Assignment: Poverty and Crime
In this assignment, you will examine the relationship between poverty and crime.
As you read in the module readings, poverty does not cause crime. Crime does not cause poverty. Drug abuse does not cause crime, nor does crime cause drug abuse. All of these are common misnomers in society based on the media's presentation of the common criminal, crime rates, and other related factors.
However, in relationship studies, quantitative research has linked a lower socioeconomic status with street crime. That is, researchers have determined that there is a relationship between the two variables-street crime and low socioeconomic status. Find an article that either supports or refutes the relationship between crime and poverty and explain from the qualitative perspective why the two variables might be related.
- Locate a news article that discusses a low-income, high-crime area.
- Briefly describe the situation discussed in your article and then explain how a relationship between income and the crime rate is not the same as income level causing crime.