Research Proposal Part I

Research Proposal Part I

CJA/334

August 24, 2015

Research Proposal Part I

The issue under examination is that poverty, characterized by factors such as low-income, a poor education, lack of opportunity, and even dysfunctional homes is a phenomenon that causes crime. This is a significant issue because poverty and crime are elements that affect our entire country. Poverty and crime may be concentrated in specific areas but when gentrification comes to crime-ridden impoverished neighborhoods the criminal element moves to other tranquil areas and engage in criminality therein (Freeman, Braconi, 2004). The issue of poverty and crime is also compelling because poverty (the Independent Variable), has a close relationship to crime (the Dependent Variable). This relationship is negatively meaningful because government officials who want to eliminate poverty must also address and confront crime. Simply put, throwing money at the problem would not be enough. Furthermore, a critical element of this issue is that poverty, not race or ethnicity, is more closely related to crime. It may also not be sufficiently clear while millions of Americans who have lived in poverty have not engaged in crime while others do. This issue is also significant because other North American countries such as Canada are becoming criminally affected by the ravaging patterns of crime and poverty (Glotzer, 2006). It is alarming that a study of 236 cities revealed a relationship between violent crime and cluster poverty (Stretesky, Schuck, and Hogan 2004). Last but not least, mental illness has found an ally in poverty to unite and contribute to crime (Markowitz, 2006). Simply put, a mentally unsound individual who is denied or deprived of professional mental health care has a higher propensity to engage in crime. All of the aforementioned factors and conditions are the reason why this issue is worthy of examination.

General Area of Study

The general area of study is that poverty, whether concentrated, isolated, or scattered, is the causation of crime. The writer of this paragraph lived in a crime-free town in North Carolina where interestingly a single block of government housing units marked by poverty was the only place that was crime-ridden. Although some scholars may not have been able to establish an intimate link between poverty and crime, numerous studies indicate that where there is poverty there is also crime. It is also arguable that poverty and crime may even share a symbiotic relationship. For those who want to disproportionately focus on race when it comes to poverty and crime, scholarly research has demonstrated that extremely disadvantaged neighborhoods, whether inhabited by