Recent events have made crime a leading issue in the current federal election campaign. All of the parties have set out extensive positions on the issue, and even the NDP is trying to sound “tough on crime”. A lot of the discussion about crime misses the real issue, though.

Of course we must deal with crime when it happens. We have police and courts to do that. They aren’t always very good at it, but that is a subject for another day. However, dealing with crime after it happens is reactive – it compares to the mechanic fixing my car after it breaks down, or a doctor treating me after I’ve become ill.

We take our cars in for oil changes, we have pre-cancerous polyps removed from our bodies before they make us sick (sorry, it’s the only example which comes to mind) – that is, we are proactive in dealing with these things. We don’t wait for something to happen, and then hope for the best – we try to prevent problems in the first place. Well, many of us do at any rate (also a subject for another day – if you don’t, think about starting!).

Much crime can be prevented too. This isn’t a secret - most of us recognize this to be true. Most of us also a sense about what the underlying problems are, while at the same time realizing we don’t know enough about the problem to understand it in more than a superficial way. I’m little different in this regard. However, I suggest that poverty is the key root cause. In particular, the extraordinary (and growing) gap between the richest and poorest in our society. Poverty does more limit your economic possibilities. It also limits your opportunities, and the opportunities you can envision for yourself. Poverty disenfranchises by emphasizing class differences, and this disenfranchisement is more destruction than the fact of being poor.

If we want to do something concrete about crime, then poverty must be addressed. We must create a society in which the playing field is leveled on two counts.  First, there must be an equality of membership in society, with no one accorded special status as the result of wealth, social position, race, etc. Second, there must be a true equality of opportunity for all. Being born poor should not limit one’s future. As long as it does, some will turn to crime because they believe they have no other options.  Equally important, everyone must feel within themselves that these two things are true.

Some will already be heading for the comment button, saying this is already true. Why, we have scholarships, and student loans, and social assistance, and… If you are thinking that, then with respect, you don’t understand the real problem. The problem isn’t as simple as more money for poorer students to go to University (though that is a good thing). The real problem is much deeper, and much harder to solve. Social assistance programs (administered with dignity) are part of the answer, but not the complete solution. We must commit ourselves to the ideals above, and truly change the kind of society which has developed over the last 50 years.

We can continue to fight crime after the fact, or we can take a proactive approach and take action to change the conditions which lead to it.  Like maintaining your car, or your body, social preventative maintenance is cost-effective. Better yet, it is the right thing to do.

Finally, again before you hit the comment button or send an email. I’m not suggesting every crime is the result of poverty, or that poverty excuses crime. All of us bear ultimate responsibility for the decisions we make. However, we can influence those decisions, and we can do it by solving the problems it is our moral responsibility to solve anyway. Why aren’t we doing that?