Originally posted by Cow Poke
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Crime and violence are demonstrably linked to poverty. So instead of jailing everyone (which certainly keeps the prison-as-a-business industry happy), perhaps actually do something to address poverty?
I heard something on one of the many podcasts I listen to the other day that struck a chord. It went something like this (I'm paraphrasing):
Americans may be the victims of their own ideals. Most people in America believe in the "American Dream;" the notion that anyone with a will and the initiative can go from rags to riches. The negative side of that ideal is "anyone who has not gone from rags to riches has failed to do so because they lack the will and the initiative." As a consequence, Americans tend to see poor people as lazy, and undeserving of assistance. That cycle feeds on itself, condemning generation after generation to poverty, for no other reason than, if you're told you're poor because you're lazy often enough, you'll probably come to agree with it, or define yourself in those terms. Meanwhile, countries that have recognized that sometimes the poor need a leg up - a means to extricate themselves from poverty have significantly less poverty and, as a result, significantly less crime and significantly lower levels of incarceration.
I have the suspicion that will fall on deaf ears on this forum - but I have to admit it rang a bell when you look at the numbers across the various countries, and the evidence that poverty/crime/violence are inextricably linked. And then when you look at the widening gap between rich and poor in this country, and the continual erosion of any program designed to help the poor...
Round and round we go....and then we wonder why we keep seeing the same sights every time the merry-go-round makes another revolution...
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