Sleepers Case Study

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Identifying Information
Lorenzo 'Shakes' Carcaterra was a boy from Hell’s Kitchen, New York, in the 1960’s. Shakes is of Italian decent and lives with his father and mother in a small apartment. Lorenzo’s father worked long hours for little pay and quickly angered and used violence to control the household. Shakes witnessed the physical and emotional abuse of his mother. He never confronted his father, but always tried to play the peacekeeper between the two. Shakes mother was not fluent in English and had a hard time connecting to the community and her son. The trauma that Shakes went through because of the domestic violence shaped his psychological and social development. Respect and friendship are things that Shakes does not take for granted and would do anything in his power to always keep these two things. Shakes was a resilient kid and sought social support from three boys: Thomas "Tommy" Marcano, Michael Sullivan, John Reilly and various other men in his community.
Character Development and Functioning
One big social support for Shakes was the local priest, Father Bobby. Shakes was able to connect with the priest and had a form of accountability. Shakes participated in the Church and had interest in becoming a priest because of the power he saw in the role. Father Bobby kept an eye on the boys and wanted to prevent them from getting into the life of crime within the community. Shakes was able to have conservations with Father Bobby and listened to his advice. Hell’s Kitchen is a community in Manhattan, aligning the Hudson River, was a blend of Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, and Eastern European laborers. Hell’s Kitchen is a community of immigrants where men work really long hours and the women are responsible...

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... people of his community the image that he was involved with crime and therefore a bad youth. Even with the support of Father Bobby the boys were given a harsh sentence because of the way they were involved and the theft that took place (Lazarus, 2007). Another connection to the ecological theory is challenge a person receives. Challenge is perceived as an opportunity rather than a threat. There was not much challenge in Lorenzo’s life. The boy lived in a neighborhood where you either worked hard as a laborer or died in the streets protecting the neighborhood. The church and his hope of one day becoming a priest gave the only source of challenge for Shakes. Once that was taken away from the young man, after being sent to Wilkinson, all that remained was the threat of harm which kept Shakes on the defensive and did not allow personal growth (Hutchison, 2013).

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