Are we making it a crime to be poor, and is poverty a punishment for crime?
Most persons behind bars in the U.S. were already struggling economically before incarceration. After release, returning citizens face innumerable obstacles that make poverty more likely. Are we making it a crime to be poor, and is poverty a punishment for crime?
The preferential option for the poor requires special attention and action directed toward the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized.
Those who are struggling are not a menace to be contained but brothers and sisters who are owed solidarity and dignity.
The common good is threatened by poverty not because poor people are dangerous but because human dignity is violated. Incarceration cannot be a solution to our society’s failure to support and empower those in need.
Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition recommends the following resources for those wanting to better understand how to serve our brothers and sisters experiencing poverty and needing solidarity and dignity.
Report by the Prison Policy Institute, 2016
Report by the Prison Policy Institute, 2015
Crime & Delinquency, Vol 59, Issue 4, 2013 | Robert DeFina and Lance Hannon
Edited by Tara Herivel and Paul Wright
Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton
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