For years I have heard on television and read in newspapers that a poor person who could not find a job was, if not expected to turn to crime, at least excused for doing so. Unfortunately, the more this idea is promoted, the more likely it is to occur, especially among those who do not have a strong character base. The facts concerning this issue are interesting, and as a friend of mine was inclined to say, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but no one is entitled to the wrong facts.”
I was raised during the Depression, so I was familiar with an occasional knock at the back door by someone asking for something to eat in exchange for some work they could do around the house or garden. Interestingly enough, virtually no one asked for free food — they wanted to work for it instead. Statistics clearly validate that the crime rate coming out of the Depression was actually lower than it was when we entered the Depression. An article in The Financial Post by David Frum points out that the identical situation occurred in Canada. He said that statistics confirmed that in Canada there was “an overall five percent drop” in criminality between 1992 and 1993. This, despite the fact that 1993 should have seen an increase in crime. Instead, faced with plant closures, job losses and shrinking social services, the Canadians became less inclined to break into houses and steal from the owners.
The reality is people do what they’re taught and expected to do. If we will eliminate the concept that poverty breeds crime and more carefully teach that the right way is the best way, we will see further reductions in crime. In many cases an economic belt-tightening is a character-building experience that helps us learn to get along without many of the so-called “necessities of life,” so we emerge from the economic challenges stronger and better prepared to build a more successful future.