Fixing family, not poverty, is solution to violent crime

The Daily Herald in a recent Opinion column stated that "Ultimately, the only lasting way to eradicate violent crime is to eradicate poverty." I suggest that this conclusion is misguided. Poverty is the symptom but not the root cause, which is the disintegration of the American family.

One indicator of this development is "out of wedlock births." Ironically, President Johnson's War on Poverty in 1964 was a key contributor to this disintegration by first creating a welfare program for single mothers but sharply cutting benefits if a mother married a working father. In effect, the legislation encouraged children raised in fatherless homes. What a few generations ago was unheard of has now reached 40% That's right, four out of 10 births today are out of wedlock and in all likelihood will result in children raised in a fatherless home.

What are the prospects for these children. Sadly, they have a 40% probability of living in poverty compared to 8% for those raised by a married couple. For boys, they are three times more likely to be incarcerated. So the statistics clearly show that out-of-wed births will likely result in both poverty and violence.

The Daily Herald stated we must continue the war on poverty. However, if we disregard the root cause, out-of-wedlock births, success will be very limited and certainly not lasting.

Richard Kaiser

Elk Grove Village