On the causes of crime and violence: A reply to Aber and Rappaport

No sensible person would expect that doubling or tripling welfare payments would substantially reduce crime; therefore poverty is not the core problem. It is argued instead that the root cause of the current wave of crime and violence is the unwillingness or inability of parents to socialize their children. Because their task is so difficult, and because single parents are often poorly socialized themselves, the risk of delinquency and crime for the sons of single mothers is seven times that for sons reared by two biological parents.