Pubdate: Sat, 06 Aug 2005
Source: Ottumwa Courier, The (IA)
Copyright: 2005 Ottumwa Courier
Contact:  http://www.ottumwacourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3687
Author: Cindy Toopes and Matt Milner
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN POVERTY AND CRIME?

OTTUMWA - Which came first, poverty or crime?

In Ottumwa, a large number of the arrests and property damage reports come 
from one of the city's highest poverty areas. But Police Chief Dennis 
Massey said drawing a direct connection between the two is flawed. The area 
has a higher crime rate than others, but it also has far more bars.

That's where Massey tends to put the focus. It's not the people who live in 
the area who get into trouble so much as those who visit and patronize a bar.

"I think that's oversimplifying it, that poverty and crime are connected," 
Massey said. "I think that years and years and years ago that was more the 
case, when you had really poor people who had to commit crimes in order to 
feed their families. And that's certainly more understandable. That doesn't 
seem to be the case today, with our social welfare net."

The inverse, that crime can cause poverty, has more weight among law 
enforcement officers.

Sgt. Tom McAndrew of the Southeast Iowa Inter-Agency Drug Task Force knows 
about the addict who's willing to steal property and trade it for drugs.

"They are at the bottom of the barrel when they start to steal," he said.

Massey agrees. He said crime can create conditions that lead to poverty.

"I also think it's very possible that poverty can follow crime," Massey 
said. "Once you become a criminal, you've been convicted of a crime and 
you've got that stigma, that it's more difficult to obtain a good job and 
so forth, and so poverty can follow criminal activity."

McAndrew gave the example of a drug user who goes to a municipal parking 
lot and steals fishing equipment or a car stereo. The user then runs to his 
drug dealer.

"The user will steal $300 in fishing equipment to get $20 in dope," he said.

Unemployed or low-income people can be users, but so can high-income 
people. McAndrew recalled a family that received a large inheritance, then 
started to buy methamphetamine.

"Over the course of five years this family sold off their farmland 40 acres 
at a time," McAndrew said. "These were average, middle-class folks and they 
lost everything."

There's a difference in drugs and how each one affects the wallet, 
according to the sergeant. With meth, no one can use it and keep a job or a 
family, he said. With marijuana or alcohol, many users can keep both. Just 
as many can't.

"It's no different than gambling. Some can handle it and some can't," he said.

Meth users frequently go in groups of three or four people and "make the 
rounds" of discount centers in southeast Iowa. They shoplift to have 
property to sell or trade for more meth, McAndrew said.

"All of that costs consumers," he added.

Rose Anne Mefford, now an assistant Wapello County Attorney, has served as 
the drug task force's prosecutor and as the Violence Against Women 
prosecutor in Wapello County. Both prosecutorial positions were funded by 
grants.

Mefford currently serves on the state board of directors for Iowa Legal 
Aid, which helps the impoverished. She is reluctant to claim that poor 
people use drugs and turn to crime. Many people who are poor don't get 
involved in either one, she said.

"But, wherever financial poverty exists, there is a breeding ground for 
hopelessness," she said. "That's where drugs and crime can take hold."

Massey is also reluctant to draw a clear link saying that poverty leads to 
drug use and crime. He said drug use is far more often the trigger than the 
outcome.

Mefford now handles indictable misdemeanors and some felonies. As an 
informal sampling, she selected 10 files from her caseload.

Seven of the 10 cases were substance abuse-related crimes. Five were 
operating while intoxicated "at some level," whether first, second, etc. 
The other two charges were possession of marijuana and possession of meth.

Mefford said the sampling is consistent with what the court handles. 
"That's what my gut tells me," she added.

The overwhelming presence of drugs and alcohol in Mefford's sample probably 
wouldn't surprise Massey. He linked those factors to changes in society itself.

"I think that our culture has changed dramatically in 20 years or so. It's 
much more crass, of course. I think that's a factor. I think the prevalence 
of drugs and alcohol in our culture is certainly a factor. I think the lack 
of parenting skills" has an impact, Massey said.

The 10 cases are pending and Mefford's data doesn't tell her whether the 
defendants are poor or not. The court seeks that information after a 
conviction. But six out of the 10 had already sought public assistance for 
their defense.

When someone is sentenced for a felony, Mefford receives a written report. 
This pre-sentence investigation includes work history and financial history.

"Frequently we do see people who can't make ends meet, can't hold a job and 
that's good information for the court to have," she said.

Mefford "has the option" of recommending a defendant's fine be suspended; 
and she would suspend a fine if she believed the situation warranted it.

But Mefford rarely suspends fines even if the defendant is impoverished. 
She said people in the criminal justice system frequently have no self-esteem.

"But, when they get a fine paid, it's an accomplishment for them," she said.

Where poverty thrives, there is hopelessness, which can lead to despair, 
Mefford added. "In desperation, people do crimes. A drug becomes an 
escape," she said.

Once using, the defendant's "judgment is impaired" and that person is 
willing, in despair, to do illegal things, such as stealing someone's 
identity. Identity theft involves stealing personal information such as 
credit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc.

The number of identity theft cases is on the rise in Wapello County and 
elsewhere in southeast Iowa, according to Mefford. She said there's a 
connection to poverty at some level.

"The defendant was able to buy stuff when they had someone else's 
identity," she said.

The poor "do get stuck," especially domestic-abuse victims, who are 
predominantly women.

"These victims of crime are so financially unstable that they have to get 
restraining orders lifted so the breadwinner can come home," Mefford said.

But, the breadwinner usually beats the woman again, so these women "get 
hopeless and use meth." Many have children they are about to lose. Mefford 
sees at least one case of termination of parental rights per week. "This is 
largely due to meth use," she said.

Keeping an inmate behind bars costs taxpayers about $20,000 per year.

"Drugs and crime are going to impoverish all of us," Mefford added.
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MAP posted-by: Beth