Post Due Feb. 14

Watching this video really opened up my eyes to all of the effects that poverty can have on communities, families, and even lives. I don’t think that I have ever seen such a detailed account about the chain reaction that poverty has on these subjects. Watching the chain of events really allowed me to think beyond my life and see into that kind of situation. I thought it was really interesting that they have so many adverse options for helping these problems too.  The movie covered a lot of really exceptional options to solve these problems such as adding community center, a church or even just someone’s house for youth to gather at to be able to create close relationships and share feelings. The video said these resources would create a stronger bond between youth and give them some adults to depend on and get support from.

We can learn a lot from such a simple idea. Getting the youth to form strong connections with each other an a few key and supportive adults instills confidence and self-assurance in their lives and gives them a good home-base to come back to if they ever need help in a later situation. As a police force I think the most effective way to start handling crime is to just have an appearance as talked about in class. When people know they are being watched over I think just instinctually they feel safer and are less likely to commit a major crime. Also, talked about in the movie, having support groups for people who have maybe already committed felonies is a great way for the system to try to debunk that cycle of crime passed from generation to generation. Giving people an honest chance after jail or prison might be the best way to stop people from recommitting crimes or just slipping back into their old patterns because it helps them relate to others that are in the same situation.

As a whole I think creating and maintaining strong relationships outside of crime reduces the likelihood that someone will participate in an act of crime. When someone has that crucial and necessary support system that allows him or her to confide in someone/people they have that second opinion, that have someone to ask them “are you sure that’s the right way to solve a problem?” Ultimately having those support systems (I think) would reduce the crime rate significantly.

On to the nitty-gritty stuff.

As for SB 1474 and SB 1070… to me both of these legislation act would go against my theory of relationship building. To me these proposal ruin relationships rather than build them. (Just a disclaimer- I do not know much about SB 1474 or SB 1070 beyond what was discussed in class so please be kind! Thanks.) Having guns be legal on a college campus ultimately makes people fearful of what might happen. Whether they have a gun or not, they will be fearful. This breaks down that barrier of being able to assume that you are in a safe-zone and I think that people like to be able to think they are safe when they are at school. Now, another point I want to make about this is that I think NOT allowing people to have guns on campus ultimately makes people who do bring guns on to campus illegally more safe with them in fear of being caught. As mentioned in class I think allowing people to carry firearms legally would just lead to more mistakes and carelessness with these weapons. Anyway, as for SB 1070- I also think this is a relationship-hindrance. Having to ask that question “Can I see your proof of citizenship?” breaks that trusting bond that I think most people might have with law enforcement. That question is degrading, it’s assuming that based on your color your could be illegal. This is a big relationship killer in my eyes. I guess I could be considered a hippie but I think that everybody deserves a chance. Everybody should be able to come here and start a life better than what they had before. And sure, I would prefer them do it legally, but I honestly think that those people who are here illegally are some of the hardest workers, and yes… there are exceptions, probably a lot of them, however it goes back to the relationship-building for me. People will always do things that we don’t think are right but that just means that we might not do things according to everyone else’s plan either. We have to respect people for trying and if that respect is destroyed based on the color of their skin or where they live then I do not have very high hopes for the future and the future of crime.