Poverty is the mother of crime

Poverty is the lack of income source to buy food. In some cases it is not only the state of having income that is below the line of poverty but it is also the inability to sustain a specified level of well being. So it is in fact that most of the crimes that occur are due to poverty. No matter how much moral the person is, if the poverty threatens his or her life then he/she is likely to indulge into such criminal acts and could try to attack the prevailing social structure. Sometimes honest people who hate corruption from depth of their beings fail to keep their mental balance and due to the pressure of poverty and resort to crimes just to maintain their existence. In such circumstances the judge only looks at the crime committed instead of finding out the cause that lead the committer to such an act. What happens is the person is sent to jail and is labelled as a criminal and after his release he is further humiliated by the society and therefore is forced to become a habitual thief. The majority of men that are locked up came from a background of poverty. They did not have their fathers. Many of their mothers had them at a young age. They did not have any positive, real male role models. They basically had to raise themselves. The fathers did not have the money to get abortions and then once the baby arrived, they did not have the money to raise the child. Then once the baby arrived, they were living in squalor and poverty and they turned on the TV and saw how the rich and famous were living and they wanted to live like what they saw. So if they saw someone who had something that they wanted, they would take it from them by any means necessary.

People who live in poverty often want to escape from their lifestyle. For many, this escape is drugs. Once they start doing drugs, they keep trying to achieve the feeling of getting high for the first time. Once they use up their entire source of income and possessions (which are scarce to begin with), they will try to get money for drugs by stealing, robbing, and killing.

Society also shows that people without money and material wealth are basically nothing. They get no respect and they have no power to even try to change their situations. They are basically made to feel as though they are worthless and have nothing to live for. Once people feel that they are backed into a corner like that, they will usually do anything to get out. And usually that results in violence or crime.

I myself somehow disagree with the statement by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius “poverty is the mother of crime”. Poverty cannot lead to crime; one does not ask to be born into a world of poverty. It is Almighty Allah who has the power to write or change destiny. Right and wrong is given. It is taught. Not all underprivileged steal, kill, sexually assault or commit crime. Some perfect examples are * Howard Schultz: He was born into poverty in Brooklyn, New York. He didn’t commit any crime instead he became one of the most successful businessmen of world. He is a billionaire and is best known as a Chairman and CEO of Starbucks * Dhirubhai Ambani: He was born in District Junagadh in India. He is also from a poor background, but later he founded Reliance Industries Limited and made it one the largest private sector companies in India. * Oprah Winfrey: She was born into poverty in rural Mississippi. She did not assault or commit a crime; instead she became one of the most accomplished women in the world. Helping others who once were like her. * JK Rowling: An author of the best seller, Harry Potter was once on welfare payments. She too did not commit any criminal acts despite being poor. Sometimes being empty handed make oneself more motivated to run, to escape from poverty.
As hard and as fast as one can run, sometimes there is no way of escape. In all countries there is going to be a lot of crime and citizens breaking a vast majority of laws. However, this may only happen during times of desperation. A time where one can no longer possess enough income to pay for the necessities in life. Therefore, it is not wrong to take from others in order to survive, to protect family. And so poverty is capable of crime. It is only human nature to do so. Nevertheless not all poverty leads to crime.