Study Shows Higher Wages, EITC Expansion Would Take Bite Out of Crime

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This weekend, a national march and rally was held in Virginia by workers calling for a 15-dollar hourly minimum wage – and research is showing a higher wage could have benefits that reach far beyond families’ monthly budgets. The idea that crime can be reduced by increasing the minimum wage is getting bipartisan support. A report by the White House Council of Economic Advisors finds raising the federal minimum wage would lead to reductions in crime. Rebecca Vallas with the Center for American Progress says expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to include adults without dependents could cut crime rates even further.

Indiana’s minimum wage is the same as the federal rate, seven-25 an hour ($7.25), and has not gone up in over seven years. The Center for American Progress says an estimated 70-million to 100-million Americans have criminal records, and nearly half of all children have a parent with a criminal record.

Vallas says it’s simple math – if people make enough to make ends meet, they’re less likely to take desperate measures that land them in jail, with lifelong consequences.

She adds in states where the minimum wage is seven-25 ($7.25), one in every 102 adults was in jail or prison in 2013 – compared to one in 137 in higher-wage states.

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