Poverty leaves people especially the out-of-school youth in a perplexed situation with two choices: get involved in criminal activities – robbery, theft, burglary, prostitution, etc. – to earn a living, or find a legal occupation and settle with limited sources of income – if there is any available for them.
In fact, based on the book “Social Issues and Problems”, families tend to grow bigger, thus increasing their daily needs. According to source, the average income in 1985 is about Php 8,720, which is insufficient for a family. While the cost of living increases faster than their income, the gap of the rich and the poor gets wider. In addition, as stated in the book “Philippine Rural Development: Problems, Issues, and Directions”, poverty incidence commonly emerges in rural areas. The gap between the economic situation in urban and rural areas become wider over time. According to statistics, almost half of the families living in rural areas are below the poverty line in the year 1980. It is also reported that the poverty incidence in the country decreased from 59% in 1985 to 50% in 1988.
Moreover, according to James Edward Mckeown in his article on 1939 entitled, “Poverty, Race, and Crime”, there is a direct relationship between poverty and criminality. When there is prosperity, crime rates go lower compared to when poverty is present, crime rates tend to go higher. Furthermore, as stated by Tendero, Reyes, and Manas in their book “Philippine Development Issues: An