Street Crime Essay

1186 Words3 Pages

Introduction The explanation of a criminal act is a two way street, while being simple, it’s often very complex. Often society asks how such a crime could occur, what was going through the individuals mind in committing, what was the cause? All factors that influence criminal deviant acts can be encompassed in the lifestyle and culture of a career criminal. Regardless of the subtype a criminal falls in, all offenders have many attributes that parallel each other and lead to deviant behavior. In studying the most common type of criminal, a street offender represents this two way street explanation. While a simple crime can be understood, it’s often layered with a complex framework of causation and external factors. This analysis will venture …show more content…

At the most basic level most offenders have in relation what’s called organizational alignment (Dabney, A. 2012). This concept refers to how offenders create and participate in networks that support a criminal subculture. This structure also allows offenders to either engage in deviant behavior by themselves, or in a range of sub working partnerships. A prime example of this are poor economic areas which have failed to provide a means for criminals to achieve economic gains through legal means. Inner cities like Detroit, have breed a stable organizational structure for criminal alternative methods to thrive, because legal means such as paying jobs are not present. Along with low job rates, most offenders lack marketable skills and the knowledge to execute those jobs often excludes them from the mainstream labor pool (Wright, R., & Topalli, V. 2012). As a result offenders are forced to use criminal traits to achieve economic means, and thus participate in some type of organizational alignment. This environment breeds groups like street gangs, organized crime, and other sub groups that commit deviant acts together, including loner groups, those who commit crime by …show more content…

While internal factors can explain causation, many external factors affect all offenders to participate in a criminal lifestyle. Cultural and environmental factors play a crucial role, more specifically economic, social isolation, and social conformity issues. These issues often lead many offenders to be attracted to criminal deviancy. According to Wright, R., & Topalli, most offenders automatically rule out legitimate forms of employment, since they are attracted to the fast timetable crime provides economic goals being met (Wright, R., & Topalli, V. 2012). This is somewhat an issue of social conformity, which many habitual offenders suffer from. Many criminals do not like an authoritative entity telling them how to achieve their economic goals. This often leads many offenders to sway and choose deviancy as an attractive solution. Since a criminal is their own boss, not only does this feature appeal too many, but it’s what leads to rejecting normal methods of labor. Abiding by a schedule, limited peer contact, long working hours were often disenfranchising factors from legitimate work. Many of these factors result in offenders to stay active in a criminalistics lifestyle. However economic factors also play a crucial role. As stated since most offenders would rather choose independent illegal labor rather than conformity, this often lead to harsh economic roles. Minimal skills and a limited marketable labor pool

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