Poverty and Crime

United States

1995-2008

image source: http://www.fotosearch.com/unu009/u19618891

Amanda Neubelt

April 30, 2010

Friday Morning Lab

University of Vermont

Teaching Assistants:

 Dan Kirk, Katherine Williams, and Dan Carroll

The theme of this project is to look at the relationship between poverty and crime rates in the United States, between the years of 1995 to 2008.   Research within the United States has suggested that people who live in poverty face an “increased risk of adverse outcomes, such as poor health and criminal activity, both of which may lead to reduced participation in the labor market” (G.A.O.).   These individuals living in poverty, may be be more apt to participate in risky behaviors.  Such risky behaviors can include tobacco, alcohol, and drug use,  participating in criminal activity, and living a  sedentary lifestyle.   (G.A.0.)  Research has also been conducted to show the link between poverty and crime rates, and showing that higher levels of unemployment can be linked to higher levels of crime.   (G.A.O.) When people don’t have access to jobs, housing, education, or health care, they might be more apt to make rash decisions about how to better their situation.  Desperate times can lead people to resort to theft or assualt.   In addition, individuals may even commit such acts as rape or murder, acting out against their desperate situation, or in response to mental health issues that haven’t been   addressed because of a lack to health care.   For this project, I looked at poverty and crime rates throughout the United States through the years of 1995 to 2007.  Within this time period, I looked at general trends in poverty and crime, noting which crimes were more prevalent.  I also looked at data from the year 2008, to see if their was a correlation between poverty and crime by varying age groups. (Image source: http://www.apfn.org/thewinds/images/police_raid.jpg)

DATA TABLE 1

Comparing Violent Crime (Murder, Rape, Robbery, Aggravated Assault), per 1000, to the Amount of People Living Below the Poverty Level, US, 1995-2007. Data Source: Statistical Abstract of the US, US Census Bureau www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/data/table_01.html

DATA TABLE 2

Total Number of Violent Crimes Committed by Age Group, US, 2008

Data Source: www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/data/table_46.html

DATA TABLE 3

Total Number of Violent Crimes, per 1000, in Relation to Age Group Below Poverty Level, per 1000, US, 2008

Data Source: www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstables/032009/pov/new01_100_01.htm

www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/data/table_46.html

Age	Violent Crime Per 1000	People Below Poverty Level per 1000
under 18	61	74068
18-24	107	28688
25-34	143	40520
35-44	56	41322
45-54	34	44366
55-64	8	34289
65+	2	37788

GRAPH 3

CONCLUSION

    This project set out to show the relationship between poverty and crime between the years of 1995 to 2007.  It also showed the possible relationship between poverty and crime, in relation to varying age groups.  The data shows that aggravated assault and robbery are the most violent crimes that are committed. This is a trend that seems to be prevalent since 1995.  According to the 2008 data, the majority of people living below poverty are under the age of 18.  The data seems to also show that there is some correlation between poverty and violent crimes committed.  Some might assume that poverty and crime go hand in hand, and the while the data doesn’t show this relationship as entirely being true, they do seem to compliment each other.  Perhaps if I had worked with data from regions within the US both plagued with poverty and crime, this relationship could have been shown more strongly.  Working with data from across the US, and with so many different demographics throughout so many counties, it can be difficult to show the relationship between these two variables as being positively correlated.  

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Last Updated April 30th, 2010