On a Single Day, Five Banks Are Robbed in New York City - NYTimes.com

Bank robberies have also increased across the country. Last week, there was a string of four major "take-over style" robberies in one day in San Diego, and major cities, including San Francisco, Houston and Milwaukee, have all seen drastic spikes in bank robberies this year, said Michelle Renee, a former banking industry executive who tracks bank robbery trends.

"It's well documented that during a recession, bank robberies go up," she said. "But also, this time of the year is the busiest time for bank robberies. So you combine those two together and it becomes a dangerous time for bank employees." (via On a Single Day, Five Banks Are Robbed in New York City - NYTimes.com).

Can poverty be a reason for crime ...

If recession, poverty and hardship were valid reasons for robbery, theft or crime, then: -

1. India with the largest population of poor
2. Highest crime rate must also be an Indian feature
3. India must also house the largest prison population
4. India must have also the largest police and jail staff

None of this is however true in India.

Is it difficult to imprison people?

Increased imprisonment of suspected criminals can be easily enabled by lowering burden of proof and creating legislation which will allow for incarceration.

For instance, the various laws under which disproportionately large number of African-Americans were disenfranchised and /or imprisoned in the US. Or the large number of Muslims have been imprisoned in the UK.

And that brings us back to the central question ...

How is it that India has the lowest prison population, the lowest police-to-population ratio and an average crime rate?

Behind the paradox is 4000 years of history ...