One of the biggest issues in America today is crime. It is a large problem that continues to erode our country economically as well as morally. Because of the vastness of the problem, many have speculated what the cause for crime may be in hopes that a solution will be found. Many believe that a bad family life, location of residence, and poverty hold a few of the answers to why an individual becomes involved in criminal activity.
Crime has been a major problem addressed in every presidential campaign for about three decades. This is because the American people are sick of the ever growing problem and seem to be voting for whoever claims to do the most about it. Major criminal justice functions such as correctional facilities, the FBI, and the Judicial branch have all, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, had increasing budgets for the past 15 years. The problems persist and we still scream for more crime prevention. Why does America experience such problems? There are many theories.
The theory that holds the most validity is that many criminals have had a bad family life in one way or another. They have had few positive role models while growing up. John J. Dilulio, Jr., a scholar on crime policy, summed it up in one of his articles:
[b]ased on my own reading of these studies plus about fifteen years
of observation and interviews inside scores of prisons all across the country, I would posit that the hair-trigger mentality, the gang-related
behavior, and the murderous violence itself emerge from the same source,
namely the simple fact that inner-city teenagers have had few, if any, adults in their lives who gave them unconditional love, taught them right from wrong, and reared them accordingly (6).
Dilulio's article states that "Seventy-five percent of the most violent incarcerated juveniles are children who were abused by a family member" (6). Dilulio also went on to say that half of all youth in long-term juvenile facilities have had immediate family members incarcerated (6). Almost all other theories can relate to this one.
If individuals grow up in an abusive home there is a greater chance that they will develop a "defiant individualist character" (Jankowski 23). The main authority figure or figures in their life have mistreated them, which leads the individuals to question everything that all authority figures say.
Several contributing factors can be viewed as reasons for crime. Depending on the circumstances, it can sometimes be very difficult to resist the temptation to commit a crime. It is even harder when you are coming from a place where crime is considered to be a normal part of society and looked at as a way of daily living that is supposed to be incorporated into daily lifestyles, hence the city we are not too far from: Fresno. In fact, by having a city or group of cities nearby where violence, crime, and gangs are abundant, it has given me an incentive to dig deeper into this issue. Now the question can be posed: What is the significance of crime in areas where poverty is present? True, this is not an easy question to answer considering that crime happens for many different reasons and sometimes location is not the problem. The origin of crime date back to the beginning of man, and the thing is it will never be stopped, as it is almost a part of human nature nowadays. But for now, we must study how crime and poverty are linked to one another, and what other contributing factors influence the effect of crime where poverty is relevant.
The presence of crime in the inner cities of America is the result of many different factors. Although it is impossible to explain the issue with one single theory, it is possible to recognize the characteristics within society that have traditionally been associated with crime. These include poor neighborhoods, weak family structures and high rates of unemployment. However, they cannot be used to explain overarching mechanisms of extremely high rates of American urban crime today. Social structures as well as cultural conditions play strong explanatory roles in describing the causes of crime in American cities. Some prominent social structural theories include social disorganization theory, strain theory, and cultural deviance theory.
Crime in this country is an everyday thing. Some people believe that crime is unnecessary. That people do it out of ignorance and that it really can be prevented. Honestly, since we live in a country where there is poverty, people living in the streets, or with people barely getting by, there will always be crime. Whether the crime is robbing food, money, or even hurting the people you love, your family. You will soon read about how being a criminal starts or even stops, where it begins, with whom it begins with and why crime seems to be the only way out sometimes for the poor.
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.
When parents are inattentive to their children because they are working in an effort to provide for their household or simply because of bad parenting, the environment is left to raise the child. It is extremely important to provide positive guidance to adolescences as a deterrent because deviance eventually results to involvement in criminal behaviors. In 2013, property crime and larceny-theft were the highest index of crimes. These two categories show that theft was both a reoccurring crime and major issue in Atlanta. According to a study conducted by Adam Atler of New York University, the feeling of being financially deprived causes individuals to steal. (DiSalvo) In my opinion, that mentality is very juvenile yet it occurs within the city on the daily basis. People often feel destitute when they compare themselves to others who appear to have more money or material things. The crime statistics also correlate with deviancy of those individuals who were 16 and under and between the ages of 17-21 who were arrested for
The United States of America has the world’s highest incarceration rates, for several reasons. The United States of America doesn’t necessarily possess any unique strict laws in comparison to other countries of the world, yet we still have the highest incarceration rate in the world. More federal level and state level prisons are built in order to control and hold more prisoners because most are reaching its full capacity. The United States of America’s “crime rates” increased about 40 years ago when there became a new focus in the areas of crime. The President of the United States of America at the time Richard Nixon used the term “a war on drugs” in order to shed light on public health due to substance abuse. Initially, these policies created
Prison is a place where murders, rapists, and burglars, etc. end up after being proven guilty. What we tend to forget is that most of the crimes were made by gangs, either it was part of their initiation, or it was because their leader told them to. Now gang violence is a big issue because it causes family pain, it leads to death, and even puts the police officers and work staff in danger, they also challenge the authority. These gangs are like a disease, they spread until pain is felt, control is lost, and it will get to the point where it has complete control .
Wilson, James and Herrnstein, Richard. "Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime" New York: Free Press, 1998.
66. Americans rank crime among the nations greatest problems. Crime can touch people of all lifestyles, race, and ethnicity. Public polls further illustrate that people in America remain fearful of crime without realizing that serious crime has declined since the record-setting years of the early 1980’s. However, many people still believe that crime rates are rising in United States. The news media and politicians help to keep the public’s attention focused on crime. This attention also keeps people fearful of crime in America. FBI data further supports that there is no national crime wave to fear. Most people will not experience crime directly but instead learn about it indirectly. Researchers believe that conversations with friends may help to magnify the amount of local violence. Fear of crime forces many Americans to “stay of the streets” and away from dangerous areas.
A poll was conducted by the Southern States Police Benevolent Association to find the leading cause of crime. They found out that sixty-five percent didn’t think that gun control was an effective method to combat crime (Bejlefeld). Only one percent thought that guns caused crime while forty-eight percent said drug abuse was one of the leading causes of crime (Bejlefeld). Twenty-one percent believed that one of the main causes of crime has to do with the failure of the criminal justice systems (Bejlefeld). This report proves that gun is not the leader in crime and the failure of the justice system is the leading cause of
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.
Most experts believe that children who are raised in abusive homes learn that violence is a way to resolve conflicts and problems. They may replicate the violence they witnessed as children in their future relationships and parenting experiences. Children who witness their parent being abused are more likely to batter their partners as adults than children raised in nonviolent homes. For some going into adolescence may result in the belief that threats and violence are the norm in
The causes of crime seem to be indefinite and ever changing. In the 19th century, slum poverty was blamed; in the 20th century, a childhood without love was blamed (Adams 152). In the era going into the new millennium, most experts and theorists have given up all hope in trying to pinpoint one single aspect that causes crime. Many experts believe some people are natural born criminals who are born with criminal mindsets, and this is unchangeable. However, criminals are not a product of heredity. They are a product of their environment and how they react to it. This may seem like a bogus assumption, but is undoubtedly true.
This “circle” may include family and friends. Over the years, the constituents of a typical household have evolved. Extended families are increasing and the probabilities of a child growing up with one or no parent are more likely to happen now than they did years ago. Studies have found that families with both parents involved in a child’s life are less likely to have delinquent juveniles than families with one or no parent as long as the parents displayed healthy communication and lifestyles among themselves and their children. Furthermore, extended families seem to have a healthier lifestyle than that of nuclear families. The main point focuses on the idea that the happier and healthier a family is, the less likely the children will grow to commit offenses. Bad parenting falls under this idea. Parents who abuse, neglect, and communicate poorly with their children will more likely raise a child who will be involved in criminal acts. Household abuse also tends to work in a cycle. If a child is abused then he or she will more likely be at risk of abusing his or her future children. Studies also show that parents who are involved in criminal offenses are more likely to have juvenile delinquents because children learn from their parents. Thus, abuse and delinquent behavior correspond with each other. Additionally, if the child has a delinquent sibling, that also
...why youth engage in criminal activity Research suggests delinquent peers are a proximate cause than family/parental; family/parental may only be a slight cause of involvement in crime. Some research suggests that criminal propensities can be inherited through genes. Unfortunately, the media portrayals of crime aren’t a true representative of the actual crime trends, or accurately reflecting the level of crime perpetrated by youth. There are many different variables that could cause youth to engage in criminal activity, some of these major variables have been discussed throughout this essay.