Attitudes towards Crime and Poverty in Communities

by

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my supervisors, friends and family, without their support this research study would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I adjudge that the entire content of this dissertation is entirely my own work; the content used in this dissertation has not been submitted before in any educational institution and represents my own opinion.

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ABSTRACT

The current study aimed to identify theoretical issues surrounded by the present literature. Previous reviews in this broad-spectrum area of research have fundamentally distinguished linking studies found on cross-sectional data and those based on longitudinal data. Some researchers have argued that such characteristic are significant because the active processes at work in longitudinal data may be concealed within the cross-sectional studies. Present study also aimed to identify the relationship linking poverty and violent crime. The current idiosyncratic argument from research is that resource deficit causes individuals to be frustrated, which might result in diffuse aggression and violent behaviour. The findings from this study suggest that poverty measures do not operate in a diffused or spatial manner in predicting crime. Indeed, poverty measures are strongest when predicting the individual and aggregate-level outcomes of their communities. It is possible that the spatial processes of poverty may affect crime only at smaller aggregational levels, such as census tracts and community clusters. Indeed, recent research has shown that community measures can have different relationships at different levels of aggregation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION1

The Aims of this Study3

Hypothesis3

CHAPTER # 2: LITERATURE REVIEW4

Research on Poverty4

Criminal Justice Resources5

Racial Inequality6

CHAPTER # 3: METHODOLOGY10

Design of the Study10

Variables10

Participants10

Data Analysis11

CHAPTER # 4: RESULTS12

Descriptive Statistics12

Hypothesis Testing13

Regression Analysis15

Discussion17

CHAPTER # 5: CONCLUSION19

Poverty causing Crime19

Conclusion21

REFERENCES24

CHAPTER # 1: INTRODUCTION

Poverty has been identified as one of indications, which lead to criminal activities in the communities. According to Russell and Gockel (2008), it is stated that individuals who live in poor communities, and high risk neighbourhoods are faced with a lot of imitable obstacles compare to those individuals who live in wealthier regions. According to Rhodes (2007), poor communities are branded by high rates of criminal activities and unemployment.

Harwell and LeBeau (2010) also stated that the criminologists have in general agreed that there is a relationship between crime and poverty. It was also stated that this relationship is predominantly strong for violent crimes. Debates on the relationship of crime and poverty have raised some questions about the formulation of poverty. According to Harwell and LeBeau (2010), it was stated that classic studies of the origin of criminal behaviour have found that being raised in economic deprived household was related to anti-social behaviour and these behaviours do not curb criminal activities.

According to Clark (2005), it was suggested that the link between poverty and crime was reality in Britain during 1820 after industrialization. Campbell et al., (2008) stated that researchers from the University of Chicago findings revealed that communities who were situated in poor housing areas and broken families had high levels of crime. According to Belanger and Stone (2008), it is stated that there were no ...