Young adults and adolescents growing up in poverty can have a dramatic impact on their lives. “Teens committed more crimes than other age groups only in high-poverty areas. In areas where teenagers had more money than other middle-aged people, they tended to commit fewer violent crimes” (Kirchner). Mike Males discovered this statement in a new study he was working on on poverty and crime, so it shows that poverty and the living conditions of young people will influence the crimes they commit. When adolescents grow up in abhorrent living conditions, they tend to be unaware, both mentally and physically, of their surroundings and the actions they involve.