Poverty May Not Be The Cause Of Crime

The article is A Crime Theory Demolished: If poverty is the root cause of lawlessness, why did crime rates fall when joblessness increased? (WSJ, 1-5-2010, P. A17). Here are the key exerpts:

"The 1960s themselves offered a challenge to the poverty-causes-crime thesis. Homicides rose 43%, despite an expanding economy and a surge in government jobs for inner-city residents. The Great Depression also contradicted the idea that need breeds predation, since crime rates dropped during that prolonged crisis."

"According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, homicide dropped 10% nationwide in the first six months of 2009; violent crime dropped 4.4% and property crime dropped 6.1%. Car thefts are down nearly 19%. The crime plunge is sharpest in many areas that have been hit the hardest by the housing collapse. Unemployment in California is 12.3%, but homicides in Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Times reported recently, dropped 25% over the course of 2009. Car thefts there are down nearly 20%."

"...an increase in the number of people incarcerated had a large effect on crime in the last decade and continues to affect crime rates today..."

"The spread of data-driven policing has also contributed to the 2000s' crime drop."

"As New York Police Commissioner in the mid-1990s, Mr. [William] Bratton pioneered the intensive use of crime data to determine policing strategies and to hold precinct commanders accountable—a process known as Compstat. Commissioner Kelly has continued Mr. Bratton's revolutionary policies, leading to New York's stunning 16-year 77% crime drop."

"In 1990s New York, crime did not drop because the economy improved; rather, the city's economy revived because crime was cut in half."