For Writing Activity 8, develop anewparagraph of analysis on your primary text for Essay 1. The goal here is to develop a paragraph that could be used in your Essay 1 Draft 2. Consider the suggestions that your classmates made in the Peer Review discussion. For this paragraph, focus ononeof the rhetorical elements of the text that you did not analyze in Draft 1:

1. Context: What was the historical, social, political, or individual situation that led to the text? How does that impact that text? How does an analysis of the context connect to the analysis of the text?
2. Purpose: What was the purpose of the text? What did the creator (writer, photographer, artist, etc) hope to accomplish? How does that connect to your analysis of the text?
3. Audience: Who was the primary audience for the text? Who are they? What do they know? What do they care about? How does that connect to your analysis of the text?

For whichever element you choose to analyze, follow the analytical process (whole-->part(s)-->new whole) and make sure your paragraph connects to your thesis. Write the paragraph for your essay with your reader in mind. Focus on the text and the rhetorical element, not on you, the writer, and the decisions you are making. Remember, your paragraph requires 250 words.

Essay 1: "Homelessness is a big problem worldwide, and how we deal with it is often argued about. I found a couple sources that talk about the criminalization of homelessness, which is an important issue to be discussed about. In the United States, making homelessness illegal doesn't help and is against human rights. These sources look at the history of homelessness, how more laws are being made against the homeless, how it affects racial minorities more, and how it hurts the health of homeless people. My goal is to show why we need to change how we deal with homelessness, focusing on solving issues instead of punishing. This topic is important because it could lead to better policies that help homeless people and make society healthier overall. In the article,Criminalization of Homelessness, Eric Tars from the National Homelessness Law Center explains how homelessness is being handled in the U.S. He argues that instead of helping homeless people find housing, many places make it illegal for them to stay in public areas, even if they have nowhere else to go. This not only breaks the law and human rights but also harms homeless people's physical and mental health. It can also make it harder for them to get jobs or housing because of arrest records or and fines. Tars looks at the history of how homelessness has been treated, going back to old laws from England. He shows that in recent decades, cities have made more laws against homeless people, like bans on camping or asking for help. Tars provide numbers to show how much these kinds of laws have increased. The article also talks about how homelessness affects different racial groups. Tars says that Black, Indigenous, Latin, and other People of Color are more likely to be homeless and to get in trouble with the police because of these laws. He thinks this makes it even harder for them to find homes or jobs. Overall, the article looks at how homelessness is treated by the law and how it affects different groups. They show how laws against homelessness have increased and how they affect people's lives. The main idea here is that making homelessness illegal doesn't help solve the problem. It just makes things worse. It's important for people to understand the reasons behind homelessness and to see that we need better ways to help homeless people. I think treating homelessness as a crime goes against human rights. Furthermore, the San Francisco Study of the Criminalization of Homelessness by Chris Herring looks at how San Francisco deals with homelessness. The study finds that the city's policies make homeless people get ticketed, warranted, and sometimes thrown in jail. This makes life harder for them and costs the city a lot of money. Additionally, these rules don't make homelessness go away; they just push homeless people to other places that are less safe. Another report called No Safe Place by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty agrees with Tars' idea that homelessness is being treated like a crime more often in the U.S. This report talks about the laws and rules that make being homeless illegal and how they affect homeless people. Instead, they keep homeless people stuck in poverty and homelessness, making it more difficult for them to find homes or jobs. Finally, Mayor Rudy Giuliani's "quality of life" policy is relevant to this essay. During his tenure as New York CIty's mayor from 1994 to 2001, Giuliani introduced the "quality of life", in response to the rise in crimes committed by homeless people in the early 1990s. His goal was to create a safer environment in public spaces by reducing crime rates and fixing city problems. However, this policy had negative consequences, particularly affecting homeless people who often engaged in minor offenses due to their living circumstances. This ended up making homelessness a crime because the city tried to make public places cleaner, so homeless people had to move, which made it harder for them to get help or find a home. It also affected poor and minority communities more because they were targeted by the police. I wanted to talk about this one because Giuliani's "quality of life" policy can be seen as an example of the criminalization of homelessness discussed in the essay. It shows how laws targeting homelessness can disproportionately affect racial minorities, harm health, and worsen homelessness instead of improving it. In conclusion, making homelessness a crime makes the issue worse instead of better. The sources mentioned, including Eric Tars' article, Chris Herring's study, and the reportNo Safe Place, all show how this harms homeless people. It violates human rights, hurts physical and mental health, and makes it harder for them to find jobs and homes because of arrest records and fines. These laws also affect racial minorities more, making inequality worse. Mayor Giuliani's "quality of life: policy is a clear example of how these approaches harm homeless individuals. Therefore, it's important to stop punishing the homeless and start solving the root causes of homelessness. This could lead to better policies that respect everyone's rights and make society healthier.

Works Cited

Eric S. Tars."Criminalization of Homelessness",National Homelessness Law Center

https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/AG-2021/06-08_Criminalization-of-Homelessness.pdf

Chris Herring."The San Francisco Study of the Criminalization of Homelessness"

https://chrisherring.org/campaign-4

National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty."No Safe Place"

https://homelesslaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/No_Safe_Place.pdf

"How Homelessness Became a Crime"

https://www.radioproject.org/2010/12/how-homelessness-became-a-crime/"