A research by the Federal University of São Paulo found that fighting poverty during childhood can reduce by almost a quarter the risk of a young person committing a crime.
In an interview with CNN Radio Unifesp researcher Carolina Ziebold explained that the study sought to investigate which childhood-related factors could later be associated with crimes.
“We used a broad measure of poverty to assess whether the family had low education, low purchasing power, poor housing conditions,” he said.
A total of 1,905 children from São Paulo and Porto Alegre were analyzed over 7 years, who began to be followed up when they were approximately 10 years old.
Later, their records were collected to find out if they had undergone socio-educational measures or criminal conviction.
Ziebold said the conclusion is that “the only factor in crime was poverty.”
She points out, however, that the study “does not want to stigmatize poverty.”
90% of the children in the survey did not commit a crime, but among those who had contact with crime, the only associated factor was precisely poverty.
“With effective policies, if none of them had been exposed to poverty in childhood, a quarter of these children would not have committed a crime afterwards.”
The questionnaire proposed by the research analyzed the level of parents’ education, income and the level of access to basic services such as water.
*With production by Isabel Campos
Source: CNN Brasil
