In “The Code of the Streets”, Elijah Anderson go in details and shows us on how teens are getting killed on a daily basis. Dr. Anderson discuss some social intuitions that influence crime in the urban neighborhoods. The first one I would discuss is the “Decent and Street Families”. The Decent and Street Families represent two poles of value orientation, two contrasting conceptual categories Dr. Anderson stated. Decent residents judge themselves as for judging others in the streets as for streets families express themselves as a decent their not.
People that have gone to a good school and have a family with positive influences are less likely to engage in deviant behavior. External structures like schools, churches, clubs, police departments, keep individuals from deviating, these institutions push individuals into conforming to the norms of society. Travis Hirschi introduced four elements of social bonds: “attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief” (Vierra 2014). Reckless believed that these four components could prevent crime and deviant behaviors because they give the individual a purpose and sense of responsibility. If individuals in many of these lower income neighborhoods do not have a job and no source of steady income, then they are ever more likely to resort to deviant behaviors in order to attain the means of survival.
For my journal entry I am going to talk about the Pruitt Igoe video on public housing development. The residence that lived in St. Louis Missouri Pritt Igoe where poor and uneducated families that relied on public assistance to get by. The 1949 housing act that the government granted give the people of Pruitt Igoe hope. One theory I see in this film is social disorganization, “which is social change, social conflict, and lack of social consensus as the root of the crime and deviance, is closely associated with the ecological school of criminology” (bookshelf). In this theory you have zone where unique characteristics wherein unique populations and typical from of behavior could be found.
Usually when a youth is classified as a delinquent it is associated with antisocial behaviors within the family and in the community such as aggression and can lead to related problems such as vandalism, substance usage and running away, theft, robbery, and larceny, gang memberships and school shootings. Juveniles are typically not charged like adults unless the crime is serious. Delinquency in the United States is examined with the emphasis on its relation to local communities and the groups and institutions that form the social world of children and adolescents (Cavan &
Within the past couple of decades, criminologists have developed different criminological theories that apply to the social behaviors and decisions of criminals. One of the earliest theories developed regarding criminality is the rational choice theory, in which describes the rationalization of determining if the rewards from committing the crime outweigh the consequences. In Scarver’s case, his decision to engage in criminal activities outweighed the potential consequences, or the other alternatives if he did not engage in such criminal activities. In addition to the rational choice theory, Scarver’s criminality can be related to the social disorganization theory, which describes the influence of one’s social and physical environment on one’s decision to commit a crime. Lastly, the strain theory can be related to Scarver’s criminality as well, as it is used to describe an individual who lacks the means to obtain such goals, and aspirations, so therefore, he or she engages in criminal activities to acquire the goals.
Nowacki, suggest that family attachments and involvement decrease the likelihood to participate in “street code” mentality (pg. 832). The positive family attachments also reduce the likelihood of youth participating in activities due to peer pressure and can be explained by the theory of a “psychological presence” (Nowacki, pg. 841). Social organization and controlled neighborhoods, are also often backed by strong networks (church organizations, police presence, and youth activities) (Dummond, pg. 195). The combination of parental or familial involvement with strong social controls can often stop a neighborhood from being taken over by street code or decrease the negative impact the street code has on their neighborhood.
They 're taking back their neighborhoods. Reader 's Digest, 139, 103. Bennet, S. (1995). Community organizations and crime. Annals of Academy of Political and Social Science, 539, 72.
The film Kids Return, directed by Takeshi Kitano delves into the complex themes of deviance and conformity through the story of two high school friends, Shinji and Masaru, who struggle to find their place in society after dropping out of school. The film skillfully portrays the struggles and challenges that come with conforming to societal norms and expectations, and as well as the consequences of deviating from them. Both Shinji’s and Masaru’s experience with trying to find their place in society, can be understood and analyzed through the lens of social psychologists such as Leon Festinger, Abraham Maslow, and Muzafer Sherif. In the film Kids Return, directed by Takeshi Kitano, the themes of deviance and conformity are central to the story,
“The question posed here moves away from the individual-level focus of much prior research and focuses on an aggregate question: To what extent is the overall perception of crime of residents in a neighborhood related to the actual level of crime” (Higg, 2010 p.
Samantha Perez Gonzalez Dr. Linda Russo CRJ 2030 01 - Theories of Crime 04/26/23 He’s God’s Child “If somebody came to me with a lethal injection, I’d take it,” Willie Bosket stated in an interview with The New York Times. “I’d rather be dead.”
The blacks engage in crimes as it seems to be their only source of income. Those engage in criminal activities also desire to have order in their neighborhoods. This results to formation of closer ties between the criminals and the non-criminals based on residential stability and high home ownership rates. The residents in these neighborhoods are also most likely to prevent any efforts by law enforcers to curb the existing crimes amongst them. Boys and girls in the neighborhoods, especially the street oriented, lack hopes for the future and tend to live their lives on the edge.
Social structure theories emphasize poverty, lack of education, absence of marketable skills, and subcultural values as fundamental causes of crime. Three subtypes of social structure theories can be identified: social disorganization theory, strain theory, and culture conflict theory. Social disorganization theory encompasses the notion of social pathology, which sees society as a kind of organism and crime and deviance as a kind of disease or social pathology. Theories of social disorganization are often associated with the perspective of social ecology and with the Chicago School of criminology, which developed during the 1920s and 1930s. Strain theory points to a lack of fit between socially approved success goals and the availability
The relationship of neighborhoods with their police can be dependent on the socioeconomic status of the community in which they reside. However, police misconduct has been responsible for raising crime rates in community crime policing in spite of their socioeconomic statuses (Weitzer & Tuch,
In this paper I will be analyzing how living in a stressful, violent, and poverty-ridden environment in combination with racial discrimination can allow residents of that community too develop a “code of the street”, a set of informal rules to abide by. The two theories I will be connecting this matter to, is the social learning theory and social disorganization theory. More often, these street codes and rules are created by young gang members who manage and “run” the neighbourhood and have an influence. It is a requirement for every resident to not only be aware but abide by the rules, it does not matter the age, sex, or colour, but more where that individual resides, at times it may be for survival. Some of the rules in this code are
This paper draws on existing sociological research in identifying a number of theories used in explaining the formation of gangs. The theories discussed are social structure theories, social conflict theory, and social process theories all of which highlight elements of strain in different forms as they relates to gang formation. According to Merton, (as cited in Schneider & Tilly, 2004) structural theories significantly emphasize the role of social and economic structures as the causes of delinquent behavior and tend to treat criminal behavior as the result of the undesirable and dysfunctional structures (P. 3.).
