Poverty and Crime

Poverty: the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support;

condition of being poor; deficiency of necessary needs. Synonyms include; privation, neediness,

destitution, indigence, deficiency, bareness.

In 2015:

The overall poverty rate in the United States was 14.3 percent according to the

Supplemental Poverty Measure. This includes 24.4 million between the ages of 18-64 (12.4

percent), 14.5 million under the age of 18 (19.7 percent), and 4.2 million seniors over 65 (8.8

percent) for a staggering total of 45.7 million people in poverty.

13 percent of households were food insecure. 17 percent of households with children

experienced food insecurity compared to the 11 percent without children. Food insecurity exists

in every county across America ranging from the low of 4 percent in Loudoun County, Virginia

to the high of 38 percent in Jacksonville, Mississippi. The Poverty Line in the United States is

a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids under 18) that earn less than $23,021. Every 1 in 8 Americans are

in poverty.

Poverty spans the entire United States. It is in rural and urban areas. In some places it has

been a part of the cities for as long as anyone can remember. In some places it is springing up

unexpectedly and at an extremely fast rate. Poverty is in no way fair. And as Steve Suitts, author

of the Southern Education Foundation research bulletin, said, Its a matter of our national

future, because when one group becomes the majority of our students, they define what that

future is going to be in education more than any other group.

I dont think I ever realized just how big poverty is in the United States, how many

people really are suffering. I obviously know it is an awful issue that needs to be fixed, and i
have been out to other countries to help them because they are in extreme conditions. It is crazy

how many people dont have a reliable food source in our very own backyard. While researching

I found that crime and poverty have a very strong correlation, but some people find it very

controversial.

Amir Sariaslan of the Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm, Sweden, and his colleagues

tracked boys from their 15th birthdays (that is the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden) for

an average three and a half years. He simply observed the rate of criminal behavior and what

kinds of crime were committed. His results were not surprising to anyone. He found that the boys

whose families incomes were in the bottom fifth of the population were more criminally active

and were twice as likely to be arrested for drug offenses than boys who were in the upper or even

middle of the population income. However something he found that was surprising. When he

tracked families who started poor then gradually gained riches, the kids who did not have to live

in the conditions of poverty, who grew up in the wealthier stage of their familys transformation,

were still just as likely to commit some kind of crime. Mr. Sariaslan comes to the conclusion that

there are two reasons this could be.

The first is that the families culture is sticky meaning once it is established, it is hard to

change. Such as the desire of children to follow in the footsteps of their older siblings who did

those kinds of things before them. The other could be that the genes that activate the appeal of

criminal behavior (it is proven in many studies that these are real) are more common in low

income families rather than higher income families.

An experiment called Moving Opportunity was conducted in New York, Los Angeles,

Baltimore, Chicago and Boston. In this experiment, 5,000 families who were considered to be in

poverty were moved up to more affluent areas. Ten years later, the boys in those families were
20 percent more likely to be excluded in school than the kids who stayed behind. They were still

more likely to be arrested than the other boys who grew up in these better areas. However they

were less likely to be arrested for violent crimes. So this concludes that changing their

surroundings didnt make them less likely to become criminals but changed the type of crime

they would commit.

The link between poverty and criminal behavior is evident and cannot be ignored. The

situation these people are in causes them to act out. They do not have some of the basic human

needs, food, water, safety, security, so they do whatever they can to get it. Being locked away for

these crimes doesnt help anyone's situation either. There is also the possibility of the gene that is

common in lower income families that causes them to be more prone to criminal activities. This

is a real gene and is hard to be fixed. Thus it shows, if you are born into poverty, it is very hard to

get yourself and your family out. There have been many welfare programs to help people

overcome the circumstances of poverty they are in and there still are some in action. However in

most cases, people simply take the benefits and they dont use the resources we give them to

their advantage to be able to find a job and to provide for themselves/their families. Instead they

see it as someone giving them free money or food and continue to live their normal, lazy

lifestyle. We need to find a balance of providing these people with help and with opportunities

but not so much that they can just take advantage of what we are giving them.

Another important problem with poverty is how it affects their education. In our country,

we have established a system where if you are poor, you most likely stay poor. The sad thing is

the number of people considered to be poor has risen a lot. We have a long lasting stereotype we

see people in poverty under. These people have just as diverse races, beliefs and behaviors as
people in more developed areas. They are all only able to pay the minimum, if that, to get an

education for themselves or for their children.

In 21 states, children who were eligible for free or under-priced lunch were the majority.

Kids who attend underfunded, understaffed schools are at such a disadvantage. These schools do

not have the resources needed for a quality education and overall, the staff usually lacks

experience, support, and political power to do anything. Children who live under poverty have

higher numbers of absenteeism (not at school) because they either need to work to get more

money for their family or to stay home and take care of family members while the rest go to

work. Students between the ages of 16-24 are 7 times more likely to drop out of school than kids

whose families have a higher income. Children are the future of this nation. They are the ones

that are going to keep this nation going. If they are undereducated, undernourished, under cared

for, they arent going to be able to reach their full potential. The cure for cancer or other

incurable diseases could be invented by a child who lives in poverty. But without his/her basic

needs met, how are they supposed to think about anything else? Helping them is helping our

country prosper and develop and become more successful.

A recent study by the NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) it shows some

staggering facts. They found that in public schools across the nation, 51 percent were low income

(2013). That is a majority of our children in this country that are not getting sufficient food,

shelter, health care, education and so much more. A majority of our youth being neglected is

unacceptable. It may be a coincidence but it has been 51 years since President Lyndon B.

Johnson declared war on poverty. In his 1964 State of the Union address, he says that most live

on the outskirts of hope. Some because of their poverty, some because of their race, and most
because of both. Poverty is a nation wide concern. It needs to be a collective effort by everyone.

He challenged every American to do their part in helping us overcome poverty.

As a country, we need to break this stereotype and this judgmental attitude towards these

people and families. We need to stop looking down on them and treating them as people below

us. I believe that is where it all begins. If we change our attitude and start caring, we start

noticing more we can do to help. It is easier said than done but it will make a world of a

difference. I very much agree with President Johnson and is call to action. Everyone has to be

involved for it to really work. We need to be stepping up and helping people in poverty. We

should be giving them opportunities to find work, we should be helping with their education. We

should improve the school climate, such as bullying, truancy/absenteeism, trust and engagement

issues. Doing this can make a better and more positive learning environment. We can make

donations and help lower income schools and lower income families. We can make better meal

programs for kids who dont get enough food/proper nutrition in their home. There is so much

we can do to help these people but they also need to be capable to help themselves. We can teach

them and provide job opportunities but it is also on them that need to take the initiative. We need

to be doing our part so they can have the choice of a better life.