Homelessness vs. Criminality

The following post was written by Shawn, an AmeriCorps member placed at Greensboro Urban Ministry. Shawn is also a Probation/Parole Officer. Along with 2 other Probation/Parole officers that are members of our program, Shawn conducted a training for our group in May.

I thoroughly enjoyed conducting the training “How to deal with ex-offenders”. The first part of the training surrounded self-defense. This was not to instill a fear of ex-offenders but a tool to have for a possible need of protection. Many ex-offenders have violent pasts, anger issues, or mental health issues. Learning how to defend oneself is a very necessary tool when dealing with this group of individuals.

            The Americorps members and staff that were present were fully engaged and contributed to the fun, laughs, and learning that was experienced. Kristy, April and I demonstrated several moves and the members practiced the moves on their own.  Me: “ Defense stance, move!”  Amercorps members: “Get Back!”  This rang in my ears for the next 24 hours.

            As the training progressed I had the members think about the reasons for homelessness and how closely they were related or the same as the reasons why people commit crimes. Unfortunately, a significant  part of the homeless population are ex- offenders and often times  “being homeless” and “being an ex-offender” becomes synonymous.  In some instances, we must learn to separate the 2 and apply a course of treatment and referral that is appropriate.

            Playing devil’s advocate, should we treat them as the same if we determine that ending homelessness could reduce crime?  In actuality, the very people living on our streets are more likely to be the victims of crime rather than the doer. Statistically speaking, 20% of people who are homeless commit crimes. However, these crimes are usually acts of survival such as prostitution, shoplifting, theft, etc., They are usually acts that they feel will improve their situation.

            Let us not ignore the criminal activity at the homeless camps. This is a place where police are not called and criminals blend in while criminal activity goes undetected. As an Americorps member 1^st and a Probation Officer 2^nd. I can see both sides of the coin.  We should not treat homeless people as criminals and not all criminals will be homeless.  On the flip side if we can eliminate homelessness, we can reduce crime. There will be no homeless people to commit crimes against, homeless people will not have to break laws to survive and there will be no camps for the real criminals to escape. 

            In some ways criminality and homelessness blend together. However, both activities can definitely have different approaches to the solution and negative assumptions about either one should be set aside. I have only recently reached this conclusion after serving as an Americorps member.  Before my service my thoughts were consistent with the vast majority.  In Americorps, we are not only serving our community, we are learning and growing as individuals.