1. The relationship between development, poverty, inequality and crime rates in South Africa Michael O'Donovan maodonovan@gmail.com

2. Developmental perspective A uniting theme is that high crime levels and the violent nature of S.A. society is the heritage of apartheid. That apartheid through it's continuing legacy of poverty and inequality bequeaths us violence, hate, greed and envy, disrespect. These factors translate directly into theft, murder and other anti-social behaviour. The second persistent theme is that the problem can/ should be solved by investing time, effort and money. i.e.by doing or using more. MORE: more resources, more research, more policing, more state intervention, more services etc. The third theme is the marked absence of any notion of contradiction, trade offs or even of unintended consequences in strategies.

4. © neil horne

9. Conclusion Wealth (and not poverty) is positively corellated to crime - but no causative inference should be made Inequality within areas has no discernible effect on crime rates Inequality between areas (income differential) offers far more explanatory value. Caution against using this to reintroduce, through the back door, the notion that poverty causes crime. Urbanisation (and its impact on social capital) is far better at explaining the trends observed and perhaps it should enjoy greater focus

10. © neil horne