According
to the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness, in the United
States alone more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year.
Out of the 3.5 million, 25% are kids under the age of 18. This is a major issue
in our country that is not commonly publicized or talked about. An issue even
bigger than that is the treatment that these people are receiving from the
government. Our government criminalizes homeless people, stereotyping them as
felons for living on the streets. Because there are often times a
correlation between homelessness and crime the government puts in effect biased
initiatives that treat all homeless people like criminals. Ironically many
times the government plays a part in the current homeless situation by failing
to raise minimum wage and cutting down on affordable housing options. A place
where the criminalization of homeless can be widely seen is on Skid Row in
California.
A perfect example of how homeless people are stereotyped as
criminals by the government can be seen with the “Safer Cities Initiative” that
was put in place in 2005 on Skid Row. Skid Row is a part of Downtown Los
Angeles that has a homeless population of almost 17,000. This Initiative
follows the “Broken Window Theory”. This theory says that small scale crimes
such as graffiti or trespassing will turn into much larger crimes if they go
unnoticed and disciplined. Following this theory, the government sent a surge
of police officers to Skid Row to reduce petty crimes. The problem with
this initiative is that homeless people were being fined and arrested for
things they could not help, or pay for. Homeless people were arrested and fined
for public storage of belongings when they had nowhere else to store their
belongings. They were also fined for sitting and sleeping on the sidewalk, when
they had nowhere else to sleep, and upsetting public and private trash
receptacles, when they had no other way to get food. This criminalization still
continues today, not just on Skid Row by around the country. Skid Row is just
one place where the homeless population is being mistreated. Every day all
around the country homeless people are stereotyped as criminals and drug
addicts. While I agree that some are, many are veterans of the United States Military
and many are kids. It is not fair to criminalize all homeless people when only
a percent are wrongdoers.
Thanks Chrissy. You bring up the important issue of homelessness, and you do so in a fairly well written post. I give you credit for using your free write to address an issue that has some social import. I do, however, have some questions for you. First, what is your source of information? Your explanation of Skid Row is very interesting. You do not need to technically cite your source like Oceane does, but you should try to write into your post the sources that you consult to get your information. This will give you a bit more credibility.
ReplyDeleteThis is important, because your reader might be inclined to challenge some of your assertions about the ubiquity of criminalization. I had no idea that homelessness was so frequently considered a crime. I understand what you are writing about Skid Row. Coincidentally, I think I have been there, and when I think of L.A., all I can remember is the endless streets of homeless people. However, I question this statement: "This criminalization still continues today, not just on Skid Row by around the country." I think you need more evidence to support this.
Your post is good, but I get the sense that you are asking your reader to trust, on faith, many of the ideas that you present. You need more evidence. Otherwise, you run the risk of coming across as repetitive.