Really? I'm skeptical, unless you categorize someone stealing to fuel their drug addiction, as "due to poverty." What about people who steal because it's fun or exciting and not boring, like an actual job? I had a Hispanic friend like that once--he didn't even need the money, he stole just because it gave him an adrenalin rush and because of the crowd.
> What about people who steal because it's fun or exciting and not boring, like an actual job?
Sure, there are those people too, but even then the risk-to-reward factor will come into play, it's just that those people are willing to take a higher risk not because of the monetary reward but because of the reward of the "thrill".
You'll always have several categories of people stealing.
Parent's point is that poverty will lower the threshold for some of these categories. People who wouldn't care that much about money if they had enough to get by will get into stealing, not necessarily to get rich but just to get back to a state they're comfortable with.
