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BATMAN_UTILITY_BELT t1_jcao064 wrote

What’s the proof of this? No one has ever eliminated poverty, so how can we know if that would eliminate the vast majority of crime?

It also depends on how you define poverty. Is it a specific income level? Is it the ability to afford the necessities but not the luxuries? The terminology needs to be explicitly defined.

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ManhattanRailfan t1_jcaou2g wrote

Like I said, it's about economic insecurity. If people don't feel like they're at risk of going hungry or homeless they're far less likely to commit a crime. Part of it can be linked to desperation, but equally significant is the psychological effect of being or possibly becoming destitute. Stress greatly affects mental health, after all, and poor mental health also leads to crime.

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WickhamAkimbo t1_jcazrvl wrote

The group in NYC with the highest poverty rate has the lowest crime rate.

Poverty absolutely exacerbates crime, but to claim that it is the overwhelming cause of crime in NYC is not supported by the evidence at all. Actual statistics would suggest a very different story.

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ManhattanRailfan t1_jcb4i17 wrote

And like I said in my reply to your other comment, this data doesn't say what you claim it does, and isn't even valid in the first place.

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