IN the article in last week’s edition headlined “Don’t blame police for rise in crime – MP”, Peter Abetz argues that it is upbringing that shapes a person’s value system and therefore their behaviour.
However, numerous peer reviewed studies examining the relationship between socio-economic/socio-political model and crime rates around the world have found a direct positive correlation between increasing disparity of wealth and increasing crime rates.
The rhetoric associated with crime rates in Australia has a tendency to overlook this vital fact and shift the focus on to things like poor parenting and/or substance abuse.
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READ NOWPeter Abetz argues that he is sick of people blaming the police for rising crime rates. There would be many people sick of the media and public figures ignoring the well-documented relationship between disparity of wealth and crime rate.
Perhaps there are just as many people sick of governments continuing to create policies and legislation that facilitates this pointless ideology of increasing disparity of wealth here in Australia.
While individual socio-economic circumstances should never excuse crime, social problems, the development of different socio-economic class systems and crime are all better understood in the much broader context of government ideology in relation to social equity.
When are the powers-that-be going to wise up to the social reality that increasing disparity of wealth will inevitably lead to increasing crime rates?
Facilitating disparity of wealth does not even make sense economically simply because it means more tax money will have to be poured into reducing crime.
However, alas, short sighted, short term, dysfunctional economic rationalism underpins nearly everything government does.
ROLAND KOPCSANDY,
Armadale.