society.
Another thing that I see a lot in recent years is that some people seem to believe that some damage they may have done to another person's property is excusable because "it was an accident." Somewhere along the way some elements of our society seem to have been given the erroneous impression that because an action had unexpected consequences, it somehow absolves them of all responsibility.
poverty coupled with despair and not seeing a way out of your situation begets crime IMO. the crime rate in an affluent area regardless of the ethnicity of its residents will always be significantly lower than an area where poverty is the norm, whether its the projects, the barrios, or the trailer parks.
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