Seth Robinson

Mrs. Davis
Composition II
14 April 2015
Crime and Poverty
One of the most worrisome social issues in the minds of many Americans is crime. We
hear about murders in Chicago and New York or gang beatings in Los Angeles and fear that we
or our loved ones could become victims. While we are busy worrying about the outcome of these
crimes and how to punish the perpetrators, we are failing to get to the root of the problem and
come up with ways to change it. The overwhelming majority of crime in the U.S. is committed
by the poor. I believe reform in U.S. crime policy can help alleviate poverty, and therefore lower
the crime rate.
Poverty is an epidemic in America. Millions of Americans wake up hungry and go to bed
hungry. Millions more worry about being able to afford the electric bill or being able to put
enough gas in the car to get to work. An article at poverties.org states that, poverty and crime
have a very intimate relationship (Poverty and Crime). Research done by Amir Sariaslan of
the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden seems to substantiate that notion. According to
Sariaslan, teenagers who had grown up in families whose earnings were among the bottom fifth
were seven times more likely to be convicted of violent crimes, and twice as likely to be
convicted of drug offences, as those whose family incomes were in the top fifth (To Have and
Have Not). Due to this fact, Americas poorest communities are also the most crime riddled.
Many are born into cultures where crime is simply a way of life. They get caught up in the
generational cascade effect of poverty-induced crime. Their fathers, grandfathers, uncles and

cousins were all criminals, and they know from a very young age that criminal behavior will play
a central role in their lives. In many cases people turn to crime out of desperation. The morality
of their decisions begins to play an increasingly smaller role in their lives when surviving
through the night becomes their only focus for the day. These people have no ambition other than
to hustle up enough money to afford their most basic needs, but even if the ambition is there
unemployment in poor communities prevents them from escaping poverty.
For those who would like to find work but cannot, the financial stress caused by
unemployment can necessitate crime as a means to put food on the table. In these cases property
crimes like theft become prevalent. But not all unemployment related crime is nonviolent in
nature. Recent studies have shown that unemployment also causes an increase in violent crimes
(Poverty and Crime). Much of this violence is committed by gang members, and the biggest
source of income for most gangs is dealing drugs. Even for those who manage stay out of street
gangs, drugs can become the only option for producing income. The use of drugs is also a way
for people living in poverty to escape their situations momentarily. The problem is what may
start out as a recreational drug habit usually turns into addiction. Once someone is addicted to
drugs, their chances of gaining employment decrease and their chances of being involved in
other criminal behavior drastically increases. These problems combined produce a perpetual
cycle of poverty.
While all races are represented in Americas poor communities, minority groups,
particularly African Americans are most susceptible to poverty and crime. In most of Americas
inner cities, the roughest neighborhoods have a majority black population. Generations of black
Americans grow up in poverty; most of them also grow up without fathers. Without a positive
male role model many of these young men turn to gang life early. In many cases the fathers who

are around for their sons are in gangs as well, so the only influences these young men have are
criminals. This leads to a high number of crimes and a high incarceration rate. Some of the
problems that plague black Americans have to do with racial prejudice. Although America has
come a long way since the 1960s, it still has a long way to go in terms of racial equality. While a
black man can become anything in America today, even President, the odds are certainly stacked
against him.
Incarceration levels in America are astoundingly high, especially for black males. There
has been mass-imprisonment in the U.S. since the 1970s. According to an article written by
Christopher Wildeman and Bruce Western of The Future of Children, the U.S. incarceration rate
is about 7 times higher than the Western European average and is approached only by rates in the
penal systems of some former Soviet republics and South Africa (Wildeman 159). A Justice
Department study shows that the percentage of males born in 2001 who will go to prison in their
lifetime is 32 percent for African Americans, 17 percent for Hispanics and 5 percent for whites
(Lin). It is an unfortunate fact, but prisons are necessary. There are individuals in this country
who should not be allowed to have contact with the rest of the population. The problem with the
American penal system is, sometimes the punishment far outweighs the crime. In many cases
people convicted of non-violent crimes are given lengthy prison sentences for first time offences.
Once someone who was already poor has a felony conviction it becomes almost impossible for
him to escape poverty.
Once released from prison, a felon faces a whole new set of problems which make
poverty a foregone conclusion. Ann Lin and David Harris refer to these as collateral sanctions
(Lin). These sanctions perpetuate racial inequality. They disenfranchise the black population,
make it harder to get a job, prevent receipt of federal funding for higher education, and they

remove parental rights. The families of these felons assume the consequences of these sanctions.
Without a father providing for the family, it falls deeper into poverty. And growing up with a
father who has been in prison makes a young black man far more likely to go to prison himself.
Mass-incarceration prevents the black population from realizing the American Dream. For the
sake of Americas poor, we must find a way to make changes to the nations crime policies.
Since Nixons war on drugs, drug offenders have been going to prison in droves.
According to Mike Barton, a police officer with more than three decades of service, the war on
drugs has failed. Barton says, If the war on drugs means stopping every street corner turning
into an opium den and discouraging the mass consumption of laudanum as happened during
the 19th century then it has succeeded. But if the war on drugs means trying to reduce the illicit
supply of drugs, then it has comprehensively failed (Barton). Barton suggests that we offer drug
users an alternate supply route for their drugs. We need programs in place which take the stream
of revenue that drugs bring to street gangs away. Drugs should not be made freely available, but I
believe they should be decriminalized. If the Health Department offered drugs therapeutically to
addicts there would be fewer of them buying drugs on the streets and providing revenue for
gangs. Addiction to anything is bad, but just because someone has a drug addiction does not
make them unworthy of ever being a productive member of society; that is what occurs with our
current drug policies. We need to help those who find themselves enslaved by any addiction.
Giving them lengthy prison sentences for first time drug offences does not help anyone. It breaks
up families, costs billions of tax dollars annually, and it perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty.
Due to the abundance of gangs and the lack of fathers for young black Americans their
role models become the gang members. Because they are around crime, they become criminals.
If they start out poor and in rough neighborhoods, even if at a young age their families become

wealthier and get out of those neighborhoods, they are likely to commit crimes when they are
older. Amir Sariaslan alludes to this in his article in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Sariaslan
found that, for families who were poor but elevated their earnings enough to leave those rough
neighborhoods, the younger children who were born into relative affluence were just as likely to
get into trouble when they were teenagers as their older siblings (To Have and Have Not). So
if a child is exposed to this behavior, even for a short period of time, he is likely to become a
criminal later in life. The key is to keep as many of Americas youth as possible from being
exposed to it. To keep them from looking up to and seeking acceptance from criminals, we must
take the power away from the criminals. One way to do this is to decriminalize drugs so that the
demand for drugs sold by gangs is minimized. More importantly though, there needs to be more
action taken within the communities.
Many black Americans never know if they can escape crime, drugs and poverty because
they never try. There is no doubt that blacks are at a disadvantage in many areas, but the
apathetic attitude needs to be eradicated. This attitude is certainly not universal, and I do not
believe it is a conscious one. It has become such a huge part of the culture that it lives within the
subconscious of many. Community and civil rights leaders could help in this area. Like poverty,
racial inequality will never be fully eradicated but if we all decide to work together we can make
positive change. Slavery and Jim Crow were terrible eras in American history, and I am not
downplaying their significance, but at some point both sides must try to move on and work
together for the greater good. The white population needs to make a better effort in showing that
we no longer view the black race as inferior or insignificant. We need to show up in their
communities to help improve them. We need to be there in soup kitchens feeding the hungry; we
need to be there donating food and clothing; we need to be there building homes for those who

cannot afford them. An effort has to be made to bridge the divide between the two races. The
leaders of the black community must make a better effort as well. Positive role models should be
inserted into the communities. They need pastors, mentors and civic leaders going into the
communities and helping to mold the young impressionable minds before they are molded by the
gangs. And they need to be taught that not every white American is against them because of the
color of their skin. This will help to stop the distrust from the black community toward the white
community. The government and police force also need to follow suit.
I believe the black community in general feels isolated in this country. They feel the laws
that are in place serve to keep them from realizing success and prosperity. And the police force,
which is supposed to protect and serve, is there strictly to harass, imprison and kill young black
men. Much work needs to be done to prove that Americas police are there to protect all
Americans, regardless of skin color or socioeconomic status. As it stands, the police are viewed
as an enemy. This conflict and distrust help to destroy black communities. I feel the police need
to become a less visible part of these communities. Residents need to know that law enforcement
is there if they need their services, but they should not have to expect harassment if they see a
police officer. I believe less police presence teamed with the work of community leaders will
help the people who live in these communities to begin to try to clean them up themselves.
According to W.M. Dimascio, the people should be empowered to make change. He says, the
reasons for Americas stunning defeats in these wars on criminality lie in the top-down approach,
which bypasses the people as opposed to empowering them for change (Dimascio). Most
Americans without firsthand knowledge of what takes place within Americas poor black
communities assume that the attitude toward police from a large segment of the black
community is unwarranted. While that is true in some cases, most people have a legitimate

reason to distrust the police. Theyve seen their friends or neighbors shot by police or harassed
while walking down the street minding their own business. Change must be made in this regard.
We all need to be able to trust each other.
Aristotle said, Poverty is the parent of crime (To Have and Have Not). He was right.
Crime and poverty will always be closely related. The issue of crime is pervasive in Americas
poor communities. As Dimascio puts it, Crime in all its varied forms is more deadly and
prevalent than AIDS or any other form of disease currently known to afflict humans (Dimascio).
If this is true, why is there such a massive disparity between the amount of effort we put into
dealing with AIDS, cancer, ALS or any number of other diseases, and the amount we put into
ridding America of crime or alleviating the staggering amount of poverty in cities all across the
country. We donate our money to help keep a snail off the endangered species list or to help put
greedy politicians in office, and we give no thought to the millions of Americans who go to bed
hungry every night. But when we hear about them committing crimes we are standing in line to
demonize them. There will always be poverty, and where there is poverty there will always be
crime, but with some team work and the right amount crime policy reform, we can lessen its
reach.

Works Cited

Barton, Mike. "Why Ending the War on Drugs Will Cut Crime." The Guardian Newspaper, 28
Sept. 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Dimascio, W. M. "Reflections: "Ending the Culture of Street Crime"" The Prison Journal 84.4
(2004): 41S-7S. Realcostofprisons.org. Sage Publications. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Lin, Ann Chih, and David R. Harris, eds. The Colors of Poverty: Why Racial and Ethnic
Disparities Persist. Russell Sage Foundation, 2008. Web. 4 April 2015.
"Poverty and Crime: Breaking a Vicious Cycle of Discrimination." Poverties. 1 Apr. 2011. Web.
6 Apr. 2015. <http://www.poverties.org/poverty-and-crime.html>.
"To Have and Have Not." The Economist. 23 Aug. 2014. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Wildeman, Christopher, and Bruce Western. "Incarceration in Fragile Families." The Future of
Children 20.2 (2010): 157-77. Futureofchildren.org. Web. 6 April 2015.