Does Poverty Cause Crime?

Did you know that poverty forces people to commit crimes? That’s one of the cherished doctrines of collectivists (those who want big government).  They don’t quite put it that way, but that’s what they want you to believe.

Camden, NJ in various years has been named the nation’s most dangerous city. According to an Associated Press story, Camden City Councilman Ali Sloan-El said that “Camden’s poverty is an important contributing factor to its high crime rate.”

If the crime rate follows the poverty rate, then the crime rate in places far more impoverished than Camden must be through the roof. To test this theory, I compared Camden’s crime rate with some of the poorest countries in the world. I couldn’t find city crime stats for these countries, and the city crime rates are likely higher, but not by that much, since they follow the national crime rates. The crime rate cited is per 1,000 people:

Camden, NJ: Poverty rate 33.2 percent; crime rate 40.

Laos: Poverty rate 40 percent, crime rate — no stats I could find, but the U.S. State Dept. says it is “very low,” including the capital, Vientiane.

Nicaragua: Poverty rate 50 percent; crime rate 17.5
(even though half the population is poor, the UN says Nicaragua is the second safest country in Latin America).

Sierra Leone: Poverty rate 96 per cent; crime rate 9. (Yes, 96 and 9.)
The poverty rate is about the highest in the world, the crime rate is about the lowest, except for:

Rwanda: Poverty rate the highest in the world; street crime is virtually non-existent.

Why do collectivists keep repeating what they know is false? Because if they can convince people it’s true, then it justifies more tax dollar spending on “wars” against poverty, which creates more people dependent upon government, which means they vote in their own self-interest, that is, for the people and party in power that has created and continues to expand these programs. It also means those dependent upon government (including millions of bureaucrats) are essentially controlled by the government; no worries about rebellion no matter what those in power do.

It’s all about power and control.

Poverty doesn’t cause crime, criminals do. And criminals come from parents who do not teach their children to follow God’s laws; by government programs that reward broken homes and laziness and drive out investment; by government schools that are day care centers from hell; by “entertainment” that feeds children a constant diet of violence, teaching them that murder is meaningless, fun and often a virtue; by prisons that are trade schools for crime, and by churches that abandon the Gospel for leftist social fads. History teaches that the morals of a society reflect what is preached in the pulpit. If the Bible is preached, the society is strong. If theological liberalism dominates, the church becomes irrelevant (as in the U.S. today) and society self-destructs.

Case in point: Rwanda is 93.5% Christian.

— W. J. Mencarow

1 thought on “Does Poverty Cause Crime?”

  1. There is a book I read called “The Poverty of the Poverty Rate”. I recommend reading it. Its statement is there is a political power that keeps it hang it in front of our eyes and there are distortions about it. However, the poverty rate in 1966 was 14.0% today its 14.1% according to gov’t statistics. What we need is a undisputed book about poverty, is it the cause of crime or are there other factors involve ? I believe so, because of dope that lead men to commit acts of robbery and violence, it leads women into prostitution. I know this because I see it in the streets where I work. I think we are not treating the dope dealings seriously, like in Taiwan.
    Am I wrong ?
    Tom Wiseman

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