Wolves struck first through Michael Kightly on 26 minutes, but the Premier League's bottom-placed club could not protect their lead as goals from Robert Huth on 37 minutes and Crouch 16 minutes after half-time earned Tony Pulis's side three points they just about merited.
Wolves - who left dropped captain Roger Johnson on the bench after his altercation with keeper Wayne Hennessey in the 3-2 loss to Bolton - have now lost six straight matches for the first time since Tommy Docherty ran the club in 1985.
To illustrate the extent of the problems facing Wolves, no club in Premier League history has avoided relegation with only 22 points from 32 games.
It all makes for grim reading for manager Terry Connor with his side rooted to the bottom of the table, six points adrift of Wigan, Blackburn Rovers and QPR with Bolton seven ahead of Wolves, who looked doomed with only six league matches left.
They managed to get their noses in front for the third straight match when Dave Edwards failed to get a touch on Kightly's chipped ball only for the flight of the delivery to deceive Asmir Begovic as the ball landed in the net from outside of the area.
Kightly felled Matthew Etherington in the build-up to the second goal. Wolves failed to deal with Jermaine Pennant's free-kick before Crouch supplied Huth to drill a volley beyond Hennessey in the visiting goal. The Wolves keeper perhaps should have made the save as the home side scored with their first shot at goal.
Stoke made certain of the three points when Crouch rose to power home his ninth Premier League goal of the season with a looping header from Pennant's free-kick from outside the box. Stoke are on course to finish in the top 10. They are 11th but are safe from relegation on 41 points.
There were a couple of penalty appeals at either end while Jon Walters had two excellent chances to score with headers which he failed to take while Sebastien Bassong did likewise at the other end for Wolves, who were best served by the strong runs of Matthew Jarvis who managed to torment Ryan Shotton throughout the evening.
The 900 or so travelling fans - only a third of the club's allocation for the match - shuffled out of the ground appreciating the gravity of the situation with manager Connor having collected a solitary point in seven games since he replaced the sacked Mick McCarthy in February.
