Chicago School Essay

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The Theory of the Chicago School was the first major study of crime in the United States that attempted to “identify environmental factors associated with crime” (Bohm & Vogel, 2011, p. 71). This study that is often referred to as the Chicago School of Human Ecology was based on the ecology theory, which is the study of plants and animals in their natural environments (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). This theory showed how plant and animal life in their environments are similar to human life in society. Chicago was chosen for this study due to the fact that it was the second largest city in the United States and had shown continuous growth as a result of the Industrial Revolution as well as the immigrants coming to America to be part of the revolution. …show more content…

Shaw and Henry D. McKay who set out to figure out why normal human beings become delinquent by creating three maps of Chicago (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). By doing this, Shaw and McKay attempted to determine the reasons why human beings who are considered to be normal acted in delinquent ways. Spot maps were used to find where the youth’s resided based off of their police and court records, rate maps showed the percentage of the total juvenile population in Chicago that had police or court records, and zone maps showed the rates of male juveniles that were delinquents within Chicago’s zones (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). As a result of the study in Chicago, they determined that delinquents were not much different from non-delinquents in regards to physical and personal traits. They did determine that cities such as Chicago and other big cities suffered from social disorganization because the “usual controls over delinquents are largely absent, delinquent behavior is often approved of by parents and neighbors, many opportunities are available for delinquent behavior, and little encouragement, training, or opportunity exists for legitimate employment” (Bohm & Vogel, 2011, p.

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