For many years, the issue of criminal disposition has been greatly associated with those who reside in poor neighborhoods. Violence may occur within low income or predominant minority communities but much good has come from neighborhoods such as these. Further, this stereotype has generated much controversy: While some believe that all poor neighborhoods are the worst, indeed not all people who come from poor neighborhoods are not criminally disposed. Because of aspiring individuals who are prosperous today; the impact of crime on some poor communities influence the others to strive to improve their community; and not only does crime come from poor neighborhoods but wealthy communities as well.
One argument supporting non criminally disposed people from poor communities are inspiring individuals who are successful that came from a poor community. A poor homeless man, Tyler Perry, who is a famous play writer and has earned millions of dollars from his plays, in which he is a very successful man today. Living on the street homeless, he came from nothing and strived to do something with himself. He could have easily turned to a life of violence but instead realized he wanted to better himself. Born into poverty in Mississippi, Oprah Winfrey experienced much hardship during her childhood such as being raped at the age of nine. The influence of her grandmother and father strived her to become a better person which she received a full scholarship to Tennessee State University. Now she is a famous talk show host and one of the most successful women in America. In such circumstances, both of them realized they wanted something better than to live a life of poverty and not become another statistic.
As well as successful individuals, man...
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...motivation they needed to pursue a better life. Much good has come from those who had little or nothing in their early life.
In conclusion, not all people who reside in poor communities are criminally disposed. Whether a person chooses to live the lifestyle, influenced from their environment is based on their own personal decision. Many people successful people have risen from poor communities and will continue to do so. The opposing argument supporters disregard the fact that just because one is born into a certain environment they do not have to follow the typical image of the average person living there. Indeed the stereotype poor criminally disposed individuals will continue to dwell on many individuals minds and possibly would never change. Unless drastic changes are to occur, a positive outlook will possibly be shown upon those who once thought otherwise.
In The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison by Jeffery Reiman and Paul Leighton, four multifaceted issues are focused on and examined. These issues are the Unites States high crime rates, efforts in explaining the high crime rates, where the high crime rates originally came from, and the success attained at a high price. The initial key issue that Reiman and Leighton discuss is America’s high rising crime rates with the understanding of the people that believe policy and regulations are the causes of the decrease in crime. The many graphs throughout the chapter represent information that undoubtedly illustrates that specific policy and regulation may cause rates to become stagnate or strike a plateau. While the rule makers make it appear as though their organization is functioning. Later guns and gun control policy are discussed. With the stern enforcement of the gun policy, at the time, crime appeared to decline, or become stagnate resulting in a plateau effect that is illustrated in the graphs. Countless arrests were made with large quantities of people being imprisoned. Du...
Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy.
This goes to show that with guts and determination, those who are desperate enough to bring about a change, are the ones who are able to utilize what they have to get what they desire. Poverty, addiction and abuse are major obstacles that individuals from rough background face on their way to success. Moreover, it is their education and their ability to utilize their talents, as well as having the audacity to chase their ambitions incessantly, that helps them utilize and exploit the opportunities that open up for them.
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.
Travis, J., & Waul, M. (2002). Reflections on the crime decline: Lessons for the future. Proceedings from the Urban Institute Crime Decline Forum (pp. 1-38). Washington, D. C.: Urban Institute Justice Policy Center.
Young, white, upper-class males who engage in crime are significantly less likely to serve jail time or even be arrested, than their black male counterpart. That being said, lower class white males are more likely to be arrested than their upper-class white counterpart. Is money truly the root of all evil? NO, it’s not. It is however what drives both sides of the criminal justice system. Of course, those with a higher SES or less likely to be arrested in general but there is more to it. In class, we discussed the issues of privatized jail and the revenue they make only when filled to capacity. The “If you build it, they will come!” mentality is fully functioning in the prison part of the criminal justice system. Many police forces are set up with numbers in mind, and in order to be successful a certain amount of arrest must be made. The War on Drugs spurred this ideology as the higher amount of arrest led citizens to think that crime was being lowered. Additionally, those with high-class status can afford to be represented properly in the criminal justice system and do not have to fear the extra fines placed on prisoners or even those just convicted of crimes. VICE – Fixing The System showcased stories of returning citizens who faced the stigmas of jail, the fines of the court, and were lead back into a life of crime just to make ends meet. This vicious cycle leads back into the criminal justice system with these returning citizens being rearrested or by violation of parole/payment, due to financial
Therefore, the community has informal social control, or the connection between social organization and crime. Some of the helpful factors to a community can be informal surveillance, movement-governing rules, and direct intervention. They also contain unity, structure, and integration. All of these qualities are proven to improve crime rate. Socially disorganized communities lack those qualities. According to our lecture, “characteristics such as poverty, residential mobility, and racial/ethnic heterogeneity contribute to social disorganization.” A major example would be when a community has weak social ties. This can be caused from a lack of resources needed to help others, such as single-parent families or poor families. These weak social ties cause social disorganization, which then leads higher levels of crime. According to Seigel, Social disorganization theory concentrates on the circumstances in the inner city that affect crimes. These circumstances include the deterioration of the neighborhoods, the lack of social control, gangs and other groups who violate the law, and the opposing social values within these neighborhoods (Siegel,
Crime has always been a hot topic in sociology. There are many different reasons for people to commit criminal acts. There is no way to pinpoint the source of crime. I am going to show the relationship between race and crime. More specifically, I will be discussing the higher chances of minorities being involved in the criminal justice system than the majority population, discrimination, racial profiling and the environment criminals live in.
Clear et al (2003) collected community-level data regarding prison admission rates, release rates and crime rates for several neighborhoods. The results showed coercive mobility in poor communities with large minority groups and communities with extremely high coercive mobility had higher crime rates (Clear, et al 2003). They also looked at employment and reentry into the community. Results showed that employment is associated with lower crime rates and higher wages are associated with lower criminal activities. But prisoners face many challenges in finding a job because most of them have low level of education or limited work experience. Also, employers don’t often hire former prisoners. Transportation is also another challenge they face. Most released prisoners don’t have a car or access to public transportation due to not having money or social support.
Many people in the world today criticize and objectify specific people, merely by their outward appearance, as more likely to commit crime or other violent acts. A theory well known to criminologists is one devised by criminologists of the Chicago school, scholars whose main area of focus were urban, impoverished areas, and called their findings the Social Disorganization Theory in which it offers an idea as to why crime occurs in urban settings. The theory explains how American society is centered on the economy and individual achievement, otherwise known as “The American Dr...
In conclusion it is shown through examinations of a average criminals biological makeup is often antagonized by a unsuitable environment can lead a person to crime. Often a criminal posses biological traits that are fertile soil for criminal behavior. Some peoples bodies react irrationally to a abnormal diet, and some people are born with criminal traits. But this alone does not explain their motivation for criminal behavior. It is the environment in which these people live in that release the potential form criminal behavior and make it a reality. There are many environmental factors that lead to a person committing a crime ranging from haw they were raised, what kind of role models they followed, to having a suitable victims almost asking to be victimized. The best way to solve criminal behavior is to find the source of the problem but this is a very complex issue and the cause of a act of crime cannot be put on one source.
Finding strong evidence surrounding this topic could be significant to reducing crime rates and addressing the public health issue. What I have learn from research-based evidence and analyzing social and cultural theories, is that criminal behavior is multifaceted and is influenced by a range of determinants in which surrounds the nature versus nurture debate. I believe that nature and nurture both play significant roles to the making of a criminal.
This essay examines the phenomenon of crime by looking at the effects of income on crime through a proposed observational research design. To be precise, I am arguing that poverty causes crime. In the following, I will discuss my causal theory, before proposing an observational research design with a multiple linear regression model and addressing reverse causality, confounding variables, internal and external validity, and the overall advantages and disadvantages of my research design.
Criminals are born not made is the discussion of this essay, it will explore the theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour. Psychologists have come up with various theories and reasons as to why individuals commit crimes. These theories represent part of the classic psychological debate, nature versus nurture. Are individuals predisposed to becoming a criminal or are they made through their environment.
... 86). Hence why I believe that criminal behaviour is influenced by mixture of a persons social background, life chances and pathology