1. Paying $17 an hour will NOT stop most crime.
2. Most of the young gentlemen who commit horrible crimes do not do so because they cannot earn $17 an hour.
a. When they rob a store clerk and then kill him, what does that have to do with "poverty"?
b. When they sucker punch innocent pedestrians, what does that ,,,?
c. When they rape women, what does that ...?
d. When they murder people without a tinge of conscience, what does that ...?
3. The people who are responsible for the orgy of daily crime in this country do so for one reason (IMHO): They are very, very, very bad human beings.
4. Most people, I hope, are not bleeding hearts for those vicious individuals.
5. The only thing that comforts me is this: In some (many?) cases, those bad individuals eventually mess with other bad individuals who then administer street justice, which is often fatal.