Criminality: Should Men Be Targeted By Victor Rios

Victor Rios states in his well-renowned book Punished, “In 1924, sociologist Edwin Sutherland discussed how boys were taught to be “rough and tough”, rendering them more likely than girls to become delinquent.” (Rios, 2011, p. 131) This quotation alone means that for almost 100 years, if not longer, boys have had a criminality stigma attached to them just because of their gender. Not only is it completely out of anybody’s control to pick their gender, it is also extremely sexist to say that boys are more likely than girls to become deviant in behavior. There are numerous statistics that prove how men are more often targeted than women when it comes to criminal acts, as well as how they are perceived to be more violent and less likely to comply

urban, suburban, or rural. Crime can occur in a primarily White, wealthy neighborhood and the act can be committed by a White woman. One would say that is not the norm, though. The criterion for crime, according to society, is that most violent or criminal behavior is committed by Hispanic or Black men in predominantly ghetto areas. The larger issue, however, is that a ‘norm’, in regards to criminality, has been established and it is almost as though police officers try their hardest to justify this generalization. A great portion of Rios’ Punished speaks on the notion of proving one’s manhood and passing masculinity tests. Rios

123) Is there a such thing as a solution to this exceptionally large issue present or will it just be an ongoing form of repression that all men of color will have to endure? Sadly, the only solution is to revamp the entire criminal justice system and schools of thought that have been engrained in people of authority’s minds for so many decades now. The same crimes that are committed in ghetto neighborhoods are committed on Wall Street, for example. The dilemma, however, is that not all people in the ghetto have a roof over their heads to commit said crimes and police officers closely patrol those neighborhoods because they are aware that they can easily arrest a ‘delinquent’. With this being said, while there may never be a sure fix, the possible solution to this problem is to teach police officers and those in authority that Blacks and Whites are one in the same. The same drugs that Blacks do, Whites do; furthermore, Whites can and do commit the same violent crimes, sometimes worse, that Blacks do. The color of a person’s skin or their gender does not dictate their level of violence or delinquency. To attempt to rectify this complication in society, police officers need to