More food for thought. Why was it when I first came to Belize, by some standards - a "rich gringo", I could leave all of my fishing tackle in the boat at night, leave my room unlocked, not have any concern about walking around town with money in my pocket, etc, etc? There existed the extreme gap between, what some consider, the haves and the have nots, but crime did not exist.
I do not accept the premise that crime is a result of economic desparity. I believe it is a result of the lacking of moralilty and the failure of society to condeme these actions.

PS: there was a similar dicussion to this on the board before and there was posted a great article written by an Belizean how he interpreted being rich and being poor. Maybe some of you with more skills than me could find that.