1 Running head: VIOLENCE IN BALTIMORE AND HOW POVERTY PLAYS A ROLE Violence in Baltimore And How Poverty Plays A Role Development Gerard Edmonds University of Maryland University College 2 VIOLENCE IN BALTIMORE AND HOW POVERTY PLAYS A ROLE Violence in Baltimore and how Poverty plays a role Violence and Poverty are closely related since Poverty is one of the significant causes of violence in most states in the world. Baltimore is one of these states where violence is now on the rise. Previously known as the charming city, today Baltimore is nothing like a charm. With reports of over 56 deaths in over a hundred thousand people, this state is the second highest on deaths per capita. The violent crimes in this city include; common and aggravated assaults, rapes, homicides, shootings, and robberies. Some of the reasons that cause violence include; poor security, unemployment, and Poverty. in this easy, I will discuss why Poverty is one of the leading causes of violence in Baltimore. Background information The crime statistics in Baltimore have not always been high. It was in 2015 when crime rates spiked, marked by increased riots and murders. Although there was a trend in the increase in the rate of homicides, 2016-2017 marked a rise in 12% of violent crimes, which grew to 6733 incidents in 100, 000 people. Poverty is the most significant cause of this rise in poverty levels. In Baltimore, almost a quarter of the residents live below the poverty line. Between 1970 and 2010, more people have plunged deeper into poverty, making it challenging to meet their basic needs. In addition to the number of poverty neighbourhoods increasing, the population of people living in these places in on the rise. Then the rate of unemployment is high, and the residents are not happy with their circumstances. Poverty has made the residents despite, frustrated, and it has caused them to indulge in violence. Argument People who live in Poverty often engage in violence as a result of the conditions they are exposed to. Poverty is known to cause high levels of stress, which in turn may lead individuals to commit acts of violence. Poverty hinders people from accessing quality education hence low chances of employment. Poverty also leads to a lack of role models and a lack of decent places to spend time, thus causing the youth to most of their time in the streets. This increases the chances of them joining gangs, which leads them to commit crimes. Poverty, therefore, is a significant factor that leads to atrocities. Different authors support this claim, and they add more information to clarify it. In Sharkey, P., Besbris, M., & Friedson, M. (2016). Poverty and crime. The authors explain the theories that the evidence that shows the relationship between Poverty and crime bot at the individual levels and the society level. In the book Poverty, ethnicity, and violent crime by Short Jr, the impacts of these three factors are explained. He pays more attention to how crime and Poverty are related, and how one leads to the other. In the article poverty, Debra Rosenthal explains the definition of poverty how resources are distributed and economic inequality. I will also use Paul A. Wagner ‘s article on ethics and inclusion to explain the impacts of lack of inclusion and how this causes poverty. One objection for my stand is that violence causes Poverty and not Poverty causing violence. My response. To respond to this, I will provide statistical evidence of the rise of violence in Baltimore and the rise of Poverty in the state. I will then give more reasons why the argument that poverty causes crime is stronger than that which states that violence causes Poverty. 3 VIOLENCE IN BALTIMORE AND HOW POVERTY PLAYS A ROLE Reference Sharkey, P., Besbris, M., & Friedson, M. (2016). Poverty and crime. In the Oxford handbook of the social science of poverty. Short Jr, J. F. (2018). Poverty, ethnicity, and violent crime. Routledge. Taylor, R. (2018). Breaking away from broken windows: Baltimore neighborhoods and the nationwide fight against crime, grime, fear, and decline. Routledge. Running Head: HOW LOCAL POVERTY SHOULD BE HANDLED How Local Poverty Should Be Handled Gerard Edmonds PHIL 140 September 8, 2019 1 HOW LOCAL POVERTY SHOULD BE HANDLED 2 In the year 1964, President Lyndon Johnson would declare war on poverty in the United States, 54 years later, this war is yet to be won. Poverty is a reality for millions of Americans who struggle to afford basic necessities such as housing, food, clothing, school supplies, among many others. Poverty results from unemployment, low income, and lack of affordable housing and healthcare. In the US about 12.3% (39.7 million people) of the population is living in poverty bases off 2017 census estimates (Rippin, 2017). When it comes to solving the poverty problem in the US, there is no simple solution. Food banks and homeless shelters are able to provide temporary refuge for the poor and homeless. A permanent solution is still needed to ensure that these individuals are able to live life with basic human decency. The purpose of this paper is to, therefore, argue for the redistribution of resources by the government combined with increased opportunities for the poor to earn for themselves through job creation and training to create a self-sustaining system that will ensure that the poor are able to make it out of poverty and stay out of poverty. In medieval time justice would be proffered on the basis of class and social standing, society has however evolved to the point where any form of discrimination based on sex, social class, race among many other determinants violate the concept of justice we abide by. Ironically, however, there still exist people in the society who have no access to food, clean water, and a roof over their heads. These people are forced to watch their children die from lack of access to quality medical care and are essentially excluded from society (Arsenio, 2015). Therefore, even though there is formal equality in a sense, there is a lack of a corresponding sense of justice. The poor are disadvantaged to the point that they cannot take advantage of the judicial and constitutional machinery that supposedly provides the equality of opportunity. These economic disadvantages mock the poor’s right to life, equality, and justice enshrined in the American HOW LOCAL POVERTY SHOULD BE HANDLED 3 constitution. Conceptual relativism proposes that human beings play an active role in the construction of their reality. This concept postulates the idea that “the world does not present itself to us ready-made or ready-carved; rather we supply different, and at times incompatible, ways of categorizing and conceptualizing it.” Based on this understanding there is the implication that human beings can make errors in the construction of society and as such when a system does not work, it should be revised to improve the welfare of everyone concerned. Social justice or distributive justice refers to a system where there is a realignment of resources or rights from one group to another by the government. It is a complicated process since poverty is not caused only by the lack of economic resources; there are various policies and systems in place that perpetuate discrimination which denies access to tools, resources, and education that people need in order to be able to improve their situation in life. The extreme deprivation of over 39.7 million Americans in a world where there are enough resources for everyone is a grave injustice. In the US, there are various inequalities that make it easier for people born into financially stable homes to succeed (Rippin, 2017). These individuals have access to quality schools and institutions, quality medical care, sufficient food, and adequate housing. Furthermore, they have the resources and information needed to navigate the complex social and political institutions. However, a child born into a poor family despite being bright may not have access to quality education and other resources that may bring about upward mobility. A balancing act is, therefore, necessary to make the playing field. This is based on the understanding that “the distribution of wealth—and by extension, well-being—could be different if we changed our social institutions and public policies.” Inequalities in the current system continue to perpetuate more inequality which ultimately feeds the cycle of poverty. For instance, Americans with a college degree earn about 84% more HOW LOCAL POVERTY SHOULD BE HANDLED 4 than those with only a high school diploma. A college education is, however expensive, and the poor cannot access it without scholarships or incurring a lot of debt. In the past five decades, the average top 1% of the population have doubled national income contributions. Their income averages over 39 times of the bottom 90% (Iqbal, 2018). This, therefore, necessitates social welfare programs such as Medicaid, housing assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, progressive taxing, among others which attempt to redistribute resources and improve the welfare of the poor in society. These programs are, however, not enough since they do not really change the current systems which perpetuate income equality and reduces chances of social mobility. The government needs to take steps to end the cycle of poverty by increasing access to quality education, creating job opportunities and enacting policies that facilitate affordable housing and medical care However, there are some scholars who argue that distributive justice is an ineffective policy. This is based on the claim that these programs do more harm than good since they are expensive, economically inefficient, and poorly targeted. Furthermore, some welfare programs give the poor an incentive not to work by providing aid to people who remain below a certain income level hence incentivizing them not to rise above this level. Conversely, people may be less inclined to work if they are aware that a significant portion of their income will go towards welfare programs. These programs also promote the view that low income is someone else’s fault. This has the effect of reducing individuals’ work ethic, initiative, and self-reliance. Furthermore, despite the enormous spending on anti-poverty programs, these initiatives have not been able to reduce the poverty level significantly. These policies also distort economic incentives, minimum wage laws for instance force some business to outsources at a cheaper rate to foreign countries which eventually leads to increased unemployment for low skilled labor; this HOW LOCAL POVERTY SHOULD BE HANDLED 5 understanding is, however, wrong because it basically perpetuates the idea that poor are lazy and only want to live off the system. While this may be true for some, it is a gross generalization. The truth of the matter is that being poor considerably limits an individual’s chances for success and social mobility. Social programs are therefore meant to ensure that everyone has a fair chance at a better quality of life. Admittedly social justice policies can be better conceived and administered, the answer, however, is not dismissing their significance in order to justify and promote the interests of the well-off in society (Arsenio, 2015). In conclusion, therefore, the redistribution of resources is by itself insufficient to bring about an end to the issue of poverty. There is the need to develop a self-sustaining system that ensures that people are able to overcome poverty completely. The government, therefore, needs to provide quality education, opportunities for development, and jobs to facilitate improved welfare and upwards mobility. This will ensure that the poor in society are able to meet their basic needs and eventually become more integrated into the fabric of society. This will, in the end, bring about a more humane, just and inclusive society. HOW LOCAL POVERTY SHOULD BE HANDLED References Arsenio, W. F. (2015). Moral psychological perspectives on distributive justice and societal inequalities. Child Development Perspectives, 9(2), 91-95. Iqbal, M. (2018). Poverty, Inequalities and the Perceptions on Distributive Justice. Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics, 31(1). Rippin, N. (2017). Efficiency and distributive justice in multidimensional poverty issues. In Measuring Multidimensional Poverty and Deprivation (pp. 31-67). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Class reading. (2015). Relativism Moral and Ethical Reasoning Rosenthal, Ph.D, Debra. Poverty. 6 1 VIOLENCE IN BALTIMORE Violence in Baltimore Gerard Edmonds University of Maryland University College 2 VIOLENCE IN BALTIMORE Violence in Baltimore Baltimore is viewed as the state with the second-highest murder per capita, having reports of 56 deaths per 100,000 people. However, the number increased by 12% in 2016-2017, where 6,733 incidents per 100,000 people are reported. The violent crimes in Baltimore include common and aggravated assaults, rapes, homicides, shootings and robberies (Crime Justice News, 2019). The cease violence has called for a different approach to solving crime in the city; and an aerial surveillance system. It was suggested that a pilot plane would fly over Baltimore capturing images from 30,000 feet in the air. The photos would be stitched together by a computer program to get a portrait of what is happening on the streets. Using the 911 dispatches, local authorities could trace the dot-like cars and people pictured at a crime, they also can forward and backward time till they find an address. The visual data would then help compose a PowerPoint report regarding al activities captured of the crime scene in just a few hours. With many residents supporting the move to end the increasingly violent crimes in the neighborhood and a system of corrupted police officers, the project has not gone without some oppositions. Many still question the capabilities of the surveillance system in helping solve a crime, including the arrest and persecution of criminals. The public accounting of its capabilities is also in question while others claiming it is intruding privacy rights. The initiative that had a pilot test done before is the reason I chose this topic. The project would identify whether the use of surveillance cameras is helping deter crime in Baltimore and what are its pros and cons. The pilot test is done in early 2016 for two months, without public 3 VIOLENCE IN BALTIMORE knowledge had still not reported good results as only focused on Class A crimes (Haskins, 2018) though the test was sub sequentially aborted. Using a free trial from Persistent Surveillance System, Baltimore police surveilled the city for 314 hours. In the period, more than a million snapshots were taken with 18 of them being followed upon. However, only two of those cases have gone to trial. The police officers are yet to disclose how many arrests were made possible by the system making the public to claim it has not helped. It is with such that my project will seek to find on if and how the surveillance system will help Baltimore. The citizens are split on whether the plane is goof or the community or a invasion of privacy. 4 VIOLENCE IN BALTIMORE References Annotations Crime Justice News (2019, June 26) Baltimore Murders Up, Police Fight ‘Culture of Violence the Crime Report The article reports how crime levels in Baltimore and reasons why this has to change. It gives an outline of how 152 people had been killed in the first six months of last year. Recent accounts of murder and shootings are in the stated in the article. The article explains how police are often in the right place at the right time, but this has not stopped criminals from doing violent criminal acts and with no fear of the possible consequences. It gives suggestion such as freeing up police officers to allow them to have more time for the routine call and partnering with other departments to get illegal guns from the streets as some of the ways to help curb crime in the area. Haskins, C. (2018, August 30) Why Some Baltimore Residents are lobbying to bring back Aerial Surveillance the Future 12:47 pm The article gives an account of recent crimes, including showing how a murder case was not caught in the camera, but the car involved in the shooting was captured. The article explains how Baltimore is recorded as the city with the second-highest-murder-per-capita rate in the United States. Due to the constant violence, the report claims the area residents suggested the use of an aerial surveillance system to help in guaranteeing public safety. The process of how aerial surveillance will be used to analyze crime scenes and possible suspects are outlined in the article. 5 VIOLENCE IN BALTIMORE Haskins claims that the program is well supported by residents but states the Baltimore police are the ones responsible for the negativity surrounding the project.
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