Safe Streets Act Essay

“One diverse population that has continued to increase over the quarter of a century is composed of people who are homeless” (Baggerly & Zalaquett, 2006, p.155). Homelessness has become a growing problem in society because more and more people are finding themselves to be homeless and not knowing where to turn. Many people do not

Homelessness is a social problem that is prevalent around the world. Homelessness has existed for much of "civilized" human history. In the last two centuries, homelessness and changed and expanded. Sociologists who study and research homelessness have argued over its formal definition for decades, though for some, the definition of homelessness seems self explanatory and obvious. The paper will examine homelessness, particularly as a sociological issue, or a social issue seen from a sociological perspective. The paper will additionally reference sociological theory as a means of explanation for homelessness, such its causes, the demographics/populations, and other prominent known characteristics of homeless people. There are individuals and groups who choose to be, from a normative societal perspective, homeless, but for a great deal of the homeless population, it can be a treacherous and tragic lifestyle that is a result of a distinct set of social, societal, and individual factors.

Homelessness is defined as having no fixed place to sleep at night. This includes people staying in motels until their money runs out, those staying with friends, those staying in shelters, and those sleeping inside or out whatever space they can find to protect themselves. The number of homeless people has been growing and it has become a serious problem in our society. Every night in Canada there are thousands of people living on the streets. This type of behaviour is considered deviant because it does not reflect the norms and values of our society. In many cases the homeless people in our country are treated as total outcasts. Many of these people have severe mental disorders. Some are victims of an economy that has

The book “With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets” written by Marni Finkelstein refers to the homeless youth. This book describes the lifestyle of the teenagers with no home and explains with detail about what consist in their everyday lives in the streets of New York City. The purpose of this book is to explain to people who these kids are and to see life in their point of view. It explains the difference between street kids and the kids that live on the street. We need to understand that the kids that live on the streets have their own culture and their own way of surviving. Learning their point of view would be a great eye opening experience for everyone and to also understand their struggle. This book explains a study that was done to 50 street kids and life on the streets.

The majority of homeless children and females are victims of domestic violence (NCH, 1998). It is estimated that there are 200 000 homeless people who live on the streets of Canada (Globe and Mail, 1998) and an 80 000 more in risk of becoming homeless (National Post, 1998). Of these people between 30% and 35% are people with severe mental illnesses (National Post, 1998). "On any given night, 45% of the 4 200 people filling Toronto's homeless shelters are families with children" (Toronto Star, 1998). An increasing number of the homeless are teenagers of which many are runaways who have been kicked out or felt they had no choice but to leave (Michaud, Margaret, 1988). It is difficult to find out exactly what age categories the homeless fit into because the information is very limited. -3- WHY THEY ARE HOMELESS There is so many different causes of homelessness the largest being poverty (NCH, 1998). Poor people are frequently unable to pay for housing, food, health care and child care. It is hard to make choices when recourses are so limited. Unemployment is also a large contribution to the homeless society (NCH, 1998). Another factor contributing to homelessness is the decline in Social Services. Within the last few years, government has made it increasingly difficult for anyone to be approved to get assistance. There is also the factors of domestic violence which forces many out of their home, mental illness which enables the individuals to obtain

Adoption of laws and policies that punish homeless people rather than addressing the problems that cause homelessness is an ineffective approach. Penalizing people for engaging in innocent behavior – such as sleeping in public, sitting on the sidewalk, or begging – will not reduce the occurrence of these activities or keep homeless people out of public spaces when they have no other place to sleep or sit or no other means of living. With insufficient resources for shelter and services for homeless people, enforce punishment for unavoidable activities is not only pointless, it is inhumane (Brown,1999, July/August). Relying on law enforcement officials and jails to address homelessness and related issues, such as mental illness and substance abuse, that are more appropriately handled by service providers, causes problems and widespread frustrations within the criminal justice system. Police officers are not adequately trained to respond to the situations that arise, the criminal justice system does not provide the necessary treatment

Youth who live on the streets are there for two main reasons either they chose to leave the home because of the living situation or they will leave home because they are kicked out or drugs and alcohol have led them onto the streets. 20% of the homeless population is youth and it is increasing every year because of the changes that our generation is going through and being affected by. The rates of suicide in homeless youth are 10.3 times larger then an average Canadian youth. (McKay, E. (2009). Independent Living Accounts: Leaving Homelessness in the Past.).

On another note, Candace Crook explains, “Although homeless children may become perpetrators of criminal activity, they may also, unfortunately, become the victims of criminal activity; this outcome results from the homeless children being forced to spend great lengths of time in public spaces” (367). Homeless children also tend to repeatedly fall victim of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Whether homeless children are the perpetuator or the victim, there is a direct correlation between a drop in homelessness and a drop in the crime rate.

The new Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act (2003) In Queensland permits prisoners to be kept in prison beyond their release date where a court finds that there is a ‘high degree of probability’ that they represent a ‘serious danger to the community’. Other jurisdictions have enacted similar legislation to restrict the release of prisoners assessed to be dangerous. Do you think that dangerousness legislation of this sort is justified or unjustified?

On December 24th 2012 a few firemen in west Webster, my hometown, responded to a working house fire. When they arrived on scene a gunman opened fire with a firearm killing LT. Mike Chipperini of the Webster police department. Also killing Tomasz Kaczowka of the West Webster fire department, and injuring two other fire fighters. Webster police found the gunman William Spengler dead near the scene with a Self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head (Rochester NY news). This incident hit close to home for many people because things like

The ethnography With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets by Marni Finkelstein, describes the life of street youth in New York City. The ethnography attempts to debunk myths that prior studies have formed of these street youths. The author, Marni Finkelstein is an Anthropologist renowned for her work on urban populations at risk. She graduated from the New School of Social Research in New York City with her PhD in Anthropology. Finkelstein has also conducted studies on substance abuse, sexual assaults and drug use of youths in New York City. Finkelstein achieves her goals, by using a scientific approach when observing the street youths. A few methods she utilizes are similar to that have been previous used but

Throughout the United States, there are a large number of individuals that goes unnoticed. Hidden in right plain sight, but are overlooked. They can be our friends, family, classmates, or the person standing right next you to at this moment. There are young individuals who are facing the tremendous challenge of being homeless. They are overlooked by many in society. However, there have been countless individuals, groups, organizations dedicated to ending youth homelessness. However, they are confronted with challenges due to the lack of interest. The lack of interest found within society can contribute to barriers to ending youth homelessness.

Community policing changed the traditional definition of policing from crime control to community problem solving and empowerment. African Americans and Hispanics were stopped for longer periods and represented 80 percent of the cars that were searched following a stop. Discretionary law enforcement practices may result in a greater chance of African Americans receiving a prison sentence. Offenses by African American were more likely to lead to arrests than those of White Americans. Studies show that African Americans reported being less satisfied with the police than White Americans.

Homeless individuals can be easily detected in our society. They are the individuals dressed in drab clothing asking for money, the people sleeping on park benches in the middle of the night, and the people who we judge when they beg for money wondering why they don’t get a job. They are judged under a certain narrative that reduces the homeless individual into their current state of being (Lancione, 2013). To understand homelessness one should not only look at the current condition of the individuals but also look at the discourse of factors and events that led homeless individuals into their current states. Homeless youth although hard to spot are still very much a current problem in our society. Many youth fall in between the cracks of the system and are forced to find different ways to produce some sort of income. There is a strong stigma involved when it comes to homeless youth and many face dangers and a great amount of stress while living on the streets (Kidd, 2007). Many of the homeless youth find it difficult to survive and often don’t have shelter and are always hungry (Kidd, 2007). To support themselves, many homeless youth find themselves engaging in prostitution as a means of income and survival (Kidd, 2007). It is not enough to look at the current state of homeless youth but also important to understand the different factors that lead them to making certain decisions; it is no ones first choice to participate in illegal work. In my paper I argue that, the

Street children’s identity affects their lives clearly through their behavior, their appearance, and their future-seeking perspective. Firstly, street children’s identity impacts their behavior. For instance, Mario Macilau, a top photographer who started his life on the street, talks about his childhood: “It wasn’t very safe. We had nowhere to keep anything, so we stole from one another. I got into some bad habits – minor criminality, but it was a question of survival. Dog eat dog” (Macilau). This proves that they had to “eat” each other in order to survive, otherwise they would have been “eaten.” Since the street has no security, street children must protect themselves by their