[Paleo Conservative]

The income level is what drives the statistics of crime.

Really? Why didn't whites have these rates in earlier decades and centuries when absolute living conditions lower middle class people were lower than the absolute living conditions of poor people today in the US?

[wolf78]

Really? Why didn't whites have these rates in earlier decades and centuries when absolute living conditions lower middle class people were lower than the absolute living conditions of poor people today in the US?

Because to the human psyche absolute living conditions (beyond the most basic necessities of survival) are surprisingly irrelevant. Our brains are wired in a way that always pushes us to compete. There was an interesting recent psychological study, I don't remember the exact details, but the gist is more or less like this: Mangers were asked if they preferred to get an annual $ 500.000, while their group of peers receives $ 550.000 (A). Or if they would prefer to get $ 150.000, while the competition gets $ 100.000 (B). Guess what. A VAST majority chose B.