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Crime And Poverty In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

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When one finds them self in a perpetual cycle of poverty it becomes more obvious to turn to crime. Many criminals, as seen in the character Jurgis--from Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle, attempt to get back at conditions that wronged them. Others commit criminal acts for survival--whether that be stealing food for their family, or selling drugs to secure basic necessities. The correlation between crime and poverty is indeed prevalent, and therefore, is the leading cause of each other.
As an illustration, poverty causes one situation--stress. "Poverty can lead to high levels of stress that in turn may lead individuals to commit theft, robbery, or other violent acts" (Taylor, Blake). Crime happens to be a violent cycle. In areas with the highest crime rates, one will also find the greatest rates of poverty. Due to this, it causes those who don't participate in criminal acts to be forced to commit illegal offences. High crime rates make it next to impossible for businesses to flourish, in turn affecting the jobs available. Less jobs mean more people are out of money--without money these people won't be able to pay their financial bills, consecutively cause them stress. With the …show more content…

A family that has to worry about where their money, food, shelter is coming from, won't able to bond and be a traditional family. Single-parents are forced to work hours to keep up with the bills, often separating them from their children. Without parental guidance, children begin to look elsewhere. This is what gets children involved in gangs, and then crime. Children who aren't shown love and support go on to lead unsatisfactory lives. This causes these children to not be active citizens, thus not helping the community. This completes the circle when these people have their own children, since they didn't help improve the community, their children will have to face the same hurdles as

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