Sociological differences and crime

[michaelskis]

A conversation with a friend raised a good point. Why is it that some types of crime such as theft, breaking and entering, grand theft auto, littering, and similar non violent crimes (well in that no one was physically hurt) are perceived to be more acceptable in older dense urban areas with increase poverty rates. There is a distinctive relation and correlation between poverty rate and crime rate, but there is also a connection between social acceptance of these types of crimes and urban areas.

For example, many people would not think twice about walking down some higher income neighborhoods at night, yet there is a notable fear if the neighborhood is lower income. More so the percentage of property maintenance violations, petty crime, and similar infractions are also higher in lower income areas, often times because people are more accepting thinking

[kayman]

Education and better parenting.

[michaelskis]

Education and better parenting.

[kayman]

Great answer. But how does one get people to care enough to start?

[dgreco]

I think more it is the system that causes the problem. We leave in a society, capitalism, where a hierarchy is necessary for it to succeed. You need the top and the bottom for our system to work, you need a group to be marginalized. When a group is marginalized instead of working together the oppressor works to divide the oppressed so that they stay marginalized and act in "mischievious" ways. I think the only way to really stop it is to actually fix the system, but fixing the system ruins the system. If officer actually "did" their job and completely stopped crime, and if the system actually stopped people from committing crimes they would no longer have jobs, so for them to succeed they have to help others just enough to make a difference, but not enough to actually fix our problems. I also think that our society is so embedded with a capitalist hierarchy also leads to a reason why we were just considered the 96th safest country out of 121 countries surveyed.

[Captain Worley]

Great answer. But how does one get people to care enough to start?

[michaelskis]

Sad that the question should ever have to be asked. Unfortunately, we're on at least our second generation of parents who don't care. Sure, there are plenty that do, but even those are prinmarily interested in form over substance (as in, "why didn't you give Johnny an A," rather than, "what can Johnny do to improve his grades?"). Having taught for a couple of years, I can tell you, its frustrating.

It should be instinctual: protect your kids; prepare them to excel.