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Poverty: Does it cause crime? BY talitha989898 Advanced English 9 7th Hour 9 December 2013 “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. “-Aristotle. Poverty and crime go hand and hand with one another. For example, in The Pact, the boys would take things like textbooks that they were not able to afford in college. This is an example of poverty in the lives of people, which affects the amount of crimes they commit in life. In Great Expectations, Pip had to steal some food and a file for Abel, and stealing is a crime.
Indeed, poverty and crime are like salt and pepper. Sam, George and Rameck were in poverty during their early lives. They were raised in poverty and all around them, people were doing crimes to support their families. Drug dealers hustled so that they could have a bite to eat, and even escorts were working all night shifts to support their fatherless children. Many families lived in the projects, apartments that are government paid. Welfare was a common thing for almost all families in the ghetto, especially the single-mother families.
The boys couldn’t call home for help, half of the time they needed it. Sometimes, Rameck would steal a textbook that he needed The Pact-ex. (Davis, Jenkins, and Hunt page 137). When Pip got the food and a file for Abel he did not ask Mrs. Joe. Pip wasn’t a criminal but he was too scared to not bring Abel anything because he was a convict. Pip was terrified by Abel and stealing, Pip was convinced that he should be sent away on the hulks. Pip was never rich during his early life, he was suffering during the time he spent in the Marsh.
Pip knew that people were poor, he also knew that Abel was a criminal, so that is why he helped him Great Expectations-ex. (Dickens page 11). Poverty is a crime to a certain degree, although in saying that it’s not a crime to be poor, and he who is poor is not a criminal. Poverty doesn’t always cause crime though, people tend to do crime because they want to. Sometimes people steal Just because they want to and they don’t really have a reason to steal. People that are poor do suffer more than others, this suffering may cause them to want to go to steal omething or rob somebody.
Though, poverty will not prevent you from ever being arrested for any crimes that are committed. Although poverty causes crime, it also creates criminals. Because of poverty people want to steal so they can have something to call theirs. Poverty is mostly found in large, overcrowded cities. People like George and his friends were able to overcome poverty and crime, so can other people too. Overall, poverty is not an excuse to go out and do crime. Works Citied The Pact-ex. (Davis, Jenkins, and Hunt page 137)