re: Dennis Prager on why poverty does NOT cause crime

quote:

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Poverty does not cause crime, lack of opportunity causes crime.

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i don't disagree with the semantics

lack of opportunity causes both poverty and crime. i don't think people will argue that. but the issue of "lack of opportunity" means we have to look at why there is such a variable. it's a shift in analysis.

then we get back to why groups have a lack of opportunity. it's impossible to do a meta analysis with one answer, b/c different groups will have different blocks. that's fair

but we can look at factors that increase the chance of lack of opportunity. while this may not have an effect, it's setting them up for potential failure.

i will explain

if a person does not value education and does not become educated, they limit their opportunities and create a much more likely scenario that they will find themselves in an area without opportunity.

can they avoid poverty and crime? certainly. for example, coal mining was a great opportunity for people without education. manufacturing was another avenue. in south LA, the oilfield is ripe for these persons to become upper middle class.

however, these primary-secondary economic opportunities are not stable (look at what happens when mines dry up, factories close, or the price of oil drops). if the bottom falls out, the same person who limited his/her own opportunities finds itself in a bad scenario.

this stability/lower-level opportunity is the part that makes a meta, single conclusion impossible. however, there are cultural/behavioral traits that minimize the chance of lack of opportunity. education being the first. lack of criminal record being the second. work history being the third. rejection of "mainstream" cultural norms is in there, too.