My congregation just completed another year’s involvement in the Angel Tree program, giving Christmas gifts to children of an incarcerated parent. In my several years of involvement with Angel Tree it seems that inmate families are almost always poor. That raises the question: Do they break the law because they are poor, or are they poor because they have broken the law? I think either of these options is an over-simplification of the problem of poverty and crime, but they get at the heart of an important understanding.
While committing crimes is a sin, there is also a sociological aspect to it. Unless you believe that it’s entirely option 2, that people are poor because they have broken the law. If that isn’t the whole answer, then one must believe that there is a link between being poor and committing crimes. (I know not everyone who commits crime is poor, but statistically speaking, this would appear to be true.) This doesn’t excuse the sin, but it helps us understand the problem better. We all have original sin and are tempted under certain situations. If a recovering alcoholic works in a building next to a bar, that person is going to face temptation on a regular basis. (He/she should probably change employers.)
But we are all like the alcoholic. Maybe the living conditions associated with poverty puts people in tempting situations more often. In some cases, I would even propose that our current system is built against people once they have even a minor infraction against them. Perhaps the stress of poverty inhibits one’s ability to think more carefully before acting. I know I’m not my best when under stress. And this isn’t even getting into the multi-generational impacts of incarcerated parents, poor education, bad neighborhoods, addictions, abuse, etc. The strikes against some people even early in life can be overwhelming.
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, well, duh. Or maybe you haven’t really considered this before. As Christians, it’s tempting to look at an issue from only one angle: personal righteousness. Sin is important; just look at what it caused Jesus to do. But it’s not the only angle. If we want to help people change their lives—and we should—then we need to be more wise and thoughtful in how we address problems, whether or not sin is directly involved. We need to consider entire systems, communities, and ways of living that perpetuate the problems of poverty and crime. And if we do our part, hopefully more of these children receiving Angel Tree gifts now won’t grow up to have a child of their own who needs a gift from Angel Tree.
