Saturday, April 30, 2011
The Dangers of Homelessness
Being homeless is certainly not the most comfortable situation to live in. In fact, it can be very dangerous. According to the street health report (2007) 1 out of 3 homeless person is physically assaulted during the course of a year. This is one of the risks of living in the street, you never know who you might run into. Also, 1 out of 8 homeless are assaulted by a police officer in the course of a year. This is unfortunate. Police officers have as a mandate to protect the people on street, not to harm them, no matter who they are. Finally, 1 out of 5 homeless women are raped over the course of a year. In the street it is obvious that women are more exposed to that. They may put themselves in dangerous situations in exchange of money but the simple fact of being in the street exposes them much more than any other women.
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I like the fact that you talk about the physical abuse that the homeless will incounter being on the street. There is also the fact that the general population are doing polite racisim (when they see them on the street they ignore them or they change sides of the streets like if they were ALL dangerous. I think that homelessness is a social issue not an individual one.
ReplyDeletekyla b.
They don't mention the mental/emotional abuse that I feel is a bigger issue than physical. When someone is in a situation desperate for basic needs and has no resources available for the person such as family. They almost always put themselves in situations that appear as though you are getting help but was manipulated to only become a victim of a crime. Ex: theft, intentional neglect, sexual harassment/abuse, hate crime due to sex, race, class. Many times this person trusted all of these predators who can be anyone ex: drug addicts, homeless, and people who seek out vulnerable men/women to portray as good humanitarians but actually are sex predators.
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