Criminalization of Homelessness
Criminalization of homelessness is visible in every sphere of modern societies. The Ontario Women’s Justice Network states that “homelessness is tied to structural inequalities and the unequal distribution of resources; it’s a social problem (1). Poverty and homelessness are difficult to escape because a person’s individual choices and chances are restricted. The issue resides with social structures and the elite because they fail to address the factors that cause these individuals social distress. The Ontario Women’s Justice Network insists that “governments should attempt to address and solve the root problems of poverty and homelessness; it’s doing the opposite by criminalizing it instead; those that beg, …show more content…
In Social Things, Charles Lemert explains that sociological competence “often seems to come to the fore especially when things are as bad as they get. Even if the world in which they live in is degraded by poverty or violence, most people get by because they have sociological competence” (4-5). He comments on the fact that “those that are poor experience losses and learn to accept those losses; they understand what is going on in the world and what social structures expect of them” (Lemert, 5). They are aware that they deny them the opportunities to change their lifestyle. In Crimes of Desperation, Chris MacFarlaner and Katrina Milaney explain that “the individual is desperate; they are about surviving-requiring the necessities of life” (13). As Lemert points out “sociological competence comes to an awareness of the bigger social things by beginning with what is right or wrong” (25). He observes the competence of the homeless: “They know what poverty is because they experience hunger first; they know what it is like, to search for shelter, warmth and food every night but they still get by each day because they accept these facts in order to survive (Lemert, 25). Sociological competence helps us to get by in life without real instruction on how to do so; when one looks on how to survive each day they …show more content…
Durkheim believes that the division of labour was to count for the distinctions of classes. They don’t ever come in real social contact with one another (Lecture). As lemert puts it, “there might not be social bonds strong enough to unite the separated parts of the socially divided labour force. There is nothing to guide and encourage individuals to heal their social divisions and resolve their individual senses of confusion and isolation” (72). This division is problematic because those that are poor are penalized for being homeless because higher classes only care about power and wealth. The Ontario Women’s Justice Network says that “the homeless feel isolation because there is a growing public indifference to the needs of the very poor and marginalized, in addition to a toxic "punish the poor" mentality (1). The poor don’t always have a lot of public support from political and economic structures and in turn they feel confused as to how to improve their