Is it now a crime to be poor?

jason_els

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Sometimes I'd like to participate in discussions but find myself so emotionally and intellectually infuriated that I have to decline.

I tend to think the motto of America these days should be:

I've got mine, fuck you!

It's disgraceful and shockingly ignorant as the cost of incarcerating and branding these people for life far exceeds the cost of sheltering, clothing, feeding, nursing, and finding and/or teaching these people jobs. All those things seem expensive until you realize that extreme poverty is not a lifetime condition and these people can be assisted into becoming independent tax payers instead of lifetime tax consumers. And that is, rather disgustingly, the only argument that seems to hit home with many people who otherwise like to think of themselves as charitable.

Sometimes I wish my ancestors had never set foot in this country.
 

joyboytoy79

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Now?
Yes.

Before?
Also yes.

Homelessness has been illegal in many cities for a long time. While few cities actually make the lack of home illegal, they have other laws that effectively do the same. And the punishment for not having a home? Fines.

It's as if the law says "you have no money, it's illegal to have no money, we're going to charge you money you don't have in retribution for the crime of having no money."

In the meantime, taxpayers get to foot the bill for court fees not paid by those incarcerated. How lovely.
 

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Lovely, a criminal record that'll probably prevent you earning enough to ever pay a fine anyway.

Particularly the guy who was dragged out of a homeless shelter to be thrown in jail over a warrant received for sleeping on the street. That's madness!
 

Principessa

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To the best of my knowledge, poverty has always been a crime, or at the very least undesirable.

Being poor is kinda like being fat. People feel free to look down on and shun you because to them it is a sign of laziness, moral and ethical weakness. Clearly, you know how not to be poor or fat and you choose not to. Therefore you are thought to be 'less than' by others.

US Poor Houses by state

A poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality. In early Victorian times (for Britain see Poor Law and workhouse), poverty was seen as a dishonourable state caused by a lack of the moral virtue of industriousness (or industry as it was called). As was depicted by Charles Dickens, a poorhouse or workhouse could resemble a reformatory and house children, either with families or alone, or a penal labour regime to give the poor work at manual labour and subject them to physical punishment. As the 19th century progressed, conditions became better.

The term is commonly applied to such a facility that housed the destitute elderly; institutions of this nature were widespread in the United States prior to the adoption of the Social Security program in the 1930s. Facilities housing indigents who are not elderly are typically referred to as homeless shelters, or simply "shelters," in current usage. Often the poorhouse was situated on the grounds of a poor farm on which able-bodied residents were required to work; such farms were common in the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries; it could even be part of the same economic complex as a prison farm and other penal or charitable public institutions.
 

D_Relentless Original

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It never ceases to amaze me in the UK the amount of people in the bigger cities that are homeless and sleeping in boxes on the streets etc, i am unsure what the criteria is these days for these people as immigrants are provided with housing, medical aid and benefits and in some cases jobs almost straight away.
 

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It never ceases to amaze me in the UK the amount of people in the bigger cities that are homeless and sleeping in boxes on the streets etc, i am unsure what the criteria is these days for these people as immigrants are provided with housing, medical aid and benefits and in some cases jobs almost straight away.

here's quite a few of 'em

BBC NEWS | UK | Warning on ex-services homeless
 

nedly32

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we the people can take simple actions our selfs by simply giveing to those who are homeless or on the verge of being homless ,weather it be money ,food,shelter, trade skills or any thing that can make ones life. more productive,meaninful to make a diffrence in these peoples lifes, Ive seen the many sad lifes storys volenteering at a food pantry people from many backgrounds more and more are needing much help. and judgment and being even more dehumatized by the law or by fellow human beings is just WRONG:frown1: one simple positive action can make a world of diffrece in this madning day of age. give it a try.
 
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SpeedoGuy

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It's disgraceful and shockingly ignorant as the cost of incarcerating and branding these people for life far exceeds the cost of sheltering, clothing, feeding, nursing, and finding and/or teaching these people jobs.

On this topic I don't hesitate to tell conservatives:

The private security forces you're going to have to hire to patrol your gated community 24/7 will prove to be more expensive than if you'd just funded social services properly.

Note: The USA imprisons citizens at a rate five times that of any other industrialized nation.
 

jason_els

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On this topic I don't hesitate to tell conservatives:

The private security forces you're going to have to hire to patrol your gated community 24/7 will prove to be more expensive than if you'd just funded social services properly.

Note: The USA imprisons citizens at a rate five times that of any other industrialized nation.

I know. I keep hoping some nice western European will marry me.

Interestingly enough, I live very close to the oldest gated community in the country and they have a private police force as the community is its own incorporated village. Why have rent-a-cops when you can have the real thing?