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News (Media Awareness Project) - US IA: Is There A Link Between Poverty And Crime?
Title:US IA: Is There A Link Between Poverty And Crime?
Published On:2005-08-06
Source:Ottumwa Courier, The (IA)
Fetched On:2008-01-15 21:40:32
IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN POVERTY AND CRIME?

OTTUMWA - Which came first, poverty or crime?

In Ottumwa, a large number of the arrests and property damage reports come
from one of the city's highest poverty areas. But Police Chief Dennis
Massey said drawing a direct connection between the two is flawed. The area
has a higher crime rate than others, but it also has far more bars.

That's where Massey tends to put the focus. It's not the people who live in
the area who get into trouble so much as those who visit and patronize a bar.

"I think that's oversimplifying it, that poverty and crime are connected,"
Massey said. "I think that years and years and years ago that was more the
case, when you had really poor people who had to commit crimes in order to
feed their families. And that's certainly more understandable. That doesn't
seem to be the case today, with our social welfare net."

The inverse, that crime can cause poverty, has more weight among law
enforcement officers.

Sgt. Tom McAndrew of the Southeast Iowa Inter-Agency Drug Task Force knows
about the addict who's willing to steal property and trade it for drugs.

"They are at the bottom of the barrel when they start to steal," he said.

Massey agrees. He said crime can create conditions that lead to poverty.

"I also think it's very possible that poverty can follow crime," Massey
said. "Once you become a criminal, you've been convicted of a crime and
you've got that stigma, that it's more difficult to obtain a good job and
so forth, and so poverty can follow criminal activity."

McAndrew gave the example of a drug user who goes to a municipal parking
lot and steals fishing equipment or a car stereo. The user then runs to his
drug dealer.

"The user will steal $300 in fishing equipment to get $20 in dope," he said.

Unemployed or low-income people can be users, but so can high-income
people. McAndrew recalled a family that received a large inheritance, then
started to buy methamphetamine.

"Over the course of five years this family sold off their farmland 40 acres
at a time," McAndrew said. "These were average, middle-class folks and they
lost everything."

There's a difference in drugs and how each one affects the wallet,
according to the sergeant. With meth, no one can use it and keep a job or a
family, he said. With marijuana or alcohol, many users can keep both. Just
as many can't.

"It's no different than gambling. Some can handle it and some can't," he said.

Meth users frequently go in groups of three or four people and "make the
rounds" of discount centers in southeast Iowa. They shoplift to have
property to sell or trade for more meth, McAndrew said.

"All of that costs consumers," he added.

Rose Anne Mefford, now an assistant Wapello County Attorney, has served as
the drug task force's prosecutor and as the Violence Against Women
prosecutor in Wapello County. Both prosecutorial positions were funded by
grants.

Mefford currently serves on the state board of directors for Iowa Legal
Aid, which helps the impoverished. She is reluctant to claim that poor
people use drugs and turn to crime. Many people who are poor don't get
involved in either one, she said.

"But, wherever financial poverty exists, there is a breeding ground for
hopelessness," she said. "That's where drugs and crime can take hold."

Massey is also reluctant to draw a clear link saying that poverty leads to
drug use and crime. He said drug use is far more often the trigger than the
outcome.

Mefford now handles indictable misdemeanors and some felonies. As an
informal sampling, she selected 10 files from her caseload.

Seven of the 10 cases were substance abuse-related crimes. Five were
operating while intoxicated "at some level," whether first, second, etc.
The other two charges were possession of marijuana and possession of meth.

Mefford said the sampling is consistent with what the court handles.
"That's what my gut tells me," she added.

The overwhelming presence of drugs and alcohol in Mefford's sample probably
wouldn't surprise Massey. He linked those factors to changes in society itself.

"I think that our culture has changed dramatically in 20 years or so. It's
much more crass, of course. I think that's a factor. I think the prevalence
of drugs and alcohol in our culture is certainly a factor. I think the lack
of parenting skills" has an impact, Massey said.

The 10 cases are pending and Mefford's data doesn't tell her whether the
defendants are poor or not. The court seeks that information after a
conviction. But six out of the 10 had already sought public assistance for
their defense.

When someone is sentenced for a felony, Mefford receives a written report.
This pre-sentence investigation includes work history and financial history.

"Frequently we do see people who can't make ends meet, can't hold a job and
that's good information for the court to have," she said.

Mefford "has the option" of recommending a defendant's fine be suspended;
and she would suspend a fine if she believed the situation warranted it.

But Mefford rarely suspends fines even if the defendant is impoverished.
She said people in the criminal justice system frequently have no self-esteem.

"But, when they get a fine paid, it's an accomplishment for them," she said.

Where poverty thrives, there is hopelessness, which can lead to despair,
Mefford added. "In desperation, people do crimes. A drug becomes an
escape," she said.

Once using, the defendant's "judgment is impaired" and that person is
willing, in despair, to do illegal things, such as stealing someone's
identity. Identity theft involves stealing personal information such as
credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc.

The number of identity theft cases is on the rise in Wapello County and
elsewhere in southeast Iowa, according to Mefford. She said there's a
connection to poverty at some level.

"The defendant was able to buy stuff when they had someone else's
identity," she said.

The poor "do get stuck," especially domestic-abuse victims, who are
predominantly women.

"These victims of crime are so financially unstable that they have to get
restraining orders lifted so the breadwinner can come home," Mefford said.

But, the breadwinner usually beats the woman again, so these women "get
hopeless and use meth." Many have children they are about to lose. Mefford
sees at least one case of termination of parental rights per week. "This is
largely due to meth use," she said.

Keeping an inmate behind bars costs taxpayers about $20,000 per year.

"Drugs and crime are going to impoverish all of us," Mefford added.
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