I appreciate the opportunity to appear before the committee on an issue of extreme importance to the American people. There is no doubt that juvenile crime is a serious and continuing problem in this country. Their conclusion appears to be confirmed by academic research.
Welfare contributes to crime in several ways.
First, children from single-parent families are more likely to become involved in criminal activity. Moreover, O'Neill found that, holding other variables constant, black children from single- parent households are twice as likely to commit crimes as black children from a family where the father is present. This conclusion shows up time and again in the literature. Among the best of these studies is the work done by June O'Neill for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The same results can be seen from welfare systems in other countries.