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Essential Assignment 4 Podcast #1 | Otter.ai

Essential Assignment 4 Podcast #1

Zayne Knapp16min

Unknown Speaker

00:10

Alright guys, how are you doing? I'm doing good. How about you?

Unknown Speaker

00:14

I am doing fantastic.

Speaker 1

00:16

Doing good. Um, I'm excited to start our first episode of this new podcast we have going on

Unknown Speaker

00:22

first ever episode.

Unknown Speaker

00:25

My name is Michaela.

Unknown Speaker

00:26

My name is Anthony.

Unknown Speaker

00:28

And I'm Zayne.

Speaker 1

00:29

So like we said, this is gonna be our first episode of our new podcast called poverty versus the world. I'm kind of in today's episode, we're going to be just talking about some things that we found about how people in poverty have to overcome like disadvantages in the United States in Washington state right now.

Speaker 2

00:47

The main question we're going to be focusing on today is, how can law enforcement and impoverished areas in Washington State reduced crime rates that lead to mass incarceration?

Speaker 3

00:57

Yeah, this question is super important, because it talks about issues amongst minority groups.

Speaker 1

01:03

Yeah, I totally think that this is a issue that we just talked about, and I'm excited to get into it. All right. So when I was looking through some articles that had to do with this poverty and how they're treated, I found a really interesting article. This article gave a lot of good topics about the injustice that they're receiving, and all the kind of difficulties they have to overcome in everyday life. This article was published by the American Action Forum. You know, I went through a lot of articles, and not a lot of them are credible. But I think this one was pretty credible, because they are directed by the former director of congressional budget. So he knows a lot about these people living in poverty. And I guess, you know, how they're actually being treated. Also, this place has been providing information on topics like domestic policy and budget since 2009. So I think that they can really be trusted on topics like this. This article talked about people in the United States who are living in poverty, and how they have disadvantages, mainly, especially over the past 10 years or so. And I think,

Unknown Speaker

02:07

yeah, that's gonna be super important.

Speaker 1

02:09

I think that this article wasn't so much as to like, like, pressure people into changing something, but more to just, like, inform the mass amount of people about what's actually going on. So hopefully, a lot of people know.

Speaker 3

02:22

Yeah, I I don't think so. I mean, I'm, I think people are aware, but I don't think people are How are, you know, super aware of what's going on. You know, especially living in Seattle, there's so much homelessness going on, and so much poverty, you go, you know, downtown Seattle, and there are tents, you know, everywhere. It just filled the streets. It's so crazy going down there. And, you know, Seattle is a very, has a lot of people who are living in poverty, whether you know it or not,

Speaker 2

02:58

it's really sad. There's so many laws that target homeless people specifically, like it's almost in that situation, it's almost impossible to like avoid being arrested because there's, I think there was one about like, you can get arrested for sleeping on the sidewalk or in public areas, or just sitting down on the sidewalk. And when you don't have a house, like where, where would you sleep? Like it's like they're setting up homeless people for failure?

Unknown Speaker

03:26

Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. Yeah.

Speaker 3

03:30

Yeah. And the article two, um, I read that 143,000 people are arrested for being homeless, which, I mean, some people can't, you know, help being homeless. I mean, some can, but a lot can't because they can't afford to get jobs or, you know, they

Unknown Speaker

03:51

are

Speaker 3

03:52

considered a criminal or have a criminal record and a lot of jobs. You know, there are a lot of jobs that do to, you know, felonies, but there are still a lot that don't.

Speaker 1

04:01

Yeah, and I think that this is kind of just, honestly a waste of space in prison. Because these people really aren't doing anything violent or anything really wrong. It's just that they're kind of being in the wrong place. So I think we need to find a different way to help these people out rather than just arresting them and putting them in jail.

Speaker 3

04:18

Yeah, there are a lot more people I think in the world that should be in jail out other than homeless people. You know, there are so many people who, you know, have worse. I think, you know, honestly, people who murder other people, I think they should be top priority and being thrown in jail other than homeless people.

Speaker 1

04:40

Yeah, no, I totally agree with that. It just seems kind of funny that they're spending so much time and effort to put these people who are already homeless into a prison so

Speaker 2

04:49

horrible that they get criminal records after like, just doing basic, like things that like you know, like sleeping on the sidewalk. It makes it so much harder to get jobs like We were talking about earlier saying,

Speaker 3

05:01

Yeah, we'll also in the article, it said that adults in poverty are three times more likely to be arrested than those who aren't in poverty. So it makes you realize, like, Why? Why? Yeah, I also saw that people of color in poverty are more at risk with discrimination from law enforcement. I was reading this article published by the University of Wisconsin Madison, and they had published an article called connections among poverty, incarceration and inequality. And this article talked mostly about how race and poverty combined creates a disadvantage with the criminal justice system. So I mean, honestly, it said that, you know, most of the incarceration population is minorities, you know, African American and Latino men who are poor. So who are in poverty? Yeah, I

Speaker 2

06:09

think that's, that's pretty horrible. It's like targeted at specific groups.

Speaker 1

06:15

Yeah. I mean, this is a big issue, also, because these people who already have to, you know, live in poverty, which makes it so much difficult for themselves. And then they also have to talk on top of that the fact that they are a minority, and that they are also just so much more likely to be going to prison for such small reasons than anybody else would.

Speaker 2

06:32

I think that over policing in those areas is just like, in places that are primarily like African American and Hispanic, it's just really big issue. And then because a lot of people are like, kind of trapped in poverty, because they'll get a criminal record for something small, because they're being over policed. And then, like, their futures are so like, it's so much harder to just live, and it makes it sometimes like forces people to actually turn to crime in the future. Like, if you have no form, like you can't find a job, you don't have like any form of income, and you can't find housing on your own, then, you know, selling drugs, for example, are something that like, just have to do if you're desperate.

Unknown Speaker

07:20

Yeah.

Speaker 3

07:21

Yeah. Well, I think a lot of a lot of those people probably experienced who are incarcerated probably experienced it when they were a lot younger, too. And they just kind of followed, you know, in their parents footsteps, or, you know, it's just more likely that they grew up with it. So now they're living in

Speaker 1

07:49

good. People who are younger, they have like such poor education systems, because often they're in like, minority groups, but it's more so that they were living in like poverty areas, you know, they go to the schooling systems that just can't teach them very well. So they end up just not going to school for very long. And that leaves them to do other crimes, which leads them down a terrible path again. Yeah, definitely. They

Speaker 2

08:12

just generally don't have as many off, they're, like, put at a disadvantage, and pretty much society and our justice system, like, this is a little different. But you hear like cases where we learned in serial, or that it was a white woman who is being charged with something and the lawyer was like, well, you're white, so that will help you at least, which I thought was really sad.

Unknown Speaker

08:38

Yeah, totally.

Unknown Speaker

08:39

Yeah. a parent's definitely helped

Speaker 1

08:42

me. So even these lawyers and attorneys are like, they know that the race has a big choice and how the trials are gonna turn out. But yet, we can't do anything about it. Because I mean, like, what can we do to change that? I mean, besides changing everyone's mind perspective, but that's really a difficult thing to do.

Speaker 3

08:58

Yeah. Also on the article, so it said about one in every nine African American child has an incarcerated parent versus one in every 57 white children has an incarcerated parents. So I mean, they definitely growing up with it definitely, I think has an impact on them.

Speaker 2

09:21

Totally. I can imagine growing up with like just that much inequality and being treated like that we'd pretty awful. I my source was by from the Drug Policy Alliance. And it was a fact sheet about like the negative effects of like the drug war and mass incarceration. And it was mostly it was called mass and Carter, the drug war, mass incarceration and race and it so the drug Alliance or the Drug Policy Alliance is supposed to be like decriminalizing drugs and trying to help people who are like, caught for possession or something or like different Much trying to lower incarceration rates and like, it's supposed to be spread awareness about, like drug related crimes and that they should be decriminalized. But there's a bunch of statistics I found about other inequalities that go on, especially in our, like, criminal justice system. And one, it's about minorities, and one is that black people compromise 13% of the US population, nine, and are consistently documented by the US government to use drugs at similar rates to people of other races, but black people compromise 30% of those arrested for drug law violations. So they're pretty much targeted at like, they're just, it's just because they're over policed. Not that they're actually committing more crimes than other races. And it was similar with Latino people, Latinos make up to 17% of the US population, but compromised 20% of people in state prisons for drug offenses and 30. incarcerated federal prisons for drug offenses.

Speaker 1

11:04

Yeah, and I think the issue is like, it just ties in nicely with that poverty, because these people who are in minority groups, you know, oftentimes we find them living in, like more impoverished areas, which is sad to hear, but it's kind of just how the truth is right now in the United States. But since these people are living in such impoverished areas, you know, they're just more prone to having cop visits and all that stuff in on top of that, there have a minority race. So it's like, yeah, their incarceration rates are super high, but it just shouldn't be that way.

Speaker 2

11:39

Yeah, I think, partially due to that, oh, like a lot of police officers will racially profile people and deny it. So they're kind of like, already, like people, they're already looking at them as like a target or just get like applying. I think police officers use stereotypes and apply it that they should Oh,

Speaker 3

12:02

they 100% do 100% I mean, police officers. I mean, I almost feel like they think that they just, you know, well, they think that I feel like they think that they can you know, just do whatever they want to whoever they want, just because they are a police officer. And, you know, they're, you know, top dog,

Unknown Speaker

12:29

so to speak.

Speaker 3

12:32

Um, but again, that's just my view on it, but I do they definitely target minorities. And yeah, it's not fair. Yeah, definitely

Unknown Speaker

12:43

not.

Speaker 1

12:44

Was there any more like, interesting statistics that were pulled up on that source? That you could that you remember?

Speaker 2

12:50

Well, there was one about criminal records that, oh, I

Speaker 3

12:56

read that. So it was like criminal records usually lead to so if you were, let's say illegal in the United States, there was a part about like how criminal records usually lead to deportation, and or a band from re entering the country. So it would be you know, the United States, which I don't I mean, so many people have criminal records for something so minor, I don't think that, you know, deporting them is fair to them, either.

Speaker 2

13:34

Yeah, I think we focus like at least a law enforcement, they're not putting enough focus into like, actual public dangers, like, you know, rapists, and murderers and stuff like that. I it seems like a lot of their energy is going towards, like drug possession and nonviolent crimes and like, catching people who are undocumented, and I think that's not as helpful as actually capturing like, violent. Yeah, violent, violent crimes.

Speaker 3

14:03

I mean, that should definitely be their goal is to, you know, incarcerate people who are dangerous to the society or who have, you know, who has, you know, murdered people or, you know, very severe offenses that they, you know, have done, they shouldn't be focusing on very minor things that people have done. Yeah, yeah. I also read an article that almost 8% of African American people could not vote because they are felons. And that's, uh, you know, you said that there was 13% of black people, I believe. So 8% of those that can't vote, because they're felons because I'm sure even if it was something minor, they You know, thrown in jail for whatever they did.

Unknown Speaker

15:05

That's pretty much voter suppression. I think

Unknown Speaker

15:08

that's pretty much all of our sources for today.

Speaker 2

15:11

I thought this research project, it really opened my eyes about. I had like some awareness of the stuff that was happening, but I didn't really know the extent of the inequality that like the people in poverty faced.

Speaker 3

15:24

Definitely. Yeah, I mean, it's such a major issue to talk about, and a lot of people don't talk about it. So I think it's, you know, good that we're, you know, being informed about it, because it's, it's such a crazy and wild thing, that we're all it's just a crazy world that we live in because of

Speaker 1

15:51

this. I don't know. Yeah, I think these sources did a good job of like informing me personally on these topics. And I think that you know, anyone listening, you can go look up those articles that we're talking about, and I think that they can be helpful to you to learn some stuff about what we're talking about right now. Well, thank

Speaker 3

16:06

you guys so much for listening and tuning in to our very first ever podcast. excited. I'm excited. We will be having more podcasts in the future. So keep tuning in here to our next podcast, I

Unknown Speaker

16:21

guess.

Unknown Speaker

16:22

Yes. Thank

Unknown Speaker

16:22

you, guys.

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