International poverty

[Deleted]

And poverty and genetics having some connection... well, if your parents were poor, you're going to have a much harder time getting out of poverty yourself.

That's not genetic...

[Deleted]

I clarified in the rest of the post.

Lack of opportunities to advance is more closely tied to the hierarchies in a society, where belonging to the worker class makes it harder for you compared to someone born in middle class or upper class.

[dextersmith]

If you look at just about any prison population, you will see they are on average poorer and less educated than non-incarcerated people.

.....because the rich have the best lawyers and can manipulate the system. You think drug lords are in prison or commit crimes because of poverty and are uneducated? You are grossly misinformed.

[May90]

My question is this, with the world becoming more and more global, can the same dangers and negative effects from poverty in a country be extrapolated to the world as a whole? Can we conclude that on average the poorer countries are the ones with the most crime and violence, or does the violence have different causes in your opinion?

It is not a direct proportionality, since there are many other factors as well. But yes, the pattern is such that the richer countries, in general, have lower crime/violence rates.

Of course, there are rich bastards as well. There are billionaires using their money to sell weapons to African rebels. There are countries in which the easiest way to get rich is to walk over your competitors' corpses. But these are a bit different kinds of crime. If we are talking solely about crime and violence among common citizens/immigrants, I tend to answer your questions with "yes".

It is worth noting though that even in the poorest countries only a small minority actually turns to crime. I used to be EXTREMELY poor (we are talking about income of two digits in $$ a month), and not a single time a thought to turn to even a minor crime has crossed my mind. Even in the counties with highest crime rates in the world you are unlikely to get into trouble, if you know what you are doing. My former home country had a staggering crime rate, but I myself was attacked only once, and that was because of my stupidity: I chose the darkest alley there was to choose, and when I noticed a few shady persons eyeing me strangely, I thought they were just bystanders and didn't flee in time.