The less you have to lose, the more you are willing to risk. Violent (obvious) crime is similar in that respct to desperation crime (addiction, terrorism). Unfortunately, since we do everything by demographic, we seem to ignore the fact that it is poverty that motivates many of these people to do this, and instead focus on race. While race does act as a channel for the acts, it is rarely the primary motivator. Now add to it the whole demographic differential (such as posh next to poverty) and you get additional hatred and tension, also similar to what we see in other areas in the world. If not havnig something irritates you, then seeing someone that does, that is different than you, in a way that you have been programmed is somehow wrong, then you will get more "motivated" to "balance the scales". What they have to do in these areas is promote the kind of living that does not strain so much at demographic strata. You get a bunch of hard working poor in an area, who are proud of what they have been able to get through their labors, and you will get less reaction than from a bunch of people who have been handed stuff just because they had none. Humans are like that. There will still be resentment (The Blue Collar members of my family still scorn the "pieces of paper" others in my family, myself included, have gotten from school, but that has not lead to them, or anyone else in their neighborhood, to go out yuppie-bashing). But there will not be as much outright disrespect and aggression. Just my thoughts...