Paper on policy, how america is criminializing poverty Essay

Paper on policy, how america is criminializing poverty - Essay Example The perceived threat and the connotations that are then imposed upon the homeless and the impoverished, lead to uncompassionate social responses to the issue. Within the United States there is a disturbing trend to criminalize poverty leaving those who have lost their financial stability, the mentally ill, and those addicted to chemical substances, vulnerable to criminal liabilities merely for seeking shelter, food, and hygienic health. In February of 2007 a debate began over groups who were feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park in Orlando Florida. The larger crowds of homeless that resulted began a movement by legislators to find a solution. The fear and some of the realities of having a large group of people in desperate circumstances meant that violence and theft increased, thus creating a public problem that needed to be resolved, or so officials have claimed. Signs were already in existance in the park denying anyone from laying down on a bench or from bathing or doing laundry in the public restrooms. The park had become a place where it was illegal to exhibit signs of homelessness by trying to fulfill basic human needs.