Exploring the nexus between poverty, crime, and recidivism: Insights from Indian youth prisoners

• In Event: Poverty and Structural Inequalities Panel

Abstract

The relationship between poverty and crime has been a global subject of extensive sociological and criminological inquiry. Poverty tends to exacerbate socio-economic inequalities, restricting access to essential resources such as education, employment, and health facilities in the Global South. In the context of India, poverty remains a pervasive and pressing issue. The prevailing financial hardships and insufficient employment opportunities serve as significant catalysts for criminal involvement, particularly among the youth. These socio-economic challenges contribute to the engagement of marginalized individuals in illicit activities as a means of survival or social mobility.
Although a large amount of scholarship explains the linkage between economic resources and criminal behaviour, there is little convincing ethnographic research in the context of the Global South demonstrating a direct causal effect. Given this background, the paper employs different criminological theories, such as strain theory (Merton, 1938), labelling theory (Becker, 1963), rational choice theory, subcultural theory (Miller, 1958), and an ethnographic approach, to understand the complex interplay between poverty, crime, and recidivism among Indian youth prisoners. Empirical data was collected by conducting ethnographic interviews with incarcerated youth and field observations at a central prison in the Indian state of Assam. The paper will answer the following research questions: (a) How does poverty or a disadvantaged financial background contribute to developing criminal behaviours among youth in India? (b) How are poverty, crime, and recidivism interrelated in the Indian context?
Keywords: poverty, crime, recidivism, youth, India.

Author

• Parishmita Dutta, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany