Criminalization Of Homelessness Essay

People ignorant about the struggles of homelessness and would rather make homeless people “disappear” than help them

The subject of homelessness is not universally discussed in society because many people are either ignorant or unwilling to get involved to help. Although it is taboo, every day people are faced with or see homelessness. Many times driving under freeway passes or through highly populated cities, the homeless population can be seen everywhere. California has the densest homeless population in the United States, which is Skid Row in Los Angeles. In the state of California, the effects of homelessness continue to be an ongoing challenge for not only citizens but law enforcement and elected officials. There are many causes for homelessness, but the biggest reasons include mental illness and incarceration, family and financial struggles, and substance abuse.

Another stereotype that has established itself in society’s mindset is that all homeless people are criminals. In the online Huffington Post article, “10 Facts About Homelessness,” written by Bill Quigley, the author asserts that “Jerome Murdough, a homeless former Marine, was arrested for trespass in New York because he was found sleeping in a public housing stairwell.” In all reality, if any homeless individual commits a crime, they are not dangerous crimes rather they are status crimes. Status crimes include trespassing, loitering, or sleeping on public property. Nonetheless, if a criminal had committed serious crimes such as murder or involvement in drug, they would be behind bars, not lurking on the streets. In her online article called

In my experience, my homeless clients have engaged in high risk health behaviors and neglected their health. These high risk behaviors include substance abuse, criminal activity, incarceration, and unsafe sex practices. As a result these individuals experience high disease burdens and mortality rates. Boston Health Care for the Homeless estimated that the total annual expenditures from ER visits was $16,011,738 annually (Thakarar, Morgan, Gaeta, Hohl, & Drainoni, 2015). “Multiple factors have been identified as predictors of frequent ER use in homeless persons such as older age, previous hospital admissions and emergency room visits, multiple primary care visits, perceived inadequate mental health care, poor health status, and HIV” (Thakarar, et al., 2015). Previous studies have shown that homeless individuals are frequent emergency room (ER) users and this leads to high health care costs (Thakarar, et al., 2015). Several clinical trials have shown that interventions such as intensive case management programs, assertive community treatment teams, or supportive housing can reduce frequent ER visits and hospital costs. (Thakarar, et al., 2015). The cost of providing case management needs to be weighed against the value of

The issue of contemporary homelessness has took a huge shift from the common perception of homeless people. I am witnessing a shift from the image of ‘homelessness’ being a physically dirty, pan handling, poor, uneducated individual who does not have a physical home for shelter. Initially, I failed to recognize that ‘homelessness’ can be a temporary state on can live in. Not all homeless people are homeless by “choice”, sometimes people are homeless by “force”. Events such as natural disasters or even death of a parent/spouse are uncontrolled

Homelessness, while widely acknowledged, continues to be an ever-prevalent issue within society. This urged me to take action. In order to compromise an accurate, precise claim, I needed to heavily research and analyze the various aspects of this issue -- specifically regarding the causes of homelessness, addressing the stereotypes and stigmas surrounding it, and by finding solutions at a personal, local, and national level. Initially, I intended to include pathos as a primary theme throughout my sources, but I eventually found logos as a more prevalent, more central theme that appeared throughout each source. Presented primarily through statistics, logos stands as the central theme.

Homelessness in New York City has undoubtedly changed tremendously since the 1990’s. In 2015 today it is no secret that there is a huge homelessness crisis in New York City. We see them on most if not every train ride either asking for money, food or in a corner using the rain as a form of shelter. Often time’s people look down upon homeless people and think they all have mental or drug issues or didn't work hard enough to make it on this place where people come to so called have a better life. Although it might be true that these homeless people might acquire these issues it is imperative for us to understand how to go to the positions they are in today. In the 1990’s although homelessness did exist it wasn't as extreme as it is today. We might be surprised to know that certain people that we see working the low paying jobs or even certain students at school might be homeless.

The current government is creating a situation where more families along with their children are experiencing homelessness. An individual may be considered homeless when they lack permanent housing and have to stay in shelters, abandoned buildings or vehicles, on the streets, or in other forms of unstable situations. Many homeless people start out with jobs and stable residences, but then social and economic factors intervene, causing a rapid change in their living situation causing them to leave, and live on the street. Even with the population of homeless keeps increasing, the government does not aid nor benefit the homeless because they only worsen the homeless problem by having laws that go against homelessness, not helping mentally ill homeless population, and having the lack of subsidized housing.

Homelessness is one the most ignored problems in the United States with citizen and politician. Homeless people are walked by and ignored. Nobody ever thinks that they will be homeless. Due to the economy, people live paycheck to paycheck making house payments very difficult. Most people will want to believe most homeless people are drug addicts or alcoholics, but most people will be surprise to know that it is no all true. Veterans with PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) have a high risk of becoming homeless. Homelessness is cause by drug and alcohol dependencies, the economy and veterans who suffers from PTSD or other forms of mental illness.

New York City is seen as a beautiful place to visit but the reality is there’s an ugly side to the city and it’s known as homelessness. In New York it is so common to see a homeless person in the train station or on a train and on the streets sleeping. This problem has been increasing ever since the Great Depression and we need to do something to decrease the number of this population and put a full stop to it. The majority of the New Yorkers just walk past them and instead of giving them left overs they decide to throw out the food and keep moving. Not only are these people suffering due to hunger, extremely poor hygiene and inhumane living conditions but they are also victims of assault and discrimination. The homeless in New York City and most likely everywhere else are also committing crimes. These crimes may vary from stealing to harassing people and these crimes make their whole population look bad and prevent people from helping them. We need to help them and start off by offering them something to eat or maybe giving them a blanket so they won’t get sick during the winter.

The issue of homelessness in America has been evident since the early 1600’s. Across the country men, women and children spend their nights on the streets not knowing when or if they will ever find a permanent home. States and federal officials or city councils have tried to alleviate or at least reduce the number of homeless over the last several decades at a city, state or national level but it continues to be an ongoing problem. There is a multitude of factors that account for the growing homeless population that affects each state in the country differently. Though there are many contributing factors that contribute to the amount of people living on the street at any given night in the U.S. An effective way to address the problem of homelessness in America is to continue creating affordable housing, maintaining assistance programs, and continue creating workforce

Looking at society as a whole with individual units that work together to make society function efficiently is the structural functionalism concept. Each unit has a part and is describe as institutions such as family, religion, education, politics, economy and inequality. Because structural functionalism looks at social structure and patterns of behavior it is able to create values for society. As well as, distinguish between visible and suppressed problems within the social structures that may need to be addressed. For instance, homelessness is indication of dysfunction in structural functionalism system.

During the recent years homelessness has increased eminently. Although homelessness is not a new phenomenon it has become a huge social issue in today’s society. In urban areas homelessness is visible by the masses but ignored by society’s negative perception. Characterized as unstable individuals, alcoholics and criminals by society, these negative stereotypes have only escalate the issue. Homeless can occur at any stage of life for multitude of factors. Disabled individuals, veterans and families are some of the demographic that is affected by homelessness. Physical ailments such as malnutrition, lack of hygiene, undiagnosed diseases and/or disorders can be detrimental. Mental disorders such as depression can develop due to the harsh circumstances of living on the streets. The lack of support, affordable housing and medical care that homeless individuals are receiving are prime examples of the need for compassionate and dedicated social workers to assist homeless individuals in regaining hope, purpose, and to evoke the strength within themselves. Living in shelters or public areas, homeless individuals are extremely resilience. On a daily basis homeless individuals must find new ways to survive to constantly changing

Homelessness is everywhere and it’s a growing problem in America. There are many reasons in which become homeless, and many of us ask ourselves should we help the homeless. We must remember that they are people too, and some time or another in life we all need help, even then homeless. In order to end or prevent homelessness, there are a number of things we must fix, the main thing being the affordable housing.

Homelessness is a struggle that most people don’t know, or that people ignore because they frown on homeless people. These people frown on homeless people because the homeless are often unshaven ruff looking people that had a bad turn in life, this life changing event that turned them into what some people frown upon. These people are frowned upon by so many but the people that frown upon them have no idea what their going through.