Poverty and Criminal Behavoiur Relation Research Paper

Introduction

As much as crime can be associated with poverty there is continued debate if this statement can be generalized. The question that emanates from this statement is whether white color jobs are a result of poverty? This paper analyzes the relationship between poverty and criminal behavior. We will take criminal behavior as the dependent variable and poverty as the independent variable for this analysis.

Relation between Poverty and Crime

In a correlation study, there are three most probable results; a positive correlation, a negative correlation, and no correlation, the concern or the difference is the degree of the applicable correlation. A perfect positive correlation is represented by 1; which means that the change in one independent variable results in a change in the same direction and same magnitude on the dependent variable. A perfect correlation takes a -1 correlation and if there is no correlation between the dependent and independent variable then the result is Zero (correlation 2009).

In the hard economic times, there is a continued need to support one basic wants and needs, the poor also have the needs like the well to do in the society; in case there is no forthcoming job, there are chances that a person is going to engage in criminal activity to sustain his life;

C.B. = f (P) Where C.B. is criminal poverty

P is poverty level

The problem that the above equation will have is a critic that there are people who are poor but they don’t engage themselves in criminal activities to sustain themselves. Secondly, what is the level of correlation?

On the other hand, poverty is the physical condition of a person; but criminal behavior is a moral issue, then to what level do moral and physical conditions relate? There is indeed a relationship between the two variables, but alongside them, there are others that affect the level of criminal behavior; one of these is the environment that an individual has been brought up in. The function changes to;

CB = f (P) + f* (E); where E is the environment that an individual is brought up in.

The question that emanates from the above question is the degree that each of the variables has, which has more weight than the other? (Larsson, 2006).

Research and data collected by and on human beings are subjected to selection bias; this is because human beings are subject to being biased. The level of accuracy that the data collected holds cannot be 100%; there is a level of error that affects the reliability of the data collected. The level of precision of the data collected as well as the validity of data. On the other hand, the population of the survey may be selected to one particular area, this means that the entire data collected and the area that is collected can be that that either favors or does not favor the data collected. This creates data that is skewed in one area and this is not good enough to be generalized. It is a problem that comes from sampling; if the sampling method is not an effective one according to the demands of the certain survey area and the kind of data that is expected to be collected, then chances of a directionality issue are high (selection bias, 2001).

Conclusion

There is indeed a close relationship between poverty and criminal behavior; however, it is not the only thing that influences criminal behavior. Other factors play a part that includes the social upbringing that an individual was brought up in.

Reference List

1. Correlation. (2009). In the Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather guide.
2. Larsson, D. (2006). Exposure to Property Crime as a Consequence of Poverty. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology & Crime Prevention, 7(1), 45-60.
3. Selection bias. (2001). In Pharmaceutical Medicine Dictionary.