Wide context

Complete PICLE corpus of essays by Polish advanced EFL students (330,000)

/^t/It seems that the whole process of turning Poland into a country where violence poses a major danger to the safety of its citizens has started with the changes brought about by Poland's transformation from a centrally-controlled economy into a market one. Although this transformation helped a few Poles reach higher standard of living, the majority of Polish people experienced either decrease in their income or poverty. Some of those who found themselves in the new economic situation without a stable source of income or, what was even worse, without any hope of employment reverted to crime as the way of ensuring them surviving. In most cases these economy-induced criminals took to stealing food and clothes, sometimes home appliances, to cater for their basic needs. Usually, they stopped here, after some time, when they got a job; but some of them joined or formed regular gangs which steal or mug for other individuals for money.