Summary Of Criminalization Of Poverty By Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager presents many valid points to consider on the topic of poverty causing crime, but I disagree with him because homelessness is being criminalized and that does not necessarily mean the person has no moral self control. We are all raised in different ways which can ultimately define our morals, but sometimes desperation can lead to neglecting our morals.

Dennis Prager makes an interesting claim in which he states that poverty does not cause crime, and uses his personal experience as an example. He goes on to explain how his grandparents made little to no money as the Great Depression emerged. The data Prager presents tell us how about 99 percent of people who live in an apartment or residency have refrigerator, television, and a

stove. The data also says that half of the 1 percent of homeless people live in a shelter. Therefore, with such resources he claims there shouldn’t be a reason to blame poverty for crime, but instead blame each persons’ morality. Prager says the only two possibilities of crime are either the ones who at some deep level of consciousness would consider a violent crime, or those that would say the poor are morally inferior to them.
I disagree with Prager’s view because the numbers can say one thing, but what the families are truly going through cannot be reflected with numbers.

The half of the 1 percent of the homeless who live in shelter fortunately has a place, but he says nothing about the other half who have no other choice than to sleep on benches outside in the cold, and ask people for spare change. Those people are not doing anything morally incorrect, yet they are being criminalized for trying to survive. In the video “Criminalization of Poverty” I learned that one third of the U.S. cities have banned homeless camps, yet impose laws to keep them off the streets, then where are they supposed to go? For the other people who, according to the U.S. Department of Energy have refrigerators in their homes, do those numbers reveal the amount of food inside? Prager says these people don’t suffer from material poverty, but it doesn’t seem like they are able to use the materials adequately to feed themselves, or their families. The numbers are simply a shell; they don’t tell us the actual situation of the person. The belief that poverty causes crime does not mean we at some level in our conscious would consider it, or think others are morally inferior, it simply means we can imagine the frustration that drives them to commit such crimes. Either way, if they rob, or if they sleep on a bench they will still be committing a crime in certain states that make it illegal to sleep on

benches.
Poverty is a problem that affects many people, which I believe can lead them to commit crimes, but according to Dennis Prager it’s all in the moral self control of the person. The moral self control of a person is very important in determining the things they are willing to do in order to survive, but sometimes committing a crime is what will get them to the next day. How can Dennis Prager blame those who live in poverty for their poor moral self control, when America itself is criminalizing homelessness. If their own country isn’t acting with proper morality towards them, how are they expected to survive if there is no lending hand? It is unfortunate to see a country act against its own people.