Poverty and Crime

Introduction

The number of people living in poverty in 2012 (46.5 million) was the largest
number seen in the 54 years for which poverty estimates have been published. From
2008 to 2012, population living below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) had more than
doubled the rate of violent victimization as persons in high-income households.
Statistics show how violence rates are mostly explained by low-income and poor
living conditions.
We will focus on the relationship between poverty and crime in the U.S. The
hypothesis guiding this work is that there is positive correlation between poverty and
crime rate, in which poverty clearly predisposes de existence of violence and crime.
Poverty excludes people from society and encourages violence and criminal activities
for people that lack of opportunities and, therefore, the privilege of choice.
The variable of race is also determinant, as inequality between races redounds
in unequal opportunities, and links race to the differential access to welfare. This
explains why, according to 2013 US Census Data, the highest poverty rate by race is
found among Blacks (27.2%), with Hispanics (of any race) having the second highest
poverty rate (23.5%).

Research and Statistics

An article written by Eugenio Zaffaroni, ex member of the Supreme Court of

Justice in arge

A research done by the US Department of Justice 1, describes the relationship

between nonfatal violent victimization and household poverty level as measured by
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The study shows how violence
against persons in poor (51%) and low-income (50%) households was more likely to
be reported to police than violence against persons in mid- (43%) and high- income
(45%) households. It also shows how persons in poor households had more than triple
the rate of serious violence compared to persons in high-income households.

Moreover, the response to violence in poor populations tends to be

criminalization, imprisonment and even more exclusion; measures that tend to
redound in a vicious cycle of violenting the already violent person. Here the work of
Prof. Jos Rodriguez Molina from the University of Granada is very interesting, as he
studies from a historical approach the condition of poverty, being poor, socially
condemned as a crime for itself. This is relevant as we could argue that this
stigmatization and over criminalization of the poor is still operating in the public
opinion.
1 http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/hpnvv0812.pdf
2

As regards of the social response to crime, a paper by Prof. Bobo from

Harvard insists that US society does now face a terrible nexus of urban poverty,
crime, and racial bias in the functioning of our criminal justice system 2. The author
explains how a trend of mass incarceration has fallen heavily on low-income Black
communities. In this sense, he considers that the punitive and retributive model that
has driven policy-making must be reconsidered. A book published by the Aspen
Institute follows this direction by explaining the discriminating counterproductive
effects of a criminal justice system system where more than 2.3 million people in
America are in jail or prison. Sixty percent are African American and Latino.

Some studies understand that, despite there is a clear link between poverty and
crime, poverty is not the only factor operating in the expansion of crime. An article of
Gabriel Kessler goes in this direction, as he asks himself why crime keeps expanding
even in better times, for example, in Argentina in terms of social conditions. He says
that, even poverty can be understood as the independent variable, being crime the
dependent one, crime has to be understood as a multicausal phenomena, where
multiple social, economic and cultural factors are operating in its development and
expansion. He also says that poverty and inequality have long-term consequences, so
that sometimes when there can be witnessed a period of less economic inequality but

2 http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4724024/Crime
%20Urban%20Poverty%20and%20Social%20Science_DBR.pdf?
sequence=1
3

crime expansion, it could be explained by the permanence of the effects of strong

inequalities in the past.

Conclusions

There is an important discussion around crime and putting the focus on

individual or social responsibility. On one hand, it is argued that crime is an individual
choice, and therefore the individual has to take responsibility for his acts. There is no
social constraint taken into account. The individuals personal and psychological
characteristics explain his tendency to involve in violent activities. On the other hand,
it is argued that a person isnt born a criminal, he or she are made into a criminal, and
that is explained mostly by the social structure in which he or she develops into an
individual. If an individual is raised in a violent surrounding, it is most probable that
he will introject violent habits. This difference between both lectures is crucial as it
then redounds in different approaches in policy-making towards crime.

We understand that statistics, research and studies on the matter allow us to

assume that there is a strong correlation between poverty, race and crime in the U.S.
We also understand that poverty and racism lowers opportunities and restricts the
possibility of choice and that public policy should treat crime and violence as a social

problem, and work on inequality and racism to expand peoples possibilities and
opportunities.