Cutting Crime by Cutting Child Poverty: The Child Tax Credit is a solid investment in crime prevention for Michigan

SUMMARY
There are many obvious reasons for providing families with a Child Tax Credit. A reason often overlooked, however, is that a fully refundable Child Tax Credit will help cut future crime. The Surgeon General’s report on youth violence showed that children from poor families have a much greater chance of becoming involved in violent crime than children from better-off families. In fact, children of poor families are more likely to become violent criminals than even children who are abused or neglected. In other words, poverty is more closely associated with criminality than abuse or neglect.

In Michigan, almost one in five children are growing up in poverty. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that when North Carolina Native American families’ income increased as a result of jobs and shared profits from a new casino, the rate of behavior disorders linked to juvenile criminality fell. Lifting children out of poverty can cut crime.