Crime and Poverty

by | Mar 2, 2023

“The theory that crime is caused by poverty is not supported by the known facts. The very poor, in fact, tend to be just as law-abiding as the rich, and perhaps more so. To argue otherwise is to libel multitudes of people who keep to decency under severe difficulties, and in the face of constant temptation.”

—H. L. Mencken, Minority Report: H. L. Mencken’s Notebooks, 1956

About Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of The Libertarian Institute and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. He is the former senior editor at the Cato Institute and Institute for Humane Studies; former editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education; and former vice president at the Future of Freedom Foundation. His latest books are Coming to Palestine and What Social Animals Owe to Each Other.

Our Books

latest book lineup.

Related Articles

Related

The Eternal Panopticon: The State as Predator

Lizard Farmer did an excellent synopsis of how the state stalks its prey. The observations are older but still germane. If London had this technology in 1770, America would not have been born and Paul Revere, the Committees of Correspondence and his colleagues would...

read more