In most countries, you won't end up in jail because you make less than $X, the US penalizes being poor. The US jail population as a % of the world's total jailed population is a clear indicator.
Also its quite interesting that American whites commit crime at a higher rate than UK blacks. There is something systemic at work here.
It seems the few decades of gutting social safety nets compounded with the trend of shutting down schools to make funds available for policing and jail building created a pipeline directly to jail for the newly undereducated and poor. A pipeline with perverse incentives that helped corporations and the US government exploit almost free ($0.25/hr) domestic prison slave labor for weapons, defense, and general manufacturing.
Of course poverty isn't the only factor. But it's a hugely important one.
aka more property taxes
aka more money for education and police to keep everybody safe