Poverty In Developing Countries

What would you do if you saw your family malnourished, struggling to stay afloat? Studies show that people living in poverty are more likely to commit crimes if the outcome of the crime will provide

Individuals struggling to keep adequate shelter. Some may face challenges of seeking medical attention. Others have no access to jobs or schools. Some parents fail daily in providing food and water for their children. These are just a few sentences that describe poverty. If we closed our eyes and envisioned poverty, we think of children in the second-largest continent, Africa, standing around with no clothes or shoes on. We think of the kids looking mal-nutritious or with other sicknesses and flies flying around their faces but they are too weak to brush them away. We think of people with no education, no skills, or no ideas. These statements are far from facts. I will take you through the ongoing issue of poverty from a macro-level and show you how it can affect case management. Then I will take you through the case management process of trying to end poverty.

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.” Mahatma Gandhi’s words still ring true in today’s society. Poverty is nothing to sweep under the rug or put on the back burner. While many statistics state that poverty is decreasing, other sources state the opposite. Poverty is a hot topic in the U.S., foreign countries, and speaks true about many genders, ethnic groups, and children.

When it relates to violent crimes, specifically murder, the level of poverty in a city has been shown to be a contributing factor. According to (Horton, 2002), in his research comparing the rate of poverty to the rate of homicide, he found that there was a correlation between the two. In his article he talked about how those who fall under the poverty line tend

Researchers at one point or another presume the idea that having low income is a contributing factor to committing crimes. It is either based on experience or our surroundings that we challenge this idea. It based on information by

In 2012, “13.3% of Canadian children lived in poverty,” (UNICEF, 2012) which ranks Canada behind the average of child poverty in developed countries. In a study by the American Psychological Association, they have concluded that children in poverty are “at greater risk for several negative outcomes such as poor academic achievement, and school dropout,” (Holzer, 2008) and that this is most likely the result of “abuse and neglect, behavioural problems,” (Holzer, 2008) and development delays. In a later study by Statistics Canada, statistics show that only “31% of youth from the bottom income quartile attended postsecondary education compared with 50.2% in the top income quartile.” (Frenette, 2008) Unfortunately, because of the low academic achievements, children that are raised in poverty are “likely to fall into lower income situations themselves in adulthood.” (Fleury, 2014) Consequently, people in this position are likely to become victims or offenders of crimes as research findings show that there is a link “between neighbourhoods with higher proportions of residents living in low-income situations and higher rates of violent crime.” (Savoie, 2015) To conclude, the negative implications of poverty do not allow for children to strive and reach their full potential;

In the essay “Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?” Barbara Ehrenreich states her opinion about poor citizens in America, resulting to criminal actions because they are poor. The United States poverty rate has reached 15.1%, which is the highest rate of any developed country (Riddix, 2011). The latest statistics show that the poverty rate continues to climb. Many Americans struggle to find enough money to pay for the basic necessities of life.

Countries of the world can clearly be divided into rich and poor. These rich and established countries already having a developed education system, health care system, and strong central government where as these poor and developing countries are struggling with all of the above. Poor countries also suffering from terrible diseases, crime, and corruption on all fronts, including government; something that these rich and powerful countries know not much about. However, when the question comes up, “Do these rich nations owe poor nations?” The answer should and always be no. Rich countries are not responsible for the huge amounts of debts that these developing countries are in, they are not responsible for the misuse of grants and loans giving to these developing countries, and they are certainly not responsible for all of the corruptions in government and commerce that take place in most of these developing countries. With that being said, these rich countries do not owe these poor developing countries anything, but should aid in their development. With the gap widening between rich and poor nations, this cycle will continue until the gap is too wide to be fixed. These established countries must take more responsibility into assisting these developing countries and bridging the gap between rich and poor.

Poverty is “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor” (Dictionary.com, 2017). Based off this definition poverty is a condition that can cause a cascade of cause and effect actions that is detrimental to families and individuals both physically and mentally. Haan, Kaplan, & Camacho (2017) completed a study on the correlation between social and economic status and health in adults in Oakland, CA. They found that the lower the socioeconomic class the higher incidents of diseases and deaths related to chronic diseases (p.1161-1162). Just being without money or little money was not the only indication of health indication, a person living in an area with higher poverty issues

A violent crime occurs every 23.5 seconds in the United States of America. Even though crime has been at a low during the past decade, violence is still prevalent in today’s society. Most of these crimes happen in places that are socio-economically disadvantaged. There then is the debate of whether violent crime is associated with environments struck with poverty. There is a correlation between violent crimes and poverty because of the unemployment rates in major cities, the culture of poor areas, and drugs.

There is evidence everywhere to suggest that poverty is a cause of crime, anti-social behaviour, and drug abuse. However, this can be counter-argued, as these can be a symptom of poverty – for example, an individual spending all their money on drugs and alcohol can lead to having no money to pay for sanitation, food, water, and shelter.

“Many people living in poverty do not want to be living in poverty. In order to obtain a higher level of socioeconomic status, crime is seen as the only option.” (Wilson, 1987).

Poverty in Developing and Less Developed Countries The world includes less developed countries and developing countries. Less developed countries are countries considered to be poor and often contain many people who are in absolute poverty. Developing countries are countries like India, which are gaining in wealth. There are two types of poverty within the world.

Poverty and the relationship it has to crime is a long standing sociological, humanists and historical phenomenon. From the plight of the third world to the violence soaked inner city streets of the 1980’s, the relationship of crime and poverty has been the source of a great deal of social commentary. In societies throughout the world and throughout history there has always been a traditional measure of deviance through relative income gaps. Both poverty and crime as well as their connections are heavily weighed topics of political and social discourse. Opinions in these areas contain a great deal of variance. The prejudices of the old guard from the professional police era still utilize association with poverty as a measuring stick for social deviance. Meanwhile, intelligent social science continues to give insight to factors such as social disorganization, socialization into violence, as well as, the far reaching impact political, economic and justice based policies have on those in poverty.

Crime and poverty often seem to go hand in hand in the modern world, or so is the perception. With poverty rates edging higher this is even more important in our modern day. The unemployment rate is one of the key indicators of the health of our economy. The standard of living for most people falls greatly once they have reached the poverty rate, which makes people live nervously, frantically, and gives greater incentive for them to commit a crime possibly just to get by. In 2007 when the major economic recession took place, the unemployment rate started to rise steadily, peaking at an annual average of 10% in 2009, which was 5% higher than the average the four years prior.1