Crime, Poverty, and Other Liberal Fallacies

Crime Isn't Driven By Poverty

A Siena College poll released on Monday asked New Yorkers about the single biggest cause of crime in New York. This is how they answered:

• Poverty: 22 percent

• Substance Abuse: 18 percent

• Mental Illness: 14 percent

• Breakdown of the Family: 13 percent

• The Migrant Crisis: 8 percent

• Inequality: 8 percent

• Lack of Enforcement: 4 percent

Poverty and Inequality made up the largest answer for Democrats, a combined 39 percent, with 32 percent of Independents saying the same thing. A majority of liberals (52 percent) believe that poverty and inequality are to blame for crime. Republicans blamed it mostly on substance abuse (20 percent) and a breakdown of the family (18 percent).

It’s not the first time that I’ve heard that poverty creates crime; after all, the idea that poor people steal because they want things they can’t afford would seem to make sense. Yet the facts don’t bear that out.