Lyndon B Johnson Approach To Criminal Justice

George is addressing the important issue of the perception of poverty in the United States at this time. She brings up many valid points about the perceptions of poverty in the United States and how nonprofit organizations perpetuate this narrow view of what poverty is in order to elicit contributions (676). Moreover, George is able to show how Habitat for Humanity while helping many people in need. Also gives the false idea that people living in poverty merely need some volunteers to build them a home and then they will be able to work their way right out of poverty (678). Given these points, Prof. George explains, the idea that people in the United States living poverty all live in squalor or are homeless does nothing but limit people’s knowledge of what true people in need actually look like (682). By the same token, when it comes to the actual individuals in need, many of them might not even realize or want to admit that they are in need themselves (682-683). One limiting factor of Prof. George’s article is that she narrowly focuses on one nonprofit organization to show how the majority of nonprofit organizations portray people in

The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.

In Diana George's essay "Changing the Face of Poverty," she explains how the issue of poverty in the United States is misinterpreted. Diana argues that organizations with the primary goal of eradicating global poverty may be the ones contributing to the problem they're fighting against. I can agree with George that Americans have some over simplistic views and stereotypes which then “often fail to overturn cultural commonplaces that represent poverty as an individual problem that can be addressed on an individual basis.” (678) In order to overcome poverty organizations such as Habit need to move past using “the most common understandings of poverty in America." (680)

From “The Other America,” in Major Problems by Michael Harrington is a document that tells of the poverty present in America that is often skillfully and unintentionally concealed and also speaks of Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty and briefly of how poverty rose during the Reagan administration. After Johnson’s declaration of war on poverty, there was significant change regarding the climate of the social, economic, and political in the America of those times. And while Johnson’s countless social programs helped decrease poverty immensely, it also left a huge number drowning in it still. Later Reagan’s administration would cite George Gilder on the fact that welfare did not reduce poverty but increase it to explain why the levels of poverty rose during the first few months of Reagan’s administration. Democrats and liberals would argue against this and say that poverty

During 1959, the percentage of the nonwhite population below the poverty level was at 53.3 percent, at the end of President Johnson’s term, the percentage was at 29.5 percent; this trend of declining poverty was also seen in the white population (Document 7). President Johnson wasn’t a president of just the nonwhite groups, he was also a champion of the poor and this chart shows that consistency of President Johnson’s policy towards both the white, blacks, and other minorities. Movements by Johnson such as the creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development sought to provide affordable federal housing to the poor. Additionally, President Johnson also sought to create a minimum wage system that provided workers with a (semblance of a) steady income. One of the main things that President Johnson has done was create the Community Agency Action (CAA) to help provide economic opportunity to local residents. Although this program led to the division in the Democratic party over disagreement over the allocations of funds, this program embodied President Johnson’s concept of being directly involved in the welfare of the people. Debates in the government under the Great Society program fought not only to help the poorer but also as to how the funds are spent to help the poor the most (compared to previous incidents of government officials lining their own

Poverty rates dropped to the lowest it had ever been in the United States. What used to be the poverty rate of 17.3% in 1958 had significantly dropped to 11.1% in 1965 after the initiation of Lyndon B. Johnson’s “war on poverty” acts and programs (Boundless). The programs that Johnson had implemented caused the standard of living to rise in the areas of impoverished US citizens. Elderly people as well as low-income families could now afford healthcare. Children were given access to education through the government funding of public schools, which paved the way for more students to be able to move on to higher educations. School funding and volunteer programs were put in place to combat the low literacy rates in underprivileged areas, and training programs were made available to help those who were unemployed gain skills and knowledge that would help them secure jobs. Families with low incomes were now able to afford housing with government funds being allocated to build houses in the low-income areas. Even the goods that were being bought had increased in quality because of acts that raised the standard of production of consumer goods (ushistory.org). Although the Johnson administration had very strong critics of the “war on poverty” their actions generated lasting impacts on the society that is seen

Despite what the dictionary says, there are many definitions of the word justice based on the world’s opinions. The opinions then depend on the situation at hand. There is the discussion of justice for the person who has been hurt, for the person who has conceived a crime, and even for those who have committed an accident. In the end, justice is intended to establish an equal solution for any circumstance. Every person in society deserves to be punished equally for the crimes they have committed to ensure justice is served.

Nelson Mandela once said that “As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest” (Mandela). Mandela quote personifies the attitudes that the author Sherman Alexie, and Paul Krugman have towards the rift of poverty in the United States. The state of social unrest between economic classes in the United States has been a major issue for generations, and continues to be a problem to this day. This separation between economic classes in America has caused a rift to be formed, and throughout the history of the United States, this rift is yet to be repaired. It is this rift that causes those individuals that are trapped in poverty to face problems trying to escape it.

The overarching national theme of Reaganism, explored by Kushner, is used to describe the foreboding sociopolitical reign held by Ronald Reagan from 1981 until 1989. Reagan’s optimism, post Vietnam War and a riot driven 1970s, promoted through tax, cuts, the transformation of social programs, foreign policy and supply side economics was praised by scholars alike. In contrast Kushner aligns himself with opposing critics, blaming Reaganite American for the same polices. In hindsight this made the rich richer and the poor poorer. Thomas Mann says ‘The poverty rate is no lower and by some measures is actually higher than before. There are some people in this country who have been left behind.’(Nielsen, 2008). Reagan slimmed down the welfare state

Justice is a term that could mean many different things depending on who one was talking to. Before even beginning to look for justice within the city and the soul of America and her people, one first needs to determine what exactly one is

On a domestic level, the United States has been torn between rugged individualism and social welfare, concerning aid/relief, since the country's inception (Welfare, n.d.). The argument is usually rhetorically spun, one side stating that an individual should be responsible for their own destiny, they should rise to the challenges of life, meeting each one head on, with an equal chance to succeed or fail. The problem with adhering only to this frame of reference is that it generalizes the complicated and varied experience that is human existence. Humans are born into the world and are taught by their caretakers and environment. For instance, what is valued, what is taboo, which career paths are acceptable and what success is defined by are

The prevailing thought currently held in America on justice is the idea of moral relativism. Simply put, moral relativism states that a person's moral and ethical beliefs are entirely subjective, they are completely dependent on an individual's social, cultural, and personal circumstances. There are no transcendental or universal moral truths governing what is right or wrong. It is based solely on opinion. Moral relativism does not argue for a spectrum of nuanced shades of grays instead of a black and white concept of right versus wrong, it insists that the spectrum does not exist at all.

According to BusinessDictionary.com, Justice is “fairness in protection of rights and punishment of wrongs. While all legal systems aim to uphold this ideal through fair and proper administration of the law of the land, it is possible to have unjust laws.” Justice seems to appear a lot in many of the United States' most important documents such as the Pledge of Allegiance, The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Justice still remains a hard topic to talk about because people usually disagree over what they deserve and whether they're receiving it fairly or not. In my opinion the real question is, if Justice is always served?

While it has proven to be difficult to end poverty in America, Peter Edelman is optimistic. In his book So Rich, So Poor Edelman makes a call to action. There are four prominent ideas that underpin Edelman’s reasoning throughout the book: (1) More people must understand why poverty is still so prevalent in America; (2) extreme poverty must be taken into consideration as a shocking 6 million Americans’ sole income was food stamps in 2011. This fact alone creates a sense of urgency that drives Edelman; (3) increasing income inequality should be treated as a moral issue; and (4) bold political action will be required if substantive progress will be made in alleviating poverty.

Many Americans believe that America has one of the most powerful economies that is involved in the global market and the best average living standards. Since the creation of the United States it has been known as the land of endless opportunities, regardless of social or economic classes. Under this philosophy, all citizens should have equal rights and given equal opportunity to progress in the workforce. However many Americans are living full lives and do not have financial obstacles to get over. Even so, millions of Americans are still faced with poor living conditions and struggle with providing for their families basic needs. Whether Americans believe poverty and inequality exist in America exists or not, the authors in three different articles:” Culture of Success” by Brink Lindsey, “A Great Time to Be Alive?” by Matt Yglesias, and “Born Poor and Smart” by Angela Locke, and “The War Against the Poor Instead of Programs to End Poverty”by Herbert J. Gans, shared ideas on how to help fix the problems of the impoverished community and address the cause of the problem. The four articles also explain different biases that the impoverish have to endure everyday.