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They Call Us Monsters Sociological Theory

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"They Call Us Monsters" is a documentary about three young juvenile offenders who signed up for a screenwriting class as they await their respective trials in Los Angeles. It provides an insight look at the lives of three juvenile offenders in Los Angeles, focusing on the complex factors of their involvement due to their underage condition in crime. The documentary provides a whole other aspect of juvenile offenders since most people would think they are all just mini Charlie Manson. The whole movie provides a variety of examples that apply to the social theories that we have studied in class. Rational Choice Theory refers to individuals engaging in criminal behavior after weighing the potential benefits against the risks. In the film, we saw this theory in action when Jarad and his friends …show more content…

In the film, the presence of gang activity in the community goes unchecked, as fear and distrust inhibit residents from intervening or reporting criminal behavior. Social disorganization theory means that ecological differences in levels of crime are based on structural and cultural factors shaping the nature of the social order across communities. Since the movie was filmed in LA, which is a huge urban area that intersects with different areas and subcultures, all three young offenders in the movie lived in an environment that is a relatively disadvantaged neighborhood. In the background, it is normal to see highways and construction sites a lot, which is a sign of a high circulation of people around the area. This aligns with Shaw and McKay's theory of social disorganization, which emphasizes the breakdown of social control mechanisms in disadvantaged neighborhoods. On the other hand, Social Process Theory shows criminality as a part of people's interactions with various

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If an individual is socialized within crime or has social ties with criminal perpetrators, that individual

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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.

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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.

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Criminal and conflict gang whose primarily intent of crimes for tangible gains. Social structure theorists consider that the main components to illegal behavior are the ascendancy of social and economic influences that are distinguished in rundown communities where the population is predominantly lower-class citizens (Siegel, 2010). This following theory goes into helping us comprehend ways the human behavior, is the result of physical

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In the case of neighborhoods with high crime rates, Shaw and McKay argued that disorganization leads to young people being unsupervised, which then results in criminal subgroups which influence the younger generation, and the cycle repeats itself. In the case of Suzette, Oz, and Marisol, a social disorganization theorist would believe that their neighborhood is extremely disorganized and therefore has fallen into the ‘kinds of place’ disorganized cycle. Their neighborhood is portrayed as having a low socioeconomic status, based upon the information we are given about their struggling guardians. This could perhaps lead to increased residential mobility, but we are not provided with that information from the film. A social disorganization theorist would also note the presence of different cultures existing in the neighborhood.

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The social learning theory for instance shows Manson leant deviance in his early childhood from his mother, who was incarcerated when he was five. This implicates the environmental control and that of close persons. It depicts that behavior modification can be achieved through enhancing the social environment for criminals. The social conflict theory explains that individuals engage in crime when the legal system, which is under the control of the wealthy, identifies their acts as being unlawful (Lionell & Rawlins, 2005) Labeling theory

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The three specific connections that can be found between the points made by the young people in their letters to the Chicago Times and the main ideas of the social disorganization theory are: In the summertime, low-income neighborhoods in Chicago experience an increase in delinquency and crime. Second point, there is little police intervention or protection from gang activity in these communities and the people who are not involved feel like they have nobody to turn to and most resort to hiding inside to avoid victimization. Last, youth not only would like more protection from violence in their neighborhoods but better relationships between law enforcement officers and the community. These three points can be found on page 126, in the article, Voices of Youth Dealing Crime and Delinquency.

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Social process theory has several subdivisions including: social control theory, social learning theory and social reaction (labeling) theory (will only focus on social control theory). Social control theory insinuates every person has the possibility of becoming a criminal, but most people are influenced by their bonds to society. It contends that individuals obey the law and are less likely to commit crime if they have: learned self-control, attachment (to family, friends, peers, education, etc.), commitment (to school, learning, etc.), involvement (in leisure activities, sports, etc.), and belief (those that are positive). According to social control theory, an individual is more likely to be criminal/deviant if they are detached and alienated (from friends, education, family, etc.),

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It does not consider other factors such as criminal associations, individual traits, and inner strains, which plays a significant role in determining punishment for the individuals in committing crimes. It is observed that this theory endeavours to know that whether the activities of crime as well as the victim’s choice, criminals commit the activities on start from rational decisions. The theory also determines that criminals consider different elements before committing crime. They engage in the exchange of ideas before reaching on any final decision. These elements consist of consequences of their crimes, which include revealing their families to problems or death, chances of being arrested, and others elements, which comprises of placement of surveillance systems (Walsh & Hemmens, 2010; Lichbach,

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Continuing, with social disorganization, there is a key causal model that helps us understand a series of crime. There are four main keys that impact the person affected. There is usually some sort of disruption in this person's social life, which we see happen to these criminals. Whether this be experiencing homelessness or poverty-stricken inner-city neighborhoods, these criminals had disruptive social change in their childhood. The next key is conventional institutional breakdown.

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Crime has a significant impact that leaves a negative reputation for all who live in that particular neighborhood. When using the social disorganization theory as a base, it is seen through rapid change, competition, and social structure, that poor neighborhoods tend to have a higher level

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There are numerous theories that have evolved over time to explain why crimes are committed. These theories include anomie, strained, social control, and rational choice theory. In this research paper I will be focusing on rational choice theory. Majority of these theories focus on a macro-level, which is the largest, meanwhile some focus on a micro-level, the smaller level, depending on the circumstances. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize how rational choice theory is integrate with different crimes.

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When it comes to criminal behaviour and how it is developed, we tend to look at social interactions between a deviant person and those in charge of the law. Social groups construct deviance by making rules whose infringement creates deviance. When rules are inferred on particular people causes them to be labelled as outsiders because the term deviant has been successfully applied. In symbolic interactionism criminal or deviant behaviour depend on the norms of the society and its members and different circumstances or situations. Deviant behaviour can be expressed as someone breaking the law or acting out in a negative manner or someone departing from the norm.

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When someone discusses the social disorganization theory it is currently focus on the relationship between people crimes social control and deviant’s behaviors caused by the environment for example if u live in an area where most crimes were to happen like domestic abuse drug trafficking or gang violence then the people around or more likely to commit crimes than ones who live in good neighborhoods. Today in our community crime effects schools work even our own homes. According to Na’im H. Madyun the author of Connecting Social Disorganization Theory to African-American Outcomes article stated that “due to high poverty single parent households it is very difficult to create social ties to the community because they believe that society does not want to help the neighborhood who have very high crime rates”(Madyum) What he means by this statement is that when someone in a neighborhood even the school is effected by crime then most kids will end up being a delinquent at an early age for example they’ll start joining gangs by recruiting them through media or on the street and getting involve in crimes while they are in middle school or high school due to parents who go to work to work every day or might be addicted to drugs and abuse their kids in their own houses.

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Although individuals socialize with criminals, it doesn’t always imply that they will commit a

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