Poverty Is One of the Causes of Crime

Sociology has always had an interested topic which is crime. There are many reasons and questions on why people commit acts of crime. There is the stereotype that African Americans commit and are involved in more crime and poverty than more white folks. This is a discussion about how minorities have a higher chance of being involve with the criminal justice system. There are many studied being investigated in the different correlations between the factors as well as the race specifics of crime.

We tend to focus on minorities being in poverty since is one of the primary sects of Poverty. There are some inconsistent findings, on the effect of poverty on murder rates and that it is significantly for whites and blacks (e.g., Smith, 1992) and other say that the effect is equal for both racial groups (e.g., Sampson, 1985). Families are more likely to be poor than what white people (Hsu, 2015).

Those who come from minority homes have a higher risk of being a minority parent later in life (Hsu, 2015).

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The national wage threshold for a four-person family, to be considered to be a low-income family, you would have to be making $47,248 a year (Hsu, 2015). Working families led by African American and Hispanic are twice as likely compared to white and Asians to be poor (Chokshi, 2015). Poverties that African Americans live in differs from what white people in poverty live in (Badger, 2015). There was a survey conducted of the city of Chicago of American’s that lived in high poverty areas, and it is 10 times higher than for poor whites (Badger, 2015).

The question is, which race is more likely to commit crime? Black are at a high risk and are likely to die in the hand of a law enforcement officer, especially in today’s society. Since the conversation is between minorities and crime, African American commit more crime that what whites do (infogram.com, e,g). It is proven that crime in the United States is decreasing. A paper that was published by the National Institute of Justice, homicide rates increased from 4.9 homicides per 100,000 Americans in two years, considering that this is one of the largest rises in the United States (Signal, 2018). There are two rises of homicide rates in the minority population, African American and the White population. Why do minorities commit crime? Robert Agnew’s general strain theory argues that strains and stressors like negative emotion (anger and frustration) is the number one response of criminal behavior (Agnew, 2001).

Stealing money, you are desiring, seeking revenge, or to reduce negative emotions are what criminals use to cope with strain and stressors (Agnew, 2001). There are three types of strains, the loss of a positive stimuli, such as a loss of a romantic partner, death of a friend, the presentation of a negative stimuli, such as physical and verbal assaults, and the failure to reach a certain goal (Agnew, 2001). Black Minorities are likely to serve jail time due to crimes because of racial disparities between the stages of arrest, charging, prosecuting, and imprisonment (Bowcott, 2016). Every individual has their own and different way of coping with crime when trying to escape from strainful events and conditions (Agnew, 1992). Certain strategies are conventional behavior, such as working out to relive strain, or being involved with crime, such as using illicit drugs (Agnew, 2001). Different strains link up to different crimes because of the coping strategies of noncriminal verses criminal matter (Agnew, 2001). As stated earlier, strains are likely to be linked up with different crimes because of four characteristics, when they are seen as unjust, they are seen as high in magnitude, are associated with low social control, and when they create some pressure when trying to engage in criminal coping (Agnew, 2001).

Healthcare and Income Inequality Income inequality is very important because it affects American citizens daily. The American Dream is the goal for everybody. The American Dream is the goal for everybody, live wealth, being able to maintain a family, allow children to attend college, etc. Many people cannot achieve this dream due to the income inequality. Income inequality is the uneven matter of wealth and income between certain groups and social classes; this includes wages, salaries, selling something to earn profit (inequality.org, e.g.). The causes of income inequality are normally from social status, the gender, the race, and education (Investopedia, e.g.). Top ten percent has been increasing by thirty to thirty five percent cause a huge disparity gap between the rich and the poor (Investopedia, e.g.).

Could this be why many American workers make ten dollars per hour? During the financial crisis during the year of 2008, the richer got richer fast, the top ten percent took about fifty percent of all income, and the top one percent took about twenty percent of the income (Saez, & UC Berkeley 2013). By 2015, the top ten was making 9 times much as the bottom ninety percent, and the top one percent was making forty times more income than the bottom ninety percent (Amadeo, 2018). The quickness of the rich getting richer, they have grown larger. Everyone below the 1 percent has shrunk by one or two percent, and that one percent has gained a percentage of ten percent, this allows the poor to improve but still resulting in economic mobility (Amadeo, 2018). How is income inequality measured and has there been an increase in the United States?

Income inequality is measured by the Gini Coefficient, which range from zero to one, with zero representing equal distribution of wealth, one representing that one person holding the entire countries wealth (Shell, 2014). There is recent increase in high income in the United States. This has resulted in four major things, increase in productivity, entrepreneurial success, increased in work by high wage individuals, and a lower cost of capital (Feldstein, 1998). The increased in more applicant with educational background is making market forces change policies where they are trying to reward more for the impressive skills they have (Feldstein, 1998). The growth of new businesses has been an important role due to the fact that they increase the income level (Feldstein, 1998). The increase of work by high wage individuals allows them to work for long hours for a higher pay (Feldstein, 1998). A lower cost of capital is a good thing because it allows the addition of the wealth and the assets to other individuals without reducing the income of others (Feldstein, 1998). Inequality in health care is another important problem that the United States faces today. There is a huge gap between the level and the quality of healthcare different people receive.

The United States has of the largest income-based health care disparities, from the whole nation, considering that thirty-eight percent of the people report in being in poor or fair health (Khazan, 2017). Most of the low-wage workers do not get provide with benefits, and insurance coverage by the employee they work for (Amadeo, 2018). Studies have proved that the money and wealth you have, the better health you will also have (Amadeo, 2018). Ow-income adults are more likely to have trouble doing daily activities and have a higher chance of chronic illnesses (Amadeo, 2018). This will cause a generational problem, causing kids to produce health issues. There are five reasons why low-income families have terrible health and have a higher chance to become sick. First, Low-income families have terrible health compared to other affluential families by fourteen percent (Amadeo, 2018). The second reason is poor communities do not have the best medical service around, so they do not have the best resources around (Amadeo, 2018). Third, the cost of healthcare is out of there budget, they do not have the money for it, so once they become sick, chance are they will become sicker (Amadeo, 2018).

Fourth, is the inequality of health insurance, many families do not qualify for health insurance (Amadeo, 2018). Fifth, the lack of health will eventually lead to poverty, if you can’t maintain a high paying job, then it is going to be tough on maintain a job while to you ill (Amadeo, 2018). Last, elders are most likely to be poor (Amadeo, 2018). This is a problem for those who cannot afford it because if there was an emergency they won’t be able to afford the preventive care (Amadeo, 2019). American who are poor have the worse access to health care than what wealthy people do due to the Affordable Care Act (Dickman & Himmelstein, 2017). Researcher believe Universal Health care is the solution, because it provides medical services to all citizens in the United States. There are two advantages to the universal health care, it lowers the cost to the whole economy, and the service provided by doctors will be at a low cost (Amadeo, 2018). Drug Addiction Drug addiction is very common in poor neighborhoods, it is actually a stereotype that all drug abuser and addicts are unemployed, homeless, and jobless. There is a positive correlation between drug abuse and poverty, which included cocaine and marijuana (Borgen Project, e.g.).

This study that was conducted gave a positive relationship, even during familial factors, in other words that substance abuse may be a factor of poverty (Bargen Project, e.g.). Substance abuse is an incidental of the lifestyle made by those who are limited in financial means (Foundation Recovery Network, e.g.). An example of this is when poor families are living off the government welfare and they will be drinking there sorrows away in front of their children. Wealthy people can also do the same, but they are less likely to occur if they do not live in poverty (Foundation Recovery Network, e.g.). What is Drug Addiction? Addiction can be a repetitive drug seeking and using that involves functional brain changes (NIDA, e.g.). Drug Users use drugs for a couple reasons. First, they want to feel good, the drugs can produce a feeling of pleasure to the brain, an example is cocaine, which gives out an intense feeling of energy (NIDA, e.g.). Next, is to feel better and do better, those who are prescribed to take them to make them less anxious, like someone who has anxiety (NIDA, e.g.).

People also take them to do better, like trying to concentrate during school hours and even in sports (NIDA, e.g.). The last reason they take drugs is when they are being peer pressured by others (NIDA, e.g.). The problem when taking drugs is that people tend to retake them over and over again. There a point where many people would take the drug making them feel normal, and that why they get hooked because they are trying get that positive effect. This is an early sign of drug addiction (NIDA, e.g.). There is no factor that determines whether or not a person will become a drug addict (NIDA, e.g.). How does drugs and poverty have a relationship? Well the external factors or environmental factor such as if you live with someone who misuses drugs and alcohol, and is a criminal can increase the child’s use of drug abuse (NIDA, e.g.) Another factor is friends or peers that you hang out with, struggling in school, and even having poor social skills can put children at risk (NIDA, e.g.). It is always that first high that normally gets you hook. Marijuana is the getaway drug that will sooner or later make you start trying harder drugs. It is very difficult for an addicted to quit, and very easy to get hook back on.