The link between crime and the homeless?

Question

i'm currently compiling a report on the LINK between crime and the homeless. Is there a LINK? What causes this LINK? how can we combat this LINK? any feedback from anyone, or any experiences in this area would be more than welcomed.

Answer 1

It's actually a little complicated; kind of which came first, the crime or the homelessness question.  Most homeless people are just as law abiding as anyone else, but they may get charged with stuff like loitering or panhandling.  Some go into doing other crimes just because they're desperate, but then some committ crimes just because they're shady like that and would have been criminals whether they had a permanent address or not.  then too, if someone becomes homeless and tries to find a job, it's close to impossible because they have no address for mail to go to, no phone to get messages from an employer and no way to make themselves presentable enough to go in to work if they did get a job.  Another issue I've seen is that people can end up homeless due to their past criminal activity; this comes when they can't get a job because of a felony background, which means they can't afford housing.  They can't get government subsidized housing, because of they felony, and many private landlords do background checks, as well.  they see that society won't give them a shot, so they turn away from any intention they may have had of going legit and go back to breaking the law.  I used to work in a homeless advocay organization, and one of the things we saw was that if we gave people an alternative, the ones who were just doing criminal things to survive went straight for the honest buck, but there were some who were just criminally inclined and were going to be that way.  If we, as a society would be more willing to put our time and money towards actually rehabillitating people instead of just locking them up, then having affordable housing and jobs available for them when they got out so that they wouldn't have any excuse to remain criminals unless that was just what they were going to do anyway, I think we would see a lot of positive change.

Answer 2

I think most homeless are too hungry to commit crimes.

I would also imagine that criminals would refrain from commintting crimes in areas of high homeless population, because there would be more witnesses. Though I suppose that could lead to a B&E turning into a homicide in some cases.

Answer 3

There are a few different types of links between the two. Homeless people are more often the victims of crimes. Some criminals become homeless because of their criminal backgrounds. Some homeless people commit crimes just by loitering or panhandling in certain areas. Some homeless people also commit crimes in desperation, such as shoplifting for essential goods like food, or washing in a public space like a park or public library.

Mostly the link is my first example that homeless people are victims of crimes.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0121...

Answer 4

I'm not sure what type of link you are looking for.  Is it homeless people committing crime or people committing crimes against the homeless?  Or how about societies crimes against the homeless?

I do know that there is a very strong link between mental health and homelessness.  I don't remember the exact percentage, but a very high percentage of homeless people in the U.S. have severe mental illnesses.  These mental illnesses are usually the cause of their homelessness.