There's a connection not so much between behaviour and poverty, but between behaviour and inequity...or injustice. It is unjust to abandon whole sectors of a society to poverty in the presence of great wealth. And this is mostly where crime springs from...a reaction to those conditions of inequity.

Crime also springs out of a society that lives primarily by the competitive view of reality, rather than the cooperative view of reality.

It was cooperation that formed families, tribes, villages, and all organized forms of human society. It was competition (based on fear) that drove those societies to warfare, murder, religious conflicts, and crime.

The great incentive to advance human accomplishment is NOT the competitive spirit, but the innate desire in EVERYONE to improve on their own performance...the desire not for dominance, but for perfection.

Go to a local sports event, where competition has reached its berserk ultimate, and watch the people. Watch the parents of the kids who are playing. Is this healty behaviour? No, it is not. It is akin to the Roman amphitheatre...just less blood, that's all. And it's all done for the money....and the false glory that goes with it. I feel sorry for players who truly love the game under these conditions. At season's end you've got one winner...and many, many losers. I don't call that an intelligent way of doing things, nor is it worthy of the human spirit. We need to find ways where we can all be winners mutually.