Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

How Poverty Affects America

Nicholas Colbert
University of Texas at El Paso

Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

Abstract
Poverty is something that affects America in a major way. Many people consider it a disease
because it is so hard to deal with. Poverty will cause an increase in crime rate, many groups
within the country will have a hard time living, and the environment will continue to be
destroyed. However there are ways to help lessen the poverty in America. As long as people
accept living in poverty, it will always be a problem and a cycle that people continue to follow. It
takes everyone to help out in lowering poverty.

Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

How Poverty Affects America

Many times in society you will see people living from paycheck to paycheck. Many will
also work so many jobs just to keep up with bills, causing them to be so tired that they cant take
care of other household duties. This then will cause many to commit crimes just to make more
money to support the family or even turn to drugs to escape the pressure. Poverty hurts the
society by causing an increase in crime rate, a struggle among many groups in society, and
destruction of the environment. However, there are ways to deal with poverty and make it not
become an even bigger problem than it is today.
1. What is poverty?
2. How does poverty affect the crime rate?
3. How does poverty affect the different groups in America?
4. How does poverty affect the environment?
5. How is poverty dealt with?
Poverty affects America in many ways.
What is poverty?
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, poverty is defined as the state of being
poor and also a lack of something. Through research, Nicholas Colbert defines poverty as a lack
of income or struggle to provide the basic needs of life. According to Poverty USA, 46.5
million people are living in poverty; more than 16.1 million are children under the age of 18.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, People under the age of 18 have a higher poverty rate
than those in any other age group. Thats one out of every five children in America, living in
poverty. With these negative statistics there are still resources available to help families and
people that are in poverty. (Poverty USA, 2014)

Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

How does poverty affect the crime rate?

When you think of a person that is living in poverty you think about them not making
enough money to provide for their family. They then will get extra jobs just to make sure they
are able to pay bills and get by. Many things around the house will go undone just so that more
money will be brought in, even children feeling neglected. This will cause those children to turn
to the streets where they will get attention. They are opened up to drugs, gangs, and a life
without a future. According to Ali Meyer, 1 in 5 children under the age of 18 are living in
poverty. That is 21.3% of the children in America. These children are never given an example
because the parents become too busy trying to get by that these children continue to commit
crimes and end up in jail. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, about 100,000
children and teens are locked up in a juvenile detention center and thousands more are
incarcerated in adult prisons. When they are incarcerated they experience so much while
waiting to see a judge that if they do get out they will result right back to crime and begin a cycle
of being arrested. Most of these people that end up getting arrested for crimes trying to escape
the life of
poverty are
minorities,
AfricanAmericans
and Latinos.

Figure 1. This chart gives different scenarios that could/do experience poverty.2014. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.daveramsey.com/article/2010-poverty-thresholds/lifeandmoney_economy/?showCMS=1

Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

Figure 2. The figure shows the number of people arrested for a crime resulting from poverty. The years in the figure ranges from
1920-2006. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.poverties.org/poverty-and-crime.html

This affects the crime rate because they will tend to also have children that will follow the life
that they lived, causing the prisons and jails to get overcrowded. Out of all of the people in jail or
prison, most people that are in there because of a crime that would have allowed them to make
money or following in the steps of someone that showed them attention. In an interview, Teresa
Colbert states, Thinking about all of the people incarcerated for a crime they did because of
poverty, those same people could be in college or the military making a future for their families.
In interviewing Vickie Williams about the same situation she says, A family living in poverty
with someone being locked up is a cycle. It will continue to repeat until someone says they want
a different life. A persons environment would also contribute to whether or not they will be in
poverty and the degree. For example, according to The Journal, Stockton, California has a high
poverty rate and also a horrible crime rate. (The Atlantic, 2014)

Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

How does poverty affect the different groups in America?

Poverty in America seems to affect younger people much harder than any other group in
America because they have not experienced life much. They cant be embraced by their parents
because they are always working. Many children will also probably be forced to get a job while
in school. Because they arent able to balance school and work, they will drop one. (Christopher,
2014) Unfortunately many will choose to drop out of school so that they can make money to help
support their families. According to, United Way of Stanislaus County, if parents were more
involved in a childs education early then there would be a better of them finishing.(Christopher,
2014) However many times like when parents have multiple jobs this isnt possible. United Way
also said, Students who work more than 20 hours will be more likely to drop out.
It affects the middle age working class because they have to work so many hours just to
keep up with their bills that they have no time for their families. Many counselors will agree that
one of the main reasons for a divorce or disagreements within families and marriages is because
of finances. The less money a couple has the less they can do so the more time they spend trying
to make money. This in turn leaves no time for the couple to spend time together. However, the
impact on this class might not be as bad because middle age adults have lived life long enough to
know that things are not always good. They wont let fact they are living in poverty hurt them
because they know that a lot worse can happen. Poverty seems to have an impact on the elderly
in a way many would say worse than young adults. Many elderly people arent able to pay for
their medical bills or medicines. With them knowing that they are in their older years, the fact
that they are living in poverty could also have an effect on their mental health. This could cause
them to have many other health issues that could unfortunately lead to death. Unfortunately, for
the homeless, they already are living way below the poverty line. (Meyer, 2014) They just accept

Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

the fact that they are who they are and live life day by day.

Figure 3. The figure shows the salary making minimum wage and how people making minimum wage still lives in poverty. 2014.
Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/files/2014/02/MinimumWage_Poverty.png

How does poverty affect the environment?

Poverty affects the environment because it takes away from so much. Trees are cut down
and made into other things that are sold just to make money. These trees make up our forests so
therefore our forests are being destroyed and so are the homes of the animals that live there. This
causes the animals to be homeless themselves and be available to be hunted or killed or even just
die. Trees are a huge benefit to us. Without them, the environment would be in a huge mess
because people are so dependent on them that they dont even realize it. According to earth
share, trees clean the air, bring in jobs, cleans the water, reduce crime, increase property value,

Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

keeps you mentally sane, controls temperature, controls floods, and they are also used for
wildlife habitat. (Earth share, 2014)

Figure 4. This figure explains how people destroy the environment in trying to make money. They are actually destroying the
environment more. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/425/poverty-and-theenvironment#TheImpactofPovertyontheEnvironment

This picture better explains how the environment is affected by poverty.

How is poverty dealt with?
Poverty is dealt with in various ways. On way is by creating more jobs. This will
obviously allow people to bring in more money. Another way is by embracing the young that are
in poverty and having many resources that could help them. In school, teachers should be able to
work with the students and help them so that they could have something to live for rather than
turning to the streets. According to research, it costs more to incarcerate an adolescent than to
lead them on the right path and put them in college. Therefore, the number one way to deal with
poverty and the crime resulting from it is to instead of always incarcerating the young, help them

Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

get on the right path and send them to college so they can get a job and better their future.

Figure 5. This figure shows that although there are so many people living in poverty in the United States, there are also some
programs out to help. 2014. Retrieved from
http://www.demos.org/sites/default/files/data_bytes/MoreFactsOnAmericanPoverty.png

In conclusion, Poverty is a big thing that is affecting America. It affects the crime rate,
different groups in America, and the environment. However there are ways to decrease poverty,
but people dont take advantage of the resources. As a result many people result to crime. They
will make a cycle and eventually the people who follow in their footsteps will do the same.
Poverty affects so many groups in various ways. However, there are things that could help each
group but to make a bigger impact, help should come early to prevent crimes.

Running Head: HOW POVERTY AFFECTS AMERICA

10

References
Top 10 Benefits of Trees. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2014, from
http://www.earthshare.org/2013/07/treebenefits.html
3 Reasons Students Dropout of High School. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2014, from
http://www.uwaystan.org/blog-entry/09-03-2013/3-reasons-students-dropout-highschool
Meyer, A. (n.d.). 1 in 5 Children Live in Poverty in U.S. Retrieved November 8, 2014, from
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/ali-meyer/1-5-children-live-poverty-us
(n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2014, from http://www.povertyusa.org/povertyresources/education-center/grades-6-12/
St., 2. (2011, May 26). The 10 Most Dangerous Cities in America. Retrieved November 8, 2014,
from http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/the-10-most-dangerous-citiesin-america/239513/#slide1
Poverty USA. What is poverty?, Where is the poverty line?, Who is poor? (n.d.). Retrieved
November 8, 2014, from http://www.povertyusa.org/