Poverty and Homicide Essay

In terms of federal poverty measure there are two different versions; one is poverty thresholds and the other is poverty guidelines. Poverty thresholds are a version of the federal poverty measure, developed by Mollie Orshansky in the 1960’s, which is the official measure of poverty that was based off of the cheapest food plan for a family (Schiller). In 1955, studies reflected that poor families spent about one-third of their income on food; so multiplying a low-cost food budget by three determined how much income a family needed (Schiller). Poverty thresholds are mainly used to calculate the number of poor Americans and other poverty population figures (lecture). Since then the threshold has only been adjusted for inflation and is an absolute threshold that considers a family poor if its pre-tax cash income falls below the poverty threshold (lecture). Since the food plan was only supposed to be used temporarily or for emergencies, it is clear it needs some updating. Poverty guidelines are used to determine program eligibility and are considered a simplified version of the poverty threshold (lecture).

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

Poverty within the United States is defined as “having an income below a federally determined poverty threshold. ” Poverty thresholds were developed by the United States government in the 60s to benchmark levels of subsistence. Over time these thresholds are often adjusted to account for inflation; it is now typical for the federal government to adjust the poverty threshold levels annually. Poverty levels represent the government’s estimate of the point below which a family has insufficient resources to meet their basic needs. Any family with less income than the established poverty amount is officially classified as poor or as living in poverty. Income as defined by the federal rules can include cash and cash welfare assistance, but excludes any in-kind welfare assistance. There are restrictions a few other

However, this system of measuring poverty is flawed because if a family makes a dollar more above the set limit, they do not qualify for financial help from the government (NCCP, 2008).The poverty threshold is an inadequate measure of whether people are considered poor or not. Current poverty measures are flawed because it assumes how much a family spends and does not accurately include family resources such as Earned Income Tax Credit (NCCP, 2008). The way that the government measures poverty is based on outdated information that was set in the 60s. Because it has not been sufficient to keep up with the standard of living, those who are living in “high cost cities like New York and those who live in rural areas of the country” (NCCP, 2008) are barely getting by.

In the United States, the Census Bureau sets the official poverty line. The figure used to compute a person’s poverty status includes any earnings, Social Security payments, child support, or other assistance. Then, using the size of the family and the ages of the family members, the Census Bureau determines which poverty threshold applies…According to this poverty measure, 12.5 percent of the U.S. population lived in poverty in 2007. (Introdution)

The census that is taken to see if people are in poverty rate is all based off of income, and does not include the cost of living, but the cost of living differs in every state. (Uneven Gains for States) The states in America do not take into consideration anything other than income, while they should take the region they live in and how many hours they work per week. This would give a better representation to see how many people really are struggling and need help, whether that would be through welfare or foodstamps and other government programs that are set up for people in need. These government programs are in place for people that are tremendously below the poverty line, while they should be focusing on making the whole country better as a whole and not just worrying about the richest people and the poorest but the other sum of people that are still below poverty but not struggling as much. People that have been studying poverty are trying to find ways to lower the poverty level by working on government programs that are in place to help no just the lower class but the people in general such as Welfare, Food Stamps, Free Healthcare. (Uneven Gains for

Poverty is regarded by many as one of the key orchestrators of violence and particularly among African-Americans. Together with racism, these factors are cited

This paper explores the relationship between low income and violent crime rate in Unite State over some period of time. This question is research is interested in how income inequality increases crime rate. Between 1975 to 2004 research shows that income earned by the top 5% of America families increased from 15.3% to 20.1%. Families that are at the bottom sees their earning dropped from 5.1% to 4.2%. Data used for this research is been collected from bureau of justice statistics (BJS) from national Crime and victimization survey (NCVS), which provide summary statistics based on a nationality representative sample for a wide range of crimes. Data is been collected from household that are below and above poverty level in the country and non-fall violent victimization, but

In 2010, about 46.2 million people were considered poor. The nation’s poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent, whereas in 2009, 14.3 percent of people in America were living in poverty (Censky, 2011). That is an increase of 2.6 million people in 2010. In the United States, the federal poverty line – an absolute measure of annual income – is frequently used to determine who is categorized as poor (Ferris & Stein, 2008, 2010). Currently the government defines the poverty line as an income of $11,139 for an individual and $22,314 for a family of four (Censky, 2011). In sociology, poverty can be defined using two terms – relative deprivation and absolute deprivation. Relative deprivation is a comparison between people and social class. With

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.

Poverty and inequality exist in every developed culture and often are only patched in order for society to continue upwardly. Poverty and inequality in the United States exists for many reasons; reasons that very from the prospective lens. Interpretive theories in particular ask us to question our reality and its constructs. Interpretive theories require us to looks at the world as a social realm, one that we created and constantly change. Interpretive theories study the relationship between power and the construction of social roles as well as the invisible collection of patterns and habits that make up domination, (Delgado & Stefanic, 2001). Susan Kemp argues that the view of the world is dominated by the experiences of white western

“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).

From the beginning of time there have always been crimes against persons. People went by the saying “An eye for an eye”. You stole from your neighbor, they stole from you. You hurt someone, they hurt you. It wasn’t until the 1940’s people started taking a closer look into these crimes against person, which they later called victimology. This paper will look into victimology and their theories as we go back into the past and how victimology is now.

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.

Although most people look at poverty and crime as two different social problems, they are interconnected in our society. Wheelock and Uggen (2006) made five core arguments in the article Race, poverty, and punishment: The impact of criminal sanctions on racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequality. This article discusses how crime, poverty, and punishment are all connected. Understanding each of the five core arguments allows someone to grasp how this interconnection of social problems affects society.