andyl

It's my kind of answer thank you very much My partner works with disadvantaged young people, a number of whom have been done for fare-dodging. They have pitiful incomes and cannot afford the tram (which is expensive) and yet still need to travel. So they bunk it, get caught, get fined. That's fantastically illogical. They can't afford the fare, so you fine them even more.

And people do get jailed for non-payment of fines, which ends up costing everybody more and achieves nothing.

Anyway, which is it that causes crime? Poverty or inequality? Because if we were all equally poor there would still be plenty of people turning to crime.........[/QUOTE] There is no causal relationship between either poverty or inequality, but there is a strong correlation. Poverty is a relative thing but I personally find it fairly depressing that we live in a country where single people can earn millions in one year (Adam Crozier just got £3m in bonuses for his graft at the Post Office) and yet we have people living in squalid, damp houses with little in the way of life opportunities. Whilst society is willing to countenance such desparate conditions in what is, after all, a very rich country, then it will get the citizens it deserves.