During difficult times in a society and under certain conditions, a society becomes in need for a scapegoat that metaphorically act as a punching bag for society to address a rising concern over a particular issue, as in the case of the “superpredators.” This is often a peculiar pattern that seems to emerge during times of times war or great conflict. Popularized by John Dilulio, a political science professor at Princeton University coined the term “superpredator” to call the attention of the public to a “new breed” of offenders (Howell 4). Produced by a rise in crime from the 1980’s through the early 1990s, demographic theories of crime led politicians to believe that a rise in male teen youth would create a dangerous rise crime. In essence, …show more content…
. who murder, assault, rob, burglarize, deal deadly drugs, join gun-toting gangs, and create serious disorder” (Howell 4). The increasing levels of juvenile violence made about these youth as increasingly more violent, future repeat offenders, gained popularity in mass media. The media used the framework of increasing juvenile violence to create representations of juvenile offenders and “criminals” as “superpredators” that created a political climate in which the public almost blindly supported any “get tough on crime” legislation (Caldwell & Caldwell 61). Despite Delulio’s inflammatory language warning the public to prepare to contain and limit the expected damage to be caused by these superpredators, expressions of hopelessness, and claiming their arrival by the year 2000; they never arrived. In essence, the fear brought over the public by tying the issue with the “crack cocaine epidemic” of the 1980s and 1990s, prompted widespread panic among the public. Consequently, this caused an uproar or moral panic from the public, press, law enforcement, and politicians. The moral panic caused these different segments of a society to gang up against the perceived of “folk-devils” to demand more punitive measures against these
Over the past 60 years there has been a recent phenomenon in the development and rise of gangs and gang violence. This is exceptionally apparent in South Central Los Angeles where the Bloods and the Crips have taken control of the social structure and created a new type of counter culture. Poverty in this area is an enormous problem caused by a shear lack of jobs; but just because there is a lack of jobs doesn’t mean that there will be a lack of bills to pay, so sometimes selling drugs in order to keep a roof over your head seems like the most logical option. Crime often times flourishes in these regions because the inconvenient truth is; crime pays. Senator Tom Hayden stated “It’s been defined as a crime problem and a gang problem but it’s really an issue of no work and dysfunctional schools.” this statement is in fact true, but with an exception it is a more broad issue than just involving school, and lack of jobs but goes beyond into social structure as a whole and more specifically the judicial system, this can all be supported by three sociologists Chambliss, Anderson, and Durkheim.
“Just Say No!” A statement that takes us deep into yet another decade in the history of the United States which was excited by controversies, social issues, and drug abuse. The topic of this statement is fueled by the growing abuse of cocaine in the mid 1980s. I shall discuss the effects of the crack cocaine epidemic of the mid 1980s from a cultural and social stand point because on that decade this country moved to the rhythms and the pace of this uncanny drug. Cocaine took its told on American society by in the 1980s; it ravaged with every social group, race, class, etc. It reigned over the United States without any prejudices. Crack cocaine was the way into urban society, because of its affordability in contrast to the powdered form. In society the minorities were the ones most affected by the growing excess of crime and drug abuse, especially African Americans; so the question was “Why was nearly everybody convicted in California federal court of crack cocaine trafficking black?” (Webb: Day 3). The growing hysteria brought forth many questions which might seem to have concrete answers, but the fact of the matter is they are all but conspiracy in the end, even though it does not take away the ambiguity and doubt. I will take on only a few topics from the vast array of events and effects this period in time had tended to. Where and who this epidemic seemed to affect more notably, and perhaps how the drugs came about such territories and people. What actions this countries authority took to restore moral sanity, and how it affected people gender wise.
Through the first chapter of this book the focus was primarily on the notion of controlling crime. The best way to describe crime policy used in this chapter is comparing it to a game of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’. This chapter also addresses the causes for decline in America’s
For example, police and probation officers become involved in non-criminal justice matters at schools and in the community, often times by advising parents and students on academic matter. According to some of the boys in Rios book, probation officers served the purpose of punishing them by branding them criminal in front of the rest of the community, which prompted victimization by peers, stigmatization in the community, and rearrests for minor infractions. Eventually, the youth learned to manipulate the system and increasing recidivism. Rios also notes that some youth were being incarcerated through false accusations, police “step-ups”, entrapments, and forced testimonies that led many of the boys to declare a vow against everyone providing information to police, even when they were the victims. Also, the gang database accentuates criminalization, as it permits police to keep track of most at-risk juveniles and impose tougher policing and harsher sentencing.* In other words, police roles leak into other aspects of juvenile’s lives, which have led to an increase in criminalization. As a result, for many of the juveniles’ detention facilities have become preferred social settings because they provide the structure, and discipline, they don’t receive from their families and the
This essay will explore some of the theories commonly observed in criminology in relation to the 2005 hit movie Batman Begins. I chose a batman movie as they’re usually about lucrative criminals and batman himself is a notable criminologist. Batman and his “rogue gallery” as they are often called, also “super criminals” display similar behavior to what we see in the real worlds normal criminals.
Matthew Barnett Robinson was born on 1970 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In Boone, North Carolina, he is a professional in Criminology, operating at Appalachian State University (ASU). He earned his PhD at Florida State University’s Criminology & Criminal Justice School. Consequently, he timely honored a role as Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice at the same institution, ASU, in 1997. Currently, he is a fulltime professor at the Department of Government & Justice Studies. Matthew Barnett Robinson has also published various books discussing issues related to criminal justice, criminological theory, crime mapping, corporate misdemeanors, media exposure of crime, the battle against drugs, and capital
“[The war on drugs] has created a multibillion-dollar black market, enriched organized crime groups and promoted the corruption of government officials throughout the world,” noted Eric Schlosser in his essay, “A People’s Democratic Platform”, which presents a case for decriminalizing controlled substances. Government policies regarding drugs are more focused towards illegalization rather than revitalization. Schlosser identifies a few of the crippling side effects of the current drug policy put in place by the Richard Nixon administration in the 1970s to prohibit drug use and the violence and destruction that ensue from it (Schlosser 3). Ironically, not only is drug use as prevalent as ever, drug-related crime has also become a staple of our society. In fact, the policy of the criminalization of drugs has fostered a steady increase in crime over the past several decades. This research will aim to critically analyze the impact of government statutes regarding drugs on the society as a whole.
Societal and ethnographic reports have link the arrival of crack to gang violence, high murder rates, poverty, and family disruption. Popular opinion seemed to indicate that the introduction of crack cocaine has led to increases in central-city crime and accelerated trends toward overall inner-city decay in America.. This manuscript will established (1) briefly what crack cocaine is (2) when it was introduced (3) if there is a direct link between the introduction of crack cocaine and an increase decadence in the social and economic life of the American community (4) and why this drug had such a significant influence.
“Teen Gangs and Crime”. (1996, Feb. 9). Issues & Controversies On File. Retrieved Mar. 29, 2014, from Issues & Controversies database.
Few social issues get as much media attention as youth crime. Statistics Canada reported a 3% increase in crimes committed by 12- to 17-yearolds between 2005 and 2006. In the last 15 years, the rate of violent crimes among young people has increased by 30% (Youth crime, 2008). From gangland-style killings in Vancouver to the senseless beating of an elderly woman in Hali-fax, Canadian cities are struggling with a wave of youth crime that was unimaginable a couple of decades ago. According to Statistics Canada, most Canadians believe that youth crime is on the rise and 77% believe that the sentencing of young offenders is too lenient (Youth crime, 2005). Many experts attribute the spike in youth crime to the increased number of street gangs - often the perpetrators of youth crime (Catalano and Hawkins, 1996). Research indicates that youth seek comfort from those who welcome them and reinforce their sense of belonging. Unfortunate-ly, some youth have no choice but to turn to street gangs in order to satisfy their need for approv-al, belonging and self-worth (Clark, 1992). Street gangs are not just issues in big cities. Over the last few decades, there has been an increase in the presence of street gangs in non-metropolitan and rural communities. For example, in 1960, there were 54 cities in the United States with a gang population. In 1995, there were street gangs in approximately 800 cities and towns across the United States (Swetnam and Pope, 2001). There is no consensus among experts on how to reduce youth crime. Criminal involvement usually starts before the age of 15, with first-time of-fences declining markedly once young people reach 20 years of age. Young people who become involved in criminal activities before the age of 14...
99-100; Girling et al. 1998, pp. 316 17; Martineau 2006; Pearson 1983). Recent essays on African youth (e.g., Cole 2004, Mains 2007, Walsh 2003, Weiss 2002) illustrate how such attitudes preclude understanding of "late modern" youth entrapment: the condition of having no work (or respected work), being unable to marry according to community expectation, and wallowing in unstructured time while surrounded by images of glittering consumer emporia. These conditions, not criminal in tent, explain why so many young people hold polite society ransom to a "riotous return of the repressed" (Comaroff & Comaroff 2000, pp. 306-9). Criminalizing processes are a familiar theme in literature on the United States, whose "war on drugs" has exposed pervasive racism. Rather than attempting to understand the crack "epidemic" of the 1980s in the context of economic restructuring and associated collapse of government services, the public and the authorities preferred to blame Black crack users and incarcerate them at rates 100 times higher than the more affluent (mostly White) users of
The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring is an intriguing narrative of the experiences Terry Williams witnessed first hand while observing the lives of “The Kids” and their involvement in the cocaine trade. Throughout this piece, there are numerous behaviors displayed by the drug dealers that are each examples of and can be attributed to well-defined criminological theories. This paper will explore how such criminological theories are associated with how and why individuals are introduced into the world of drug selling, as well as, why they leave it. I will elaborate on this by revealing the motivations and conditions that seem to pressurize these individuals to be drug dealers. Although there are multiples shown, the specific theories I will explore are all based on the same idea that an individual becomes a criminal by learning how to be one through experiences, examples, role models, etc. Such theories include the theory of Differential Association, Subculture of Violence Theory, and the Social Learning Theory.
Before spelling out who or what is to blame for the crimes of Primo and Caesar in Philippe Bourgois’ In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, it is important to acknowledge that explanation is not exoneration. Primo and Caesar engage in violence and break the law. At the most immediate level, Primo and Caesar are responsible for their actions. But if we are only to see Primo and Caesar as solely responsible for their crimes, we are left with a limited range of options in terms of social policy for dealing with the types of crimes committed by men like Primo and Caesar in inner-city neighborhoods. If by “blaming” we are looking for a set of causes of Primo and Caesar’s crimes, then we can come to see a multitude of causes inner-city problems, and shape public policies accordingly. Bourgois’ ethnography tries to look at both agency and structure, both free will and social constraints, and he does so by looking at the crimes and violence of men like Primo and Caesar in the macro context of political economy, or structurally, all the way down to individual choices, or how these men exercise their agency within the constraints they confront. What is fascinating about this portrayal of violence is how it incorporates culture for understanding the practices of selling crack in the social world of el barrio. Bourgois does not want to play “blame the victim,” does not want to present his readers with a “pornography of violence,” but also does not want to reduce the crimes of these men economic explanations. Relying on culture, then, helps him to avoid these possible problems when studying street culture.
During the Destabilization phase, which occurred between 1960 and 1975, consisted on political individuals, policy makers, and other important bureaucrats started to question what was known as the “penal status quo”. During this time frame there were numerous new opportunities being formed, due to the civil rights initiatives as well as anti-war protests. These opportunities were not necessarily positive; these opportunities were starting to modify the penal and political fields. These changes created the perfect environment for what was termed as emergent crime politics. This basically is when a political leader or runner is benefiting off of crime to gain ground politically. This then caused a response at a state level to actually define
This work seeks to analyse the cohorts born in the late 1990s and beyond, concerning crime rate in America in relation to the ones born before these ages. In this attempt, the main preoccupation is to investigate the effects of digital media on children. According to the recent findings, the people born around these ages have dominantly engaged in various crimes, meaning that the crime rate witnessed among the youths have gone in these young generation compared to their predecessors (Farrington, Ohlin & Wilson, 2012). It is real that an age group would influence each other to develop a similar pattern in life. For example, the cohorts of the 1990s and beyond are prevalent in homicides and drug takings than before. In fact, the negative picture is evident in the juvenile courts where many young people are accused of murder and engagement in drugs. This is evidently through the use of digital media with its contents that share violent information that these children can access and share.