Income Inequality as a Determinant of Crime
One of my first efforts as a community organizer was working with Valley Green Public Housing and Sky Tower Section 8 housing, which were side by side in Ward 8, D.C. These two developments are now Valley Green, a mixed-income development. On one of my first visits to the ladies who led the tenant associations, I arrived to find everyone crowded on the street, lamenting a murder that had just taken place.
Violence has been a constant concern in all the community work I’ve done, and combating violence has been top of mind for all the community leaders I’ve worked with. Anyone who has done community work has attended a few “Stop The Violence” marches, rallies, and street fairs. Typically, the government’s approach to curtailing violence is the police. As recent as this year, the District of Columbia has adopted a crime bill that I predict will do nothing to curtail violence and crime. What this response represents is a performative effort to garner votes for politicians.
Combating crime and violence requires at least a twenty-year struggle and needs the community, not politicians, to lead. The solution is a more egalitarian society, which is the antithesis of what capitalism is about.
The correlation between income inequality and crime is well-documented. 2002 World Bank economists established a pivotal correlation between crime rates and inequality within and between countries. This finding implies that higher levels of inequality can induce higher crime rates. American economist Gary Becker also theorized that increased income inequality significantly affects crime rates, suggesting that economic disparities create environments conducive to criminal behavior.
The 2010 International Statistics on Crime and Justice report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) sheds light on global crime patterns. While property crimes have generally decreased, violent crimes have seen an alarming increase. The Americas and Africa concentrate the highest levels of homicide, while Europe reports comparatively lower rates.
A geospatial analysis of violent and non-violent crime within the Washington D.C. metropolitan area conducted by John Ahluwalia in 2020 explores the relationship between crime rates and income levels. The study found a negative (inverse) relationship between violent crime and income levels, highlighting the complexity of this relationship in metropolitan areas.
Numerous research papers have investigated the relationship between income inequality and crime rates. For example, a study by Shahidur R. Khandker, Gayatri B. Koolwal, and Hussain A. Samad examined the relationship between income and crime using data from multiple countries and over time. Another paper by Lance Hannon and Robert DeFina reviewed existing research on the relationship between income inequality and crime and explained the observed patterns.
The capitalist ethos of the U.S. permeated the American economy soon after the Revolutionary War. By 1850, America’s income inequality was stark due to the cotton industry. Reliant on slave labor, cotton enriched the South and integrated it into global markets, but it also entrenched racial hierarchies and economic disparities that persist today.
In the 1920s, the top earners had a significant wealth concentration. By 1928, the top one percent of families received 23.9 percent of all pretax income. Approximately 60 percent of families earned less than $2,000 a year, considered the minimum livable income for a family of five. The share of income received by the wealthiest one percent of Americans rose from 12 percent to 19 percent between 1919 and 1929, while the share for the wealthiest five percent jumped from 24 percent to 34 percent. Conversely, the disposable income for the poorest 93 percent of the non-farm population decreased during this period.
The economic downturn in the 1930s reduced income inequality as incomes fell across the board. From the 1940s to the 1970s, income inequality decreased. This period, often called the “Great Compression,” saw rising incomes across all classes, driven by unionization and progressive tax policies. Income inequality rose again in the 1980s due to tax policy changes, deregulation, globalization, technological advancements, and declining union membership.
So, the real solution to violence is anti-capitalism, which, of course, is what the power elite is most against. Socialism is basically a curse word in politics, besides Bernie’s best efforts. Moving us away from capitalism will require a long-term struggle and a new non-capitalist political party. I’ve written about this. Young people will have to take up this mantle.
Research on Crime and Income
- “The Effect of Income on Crime: Evidence from Cross-Country, Time-Series Data” by Shahidur R. Khandker, Gayatri B. Koolwal, and Hussain A. Samad.
- “Income Inequality and Crime: A Review and Explanation of the Time-Series Evidence” by Lance Hannon and Robert DeFina.
- “The Impact of Economic Conditions on Property and Violent Crime Rates: Evidence from Greece” by Ioannis Laliotis.
- “Poverty, Income Inequality, and Violent Crime: A Meta-Analysis of Recent Aggregate Data Studies” by Mark W. Lipsey and Francis T. Cullen.
- Trends in income and wealth inequality — Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/.
- 2021 Income Inequality Increased for First Time Since 2011 — Census.gov. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/09/income-inequality-increased.html.
- Six charts that explain how inequality in the United States changed …. https://equitablegrowth.org/six-charts-that-explain-how-inequality-in-the-united-states-changed-over-the-past-20-years/.
- Income inequality in the United States — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States
- A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality. https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality.
- How has income inequality within countries evolved over the past …. https://ourworldindata.org/how-has-income-inequality-within-countries-evolved-over-the-past-century.
- U.S. income and wealth inequality Trends | Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/.
- Historical Income Tables: Income Inequality — Census.gov. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-inequality.html.
- Income inequality in the United States — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States.
