The ridiculous violence in N.O.

Zack Lee said
ok, I won't argue about the flexibility of morals and lets say I agree that the bold portion of your post is indeed the root of the problem, I will still counter that if you concentrate limited resources toward fixing these things in poverty areas before middle class areas, you will see results far faster. My point is, there may not be a rule set in stone about the relationship between the things you identify and poverty, but there paths run parallel enough that it certainly cannot be ignored.

I'm not saying poverty has no bearing at all, it's just not a root cause IMO. There are tons of examples of people who are happy in spite of their poverty. It's a difficult life sometimes, but so is life in any other financial situation. I've experienced the good, the bad and the ugly and that never determined my outlook on life.

I do think a lack of education has more to do with the loss of our kids to crime than poverty, and some of that lack of education can be linked to bad schools in poor areas. I lived in Washington DC for a short time and my kids were in a public school there and the school was terrible. I can see why kids in the inner cities of our country suffer from neglect. Thing is, the school had all of the equipment and facilities necessary, but the many of teachers were awful and didn't give the kids any homework. We were teaching our kids more than they were learning in school, which in some ways isn't all bad. I'd rather them learn from us anyway.

I consider us fortunate that they are now in schools where the teachers are more proactive for the most part.

I'll say this much. The causes of crime are varied and often complex. People are not all wired the same and will sometimes be bad regardless of upbringing. Others will be bad if they are neglected. Still others will be bad if they are spoiled. There's no single culprit and there is no silver bullet.

The best way to fight crime IMO is for whole communities to commit to caring and valuing their youth by getting involved in community service. One person or family can't do it alone.