Why People Turn To Crime

In the study “Racial and Class Divergence in Public Attitudes and Perception About Poverty in USA: An Empirical Study,” professor Francis O. Adeola analyzes existing data to determine if people themselves or a structural influence causes poverty (Adeola 56). Building upon the idea of structural poverty, Adeola contends “poverty rates tend to persist in the same neighborhood over many years” (61). For the other Wes Moore, this neighborhood was the Murphy Project Homes: one of the most dangerous places in Baltimore (Moore 18). Furthermore, he examines how “[t]he poor form a unique subculture,” reinforcing aspects of poverty (Adeola 61). The subculture that surrounded the other Wes Moore included the normalization of the presence of drugs and

Short Summary: Chapter 2 of The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison was about how the way society sees crime can be distorted by the media, the justice system, and the information we are presented with about what crime really is. It points out that medical neglect, known environmental hazards, dangerous workplace conditions, and poverty cause more injuries yearly than murders, assaults, and robberies. Most people see the latter as “crime,” but not the former. Long Summary: Chapter 2 of The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison discusses people’s skewed perspective when it comes to what they think crime really is. The reader is asked to do an exercise regarding their own reason.

Economic inequality is a large factor into the crime rates of a community. In the image of the 3 color coated maps of Chicago identifying poverty levels and drug violations, there is a clear indication that drug violations and abuse is more evident in poverty stricken communities and neighborhoods. The effects of the interconnections between crime rates and poverty is analyzed by Sudhir Venkatesh a sociology student in the non-fiction book, Gang leader for a day. It is in the Robert Taylor Projects where Venkatesh observes the lack of police enforcement, the high rates of homelessness, prostitution, drug abuse, and gang activity. The gang leader he observes often justifies the gang activity, drug distribution and physical assaults of disabled homeless men as “helping his community”(75).

It is also extremely difficult to get a well-paying job in order to pay for housing, healthcare, and food. The lack of healthcare, food stamps, and well-paying jobs can result in people turning towards crime because of issues such as mental health, physical health, and employment options. One reason that people turn to crime is because of the lack of healthcare. Even when healthcare is available to people, a large portion of them are not able to

However, there is only so much the government can provide because of this some people resort to robbery and selling drugs to get by. In Bell Hooks’ article, “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor,” describes why poor people resort to crime when she states, “Willing to commit all manner of dehumanizing and brutal acts in the name of material gain, the poor are portrayed as seeing themselves as always and only worthless. Worth is gained only by means of material success” (Hooks 485). Resorting to these types of crime can be very dangerous because they could accidentally step into their rival gang territory and potentially be killed, which will lead to more cycles of revenge and hatred. This was also simply said by Andre in Freedom Writers, “My brother taught me what the life is for a young black man.

Issues of Social and Economic Justice Throughout my experience in the Panhandle Promise Project, I had the opportunity to closely examine the injustice many of the clients experience based on their race, economic status, or in the criminal justice system. Since the starting of America’s war on drugs longer sentencing for drug offences that in violent crimes, there has been an increase of the number of minorities who are currently in prison (Wormer, Kaplan, and Juby (2012). For the children having a parent incarcerated affects them in several different ways, such as having a higher risk of being place in foster care (Andersen and Wildeman, 2014) , poor school performance (Eddy et al., 2014), food insecurity (Turney, 2014c), antisocial behavioral problems (Jarjoura et al., 2011f). For women who have been release from prison new barriers limit the assistance they will received, the ineligibility for food stamps (Travis, 2002), and in some cases the loss of their children custody (Welsh, 2014b).

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.

The initial impact from socioeconomic status begins through the influence of an individual’s community and resources provided to nourish the well-being of the person. However, when a strong community or welfare is absent, the prosperity of the individual often declines. In the Journal of Economic Issues, Theodore Chiricos notes “...that poor individuals from juveniles to adults are more likely to be arrested and charged than middle and upper-income individuals (41-52)” (Chiricos 519). Communities with little access to substantial resources for intolerance against neglect of the law encourages disobedience to authority.

Consequently, an individual who just wanted a sense of belonging became a target for the INS and LAPD. When deeply examining the life of a poor El Salvadorian immigrant struggling for survival, it should be expected that they would be more inclined to stealing food because they have no other choice. Nevertheless, the United States government, law enforcement, and criminal justice system has a bad habit of harshly punishing the person who committed the crime, without implementing the proper procedures to prevent the crime from happening in the first

The first is that criminal law does not define crime properly because it does not include the most dangerous antisocial behavior that takes place (Reiman, p. 67). The second is that police and prosecutors do not make charge and arrest decisions based on criteria that will help them get the most dangerous criminals (Reiman, p. 67). The third is that criminal convictions are also not necessarily the ones that are most dangerous (Reiman, p. 67). The fourth is that the decisions that sentencing judges make are not made with the intentions of protecting society from the most dangerous criminals, nor do they reflect proper punishment according to the crime and the harm done by it (Reiman, p. 67). The fifth is that the first four hypotheses validate that criminal acts are indirectly identified with the poor (Reiman,

To expand my research to attain the goal of understanding specification of both explanations, The southern subculture of violence theory blames higher crime rates in the South on “cultural values that evolved from that region’s unique history” (Ousey, 2000:268). All cultural explanations are based on the social learning approach, which holds that criminality is learned through intimate interactions with others. Another example is that capital punishment is highest in the South. The economic deprivation explanation to differences of crime rates within regions of the country is synonymous with strain theories.

But we already pay for healthcare in our taxes collectively and to insurance companies individually, and it's costing us dearly. We hear stories every day now about how someone died because they couldn't afford their medication or treatment. Of people suffering for years because they couldn't afford to see a doctor. We see the wasteland of suffering that our current system has given us, and we can't let the fear of change keep us from doing better, for all of our sakes.

The associations are reviewed as an aspect of social structure and crime because of associations due to economic struggles by classes of people or groups (Schmalleger, 2012). Social disorganization theory views society as a living organism and that criminal behavior is compared to a disease. Strain theory looks at the lack of fit between socially approved success

Social Disorganization Theory Name Institutional Affiliation Crime in our societies is a widespread social phenomenon dating back centuries ago and ranges from low-level delinquencies to high-level offences. Chances are high that one would be involved in crime during their lifetime, either as a victim, or as an assailant. Nevertheless, what really motivates individuals to commit crime? Studies have shown that in different political, economic, and cultural backgrounds, crime occurs in diverse patterns making it a serious social problem. Hence, criminology and sociology experts have examined numerous aspects of crime in an attempt to elucidate why individuals commit crime, and cogently explain its social context.

Poverty’s effects on crime can be explained through a variety of reasons. There is a higher rate of mental illness among the poor than the rich. Poverty can lead to high levels of stress, which in turn drive individuals to commit theft, robbery or other violent acts. Moreover, poverty may lead to actual or perceived inferior education. Youth with less access to quality schools, jobs, and role models and opportunities end up spending time on the streets associating with gangs.