Crime Zones

400 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sociological causation of crime

Crime Zones and Reasoning (Poverty, Race, Social Class)

Sociology is a branch of the social sciences that attempts to help us understand society and how people interact. As with many other social sciences, sociology employs theories to help understand why people make certain decisions. Theories that help us explain societal trends are usually segmented in order to accurately examine the specific dynamics of different sections of society. Communities, institutions, gender, race and population are a few popular examples of common segmentations utilized in social theories. Social structure theories, also called social change theories attempt to analyze the driving forces that change society. Sociologists who study social change use the study of both criminology and sociology to draw conclusions about criminal behavior. The overarching belief of criminology theory is that certain social structures support deviant behavior. The three main branches of social structure theories are the social disorganization theory, the social strain theory and the cultural deviance theory. How well have social structure theories explained delinquent behavior in society? In this paper, the major social structural theories will be defined and analyzed.

Social Disorganization Theory: Concentric Zone Theory

The Centric Zone Theory was proposed by Shaw, and examined arrest rates in Chicago. It was during these years immigrants living in the inner city begin to relocate to the outskirts of the city. The purpose of their study was to conclude if delinquency was caused by particular immigrant groups or by the environment in which immigrants lived. Park and Burgess adopted the original concentric zone theory, and which separated Chicago into 5 distinct zones.

Which were:

1. Central Business District

2. Transitional Zone

3. Working Class Zone

4. Residential Zone

5. Commuter Zone

The experiment reveled that arrest rates consistently remained high for Zone 2, the transitional zone. They ultimately concluded that delinquency rates are related with ecological environment in which a person or group dwells.

Show More
Related

  • Criminality Of The Other Wes Moore Summary

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    He is a decorated veteran, scholar and successful business leader upon graduating. In comparison to the other Wes Moore who never seemed to escape his childhood and ended up in prison. The theory that best explains the authors’ noninvolvement in a life of crime vs. the criminality of the other Wes Moore is the social disorganization theory. Shaw and McKay, the founders of this theory, believed that “juvenile delinquency could be understood only by considering the social context in which youths lived. A context that itself was a product of major societal transformations wrought by rapid urbanization, unbridled industrialization, and massive population shifts” (Lilly, Cullen & Ball, 2015). The theory is centered around transitional zones and competition determined how people were distributed spatially among these zones (Lilly et al., 2015). This model founded by Ernest Burgess showed that high priced residential areas were in the outer zones and the inner zones consisted of poverty (Lilly et al.,

    Read More

  • Criminalogical Theories Applied to Monster The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bohm, R. M. (2001), A Primer on Crime and Delinquency Theory, Wadsworth, California pg. 82

    Read More

  • Examples Of Racial Disparity In The Criminal Justice System

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Shaw And Mckay's Social Disorganization Theory

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shaw and McKay’s social disorganization theory had a profound impact on the study of the effects of urbanization, industrialization and immigration in Chicago neighborhood on crime and delinquency rates. However, Shaw and McKay faced much criticism when they first released their findings. One criticism of the social disorganization theory had to do with researcher’s ability to accurately test the social disorganization theory. Although Shaw and McKay collected data on characteristics of areas and delinquency rates for Chicago communities and were able to visually demonstrate a relationship between by using maps and other visuals, their research did not have an actually test that went along with it (Kurbin, 2010). Kurbin (2010) states that “the

    Read More

  • The Latino Paradox Case Study

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    This location-based theory may also explain the rise in incarceration rates for second and third generation children of immigrants as well: they begin to identify with the culture of the neighborhoods in which they were raised, rather than with the sphere of the recent-immigrant community as did their parents.

    Read More

  • Theories Explaining Juvenile Crime

    1605 Words  | 4 Pages

    Two major sociological theories explain youth crime at the macro level. The first is Social Disorganization theory, created in 1969 by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay. The theory resulted from a study of juvenile delinquency in Chicago using information from 1900 to 1940, which attempts to answer the question of how aspects of the structure of a community contribute to social control. The study found that a community that is unable to achieve common values has a high rate of delinquency. Shaw and McKay looked at the physical appearance of the neighborhoods, the average income of the population, the ethnicity of the neighborhood, the percent of renters versus owners, and how fast the population of the area changed. These factors all contribute to neighborhood delinquency.

    Read More

  • Abortion Did NOT Reduce the Crime Rate

    1952 Words  | 4 Pages

    The second factor is growth in imprisonment (Rosenfeld, 2011). This factor is controversial in that some st...

    Read More

  • Conflict and Critical, Rational Choice Theories

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rational Choice Theory is the belief that man is a reasonable actor who decides means and ends, costs and benefits, and makes rational choices. Routine activity theory provides a simple and powerful insight into the causes of crime problems. At its heart is the idea that in the absence of effective controls, offenders will prey upon attractive targets. Social Control Theory gives an explanation for how behavior conforms to that which is generally expected in society. Social disorganization theory explains the ecological differences in levels of crime based on structural and cultural factors shaping the nature of the social order across communities. This approach alters the sociological studies on which is any of two or more random variables exhibiting correlated variation of urban growth to examine the concentration and stability of rates of criminal behavior. Strain Theory. Conflict theory explains the belief that individuals choose to commit a crime, which many po...

    Read More

  • There Are No Children Here Essay

    2455 Words  | 5 Pages

    Some of the explanations of delinquency insinuates that education, politics, social factors, family issues among others are the main causes of delinquency (Rutter, 2013).Just as these were some of the factors in “There Are No Children Here”. In addition, criminal investigators formulated several theories which explain causes of delinquency. Among them are social factors which are explained through several theories which include Social Reaction Theory also referred to as Labeling theory and Power control

    Read More

  • The Strain Theory of Understanding Juvenile Delinquency

    1891 Words  | 4 Pages

    Across the nation, social scientists and criminologists have researched and hypothesized the main contributing factors that promote juvenile delinquency. The Strain/ Anomie theory introduced by Robert Merton and later revised by several other theorists, attempts to explain why juvenile subculture tend to behave certain ways when confronted with pressures from everyday life. Revised by other theorists, the Strain theory attempts to provide the framework of juvenile delinquency and its sources in order to analyze the effectiveness of this assumption, as well as to implement certain crime prevention policies and programs to curb this problem. This paper is going to analyze how the Strain theory contributes it’s principles of delinquency factors in order to explain and understand juvenile delinquency.

    Read More

  • Juvenile Recidivism Case Study

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    Grunwald, Lockwood, Harris, and Mennis’s (2010) examine the effects of neighborhood context on juvenile recidivism to determine if neighborhoods influence the likelihood of re-offending. Grunwald, Lockwood, Harris, and Mennis made two hypotheses. Hypothesis one was that “neighborhood indicators of social disorganization found to predict delinquency will continue to predict recidivism after controlling for individual and family contexts” (Grunwald et al. 2010, p.1069). Hypothesis two was that “individual and neighborhood predictors of juvenile recidivism will vary depending on recidivism offense type” (Grunwald et al. 2010 p.1069). For this study Grunwald and his team used data taken from the Program Development and Evaluation System database of Philadelphia Family Court. This database measured: family demographics,

    Read More

  • Strain Theories of Criminal Behaviour

    2001 Words  | 5 Pages

    Strain theories of criminal behaviour have been amongst the most important and influential in the field of criminology. Taking a societal approach, strain theories have sought to explain deficiencies in social structure that lead individuals to commit crime (Williams and McShane 2010). Strain theories operate under the premise that there is a societal consensus of values, beliefs, and goals with legitimate methods for achieving success. When individuals are denied access to legitimate methods for achieving success, the result is anomie or social strain. This often leads an individual to resort to deviant or criminal means to obtain the level of success that they are socialized to pursue. This is the basic premise of strain theory. This paper will explore the evolution of strain theories by first examining their intellectual foundations which laid the foundation for Robert Merton’s theories of anomie and strain. Merton’s strain theory will be discussed in detail including the modes of adaptation that people use when faced with societal strain. Finally, the paper will conclude with the strengths and weaknesses of Merton’s strain theory and an examination of the criminological theories and social policies it has influenced.

    Read More

  • Integrated Theory Integration: The Importance For The Causes Of Crime

    2559 Words  | 6 Pages

    This could explain the effect of strains on crime by taken this theory into account. Once strain causes bonds to weaken amongst conventional groups and institutions such as family, school, and peer networks will open up doors to delinquent behaviors, because by being in these social roles causes the person to regulate by role expectations.

    Read More

  • Criminology: The Consensus View of Crime

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    Criminology is the study of crime and criminals; a branch of sociology. More accurately, it is the study of crime as a social trend, and its overall origins, its many manifestations and its impact upon society as a whole. That makes it more a form of sociology than a law enforcement tool. But the trends it studies have a huge impact on the way the police do their jobs, the way society treats its criminals, and the way a given community goes about maintaining law and order. The writer will describe and give examples of the three perspectives of viewing crimes. The perspectives that will be highlighted are the consensus view, the conflict view or the interactionist view. Each perspective maintain its own interpretation of what constitutes criminal activities and what causes people to engage in criminal behaviors (Siegel, p.12).

    Read More

  • Social Structure Theory Of Juvenile Delinquency

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    The social structure theories suggest that social and economic forces in poor areas can lead individuals in these communities into criminal behavior patterns. The social structure theorists believe that social conditions influence an individual’s control behavior choices

    Read More

More about Crime Zones

Open Document