Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Homeless Culture: Regretful Use of Violence

Almost all of the chronically homeless decry violence, but they almost all acknowledge that violence and threats are at times necessary. Almost every female homeless person carries a weapon for protection, although they rarely find it necessary to use them. Many of the male members of the homeless community find it necessary to defend their honor or the honor of their closest companions through violence. Most of the leaders of group camps find it necessary to occasionally use violence to create order. This may belie the statistic above which states that the homeless are convicted of less violent crime. What that statistic really means is that the homeless have learned their place in society, and they will rarely, if ever, use violence against the middle class. But violence between the homeless isn’t that uncommon, but because violence is seen as a form of communication or even sport, then violence within the homeless community is not reported to the authorities.

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