Factors Contributing to Crime

an image that shows oppression; addiction, abuse, mental health and poverty

While there is no valid excuse for committing a crime, there are reasons why they occur. Sadly, most violent crime such as robbery and murder happen due to the following factors:

Addiction
Abuse
Poverty
Mental Health

Addiction - leads to poverty, poverty leads to addiction and the need for the drug becomes so real the addict will go to great lengths to get their next fix. This does not mean they intend to kill; they may commit a robbery of a drug dealer which ends in an accidental shooting or stabbing. The perpetrator wasn't looking to kill, but this was the result. We in society categorize addiction as a disease, yet we incarcerate people to death behind bars as a result of that disease!

Abuse - whether abuse be from a not so loving partner or even a parent, it can become so severe that the person being abused makes the decision to kill in order to not be killed. Imagine being the woman so battered and beaten she took another person's life to only spend the rest of her life behind bars!

Poverty - in some of our most oppressed neighborhoods, police fear to go to maintain order. Imagine being the 10-year-old living on stale cereal and spoiled milk and a younger sibling hungry and in need of diapers. This 10-year-old should be a child, worried about child things yet he is often self-elevated as the "man of the house." This 10-year-old turns 12 and steals a car to go to the store to steal food. He is caught and at just 10 years old is now on his way to juvenile detention. Upon return to society, he has what is known as "street respect." Often, older individuals (age 18+) will begin using this young man to do their dirty work, for they know this under 18 child will do far less time than they would. This child, now becoming a man is in a position of no longer being hungry because now he runs a street corner selling drugs. Now, our 10-year-old is labeled "thug." No real education, the money made on the streets provide relief for the hunger pangs. Our 10-year-old hungry child goes to jail for a year, all of the drugs he was selling for another person are confiscated. He owes money and no way to make it back. Upon release he acquires a gun (illegally) to protect himself, he decides it is easier to rob a rival street member to repay his debt. The gun accidentally fires, and the rival is now dead. Our 10-year-old is now going to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. The District Attorney will make a determination if this "man" will be tried for first degree or second-degree murder. (Because second degree murder in Pennsylvania is the accidental death during the commission of a felony), yet without the full scope of the case, it may appear as an intentional killing. No matter what, this person will spend the rest of their natural life in prison.

Mental Health -

IS... THIS... FAIR?

We must ask:
Where were the schools? Were they reporting absences and trying to get the child back in school?
Where was the help to get this young child the food, he so much needed?
We can immediately cast blame and say, "but where was the parent?" The reality is... Maybe she had to work! Maybe she was an addict herself. The scenario above is far too common.
Media sensationalism, misunderstanding of how our system actually works often lead people to see the man or woman who committed a crime. They portray all victims in the light of "innocent victim" which often leads society reeling in disgust, "put that man to death, lock him away forever." We fail to realize, many of these crimes began well before a child even knew what death meant! While the actual crime may not have happened until later in adulthood, our societal failures to work to restore this young man, the lack of effective leadership or guidance hindered his growth. A child who became a man in number, may not have ever evolved to actual adulthood mentally.

Until our society can care for people... All people regardless of race or community standing, we must stop and ask, "what led to this?"
Reentry Ready absolutely empathizes with victims of crime. We also understand so many of the men and women behind bars are so much more than the worst thing they have ever done. We support a restorative justice model. We cannot undo the worst thing we have ever done. Those who take a life either directly or indirectly cannot ever give back the life they took but they will pay every single day for the rest of their lives with free people deciding they can never be rehabilitated. How can someone who was never habilitated be rehabilitated?