Crime & Economics
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While there is little doubt that economic deprivation urges some individuals towards a life of crime, poverty itself can hardly be the sole cause of crime. While poverty may have causative effects on manifesting criminal behavior in the needy, there are plenty of criminals who come from well-off backgrounds. Many liberals would have you believe that teenagers often prefer to sell crack for $100 an hour as opposed to taking a menial job that pays minimum wage. Using this same kind of logic, one would think most middle-class workers would find it more lucrative to rob banks than to work 9-5. The conservative right, on the other hand, often believes people commit crime because they are criminals regardless of a poverty-ridden or wealthy existence. Someone in between lies the true effects of poverty on crime.Many sociologists believe that criminal behavior is manifested in those who suffer from the effects of poverty, including a lack of education, adequate housing, and decent employment opportunities. The War on Poverty that began during the 1960s was designed to reduce crime because it was believed that poverty produces crime. If poverty is eliminated, the theory goes, so will be crime. However, new theorists who have examined America’s War on Poverty believe it is a failed experiment. They argue that poverty does not cause crime, but crime increases poverty. These theorists contend that high levels of illegitimacy and fatherlessness, l
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om families of the working poor, “The children of the working-poor form the fastest growing segment of child poverty in the U.S. 5.6 million children—more than one-third of all children living in poverty—belong to working-poor families, a 30 percent increase between 1989-1994” (Solomon 9A). Part of the reason for this situation is the low working wages offered to those whose skills do not qualify them for more enriching forms of employment. Typically, most minimum wage scales allow for an individual to continue to reproduce and barely that. The rate of pay that is used as a measure to define the working-poor is a ridiculously low one. The definition of the working-poor “is one in which at least one parent has worked 50 or more weeks in the last year, yet failed to earn a household income above the poverty line. The 1994 poverty standard for a family of three was $11,821” (Society’s 1A). If an individual has two children and makes $11,821 a year, this means that the typical rent, utilities, and food expenditures for one year consume a large majority of his or her income. Insurance, medical care, Clothes, toiletries, transportation, and other expenses are not even considered.
It is not difficult to see how an individual
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Approximate Word count = 1972
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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