Part of the left's mantra for the past few decades is that the root cause of crime is poverty.
"Poor folks have few options," the argument goes, "so they feel they must turn to a life of crime in order to survive."
There's a problem with that thesis. According to the same liberal songbook, we're in the worst economy in history; the people are suffering terribly; there are no jobs, no hope, and frustration is mounting.
Why then are the crime rates falling?
Violent and property crimes dipped in 2002 to their lowest levels since records started being compiled 30 years ago, and have dropped more than 50 percent in the last decade, the Justice Department (news - web sites) reported Sunday.
Either times are not as bad as some would have us believe, or the correllation between poverty and criminal behavior needs to be re-examined.
Posted by Rich at August 24, 2003 5:45 PM | TrackBackCrime falling. Hmm. (sarcasm)If it's not due to a bad economy, gun laws must be working {sarcasm)
Posted by: SayUncle on August 24, 2003 10:30 PMIt would be foolish to think that the factors that motivate someone to undertake criminal activity are so simple as to be tied to one single statistically evident trend.
I would say that I don't really think this is part of the left's "mantra".
I would say, as an armchair sociologist, it's certainly not part of mine.
Posted by: Chris Wage on August 25, 2003 9:29 AMIt's interesting how often individual liberals tend to disassociate themselves from core liberal positions when they are discredited.
Now I'm not doubting your veracity, Chris. When you say you've never accepted the theory that poverty is at the root of criminal behavior, I take you at your word. It's just surprising that I never hear from liberals who have changed their mind when confronted with new information.
I'm a bit confused by your assessment of this as a single trend. The article made clear that, with the sole exception of murder, violent crimes(assaults, rapes, etc) have dropped, and that property crimes have fallen as well. To me, that represents multiple trends reinforcing a broader perspective.
Posted by: rich on August 25, 2003 11:02 AM