Theories of Crime (Due by 5/22/06 at 7:00 PM)
This blog is about the theories presented in Chapter 4. It is intended as a tool for you to become familiar with the theories as well as a tool for your classmates to help them in understanding the theories.
There will be three different theories discussed in this blog. The one you are assigned depends on the first letter of your last name. The first part of the assignment is about the theory itself, the second part is applying the theory to a hypothetical (made up) juvenile.
A-C (first letter of last name ) Social Disorganization
D-K Cultural Deviance
L-Z Control Theory (Hirschi)
1. Explain the theory to your classmates in your own words. Explain what causes delinquency according to that theory.
2. Give an example of a juvenile who gets into trouble because of the reasons given in this theory. Give this juvenile a name and tell us why he/she is in trouble with the juvenile court (be sure the reasons you give are reasons mentioned in your assigned theory).
posted by ProfessorQuinnCCP @ 4:30 PM
10 Comments:
Control therories are very arguementative because they contrast the emotions experienced with this theory. It is debated that the depending on a child's upbringing, they have the mentality to control all emotions and behaviors. The theory was deveolped by Travis Hirschi. He was a socialist that believed that the causes of delinquency is based on relationships that a child might develop with other children their youth or beyond. If these relationships are lost then the child has an excuse to act out on impulse. Hirschi also has reason to his explanation. He also belives that all people have potential to commit a crime, people are grouded to their bonds in society, and the weakening of these social bonds allow people to engage in behaviors on a more personal level. In addition, Hirschi has also developed four levels explaining the maintienace of social bonds between two people: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. With relationships developed among these four levels, it is belived that a child has greater chance in achieving goals.
(Part 2) Nicole Smith was a 17 year girl who wanted to fulfill her lifelong dream of being a journalist. She knew she had to become successful because she made a promise. Growing up in the West Philadelphia area, Nicole's grandmother strived to give her youngest granddaughter everything she ever needed in life. Nicole never really knew her parents. Her mother was a drug addict who died from AIDS and to her knowledge, she did not have a father. Nicole's grandmother is all she ever had. The comparision to all of this is Nicole was all her grandmother had too. They were best friends. Until all that changed. Nicole came home from school witnessing an ambulance in front of her home. Walking out were two paramedics carrying her grandmother on a strecher. Nicole became hysterical with tears and did not know what to do. She ran over to the van and saw her grandmother covered in blood. While losing strength, she explained to the poilce her relationship and they permitted her to ride the dreadful way to the hospital. It was later learned that while Nicole was in school, two men broke into her home trying to rob them. Her grandmother was upstairs sleeping while the two men were in the home. She heard something fall and thought it was Nicole coming home early, so she called out to her. When she realized that these two men were not Nicole, she tried to yell for help, but it was too late. She was already hit. The two men continued to beat her and left her for dead not taking one thing out of the home. A neighbor saw the men run out and immediately called 911. Nicole felt an overwhelming feeling when she saw the doctor come up to her with tears in his eyes. She knew it was all over, her best friend was gone. Her dreams of becoming a journalist were shattered. Her grandmom lived for her, now that she is gone who is she gonna live for??? Having no one left, Nicole acted out on people as those two men did to her grandmom. She felt as though everyone needed to suffer and feel her pain. So, she robbed, killed and stealed. She did what she could to get the job done. And in the end she was satisfied.
Cultural Deviance is qualified as the the norm in the inner cities youth enviroments. To go against everything that is law abiding and believe that that this is okay.Gangs have their own way of living.To live by your own set of rules in your own community suggest of cultural deviance.Tammy knows she has to wait to get her driving license to drive her mother's car. Everybody else is driving without a driver's license.
Tammy and her friends left school early to go to a friends house. She noticed her mom's car in the driveway of her home. She called home and no one answered. Tammy went inside her home and took the keys to her mother's car. Her mother didnt hear her come in, she was in the shower. Tammy's friend Erin said "Look you have to do this to be apart of us. We all drive now its your turn.Tammy knew this was wrong but did it any way just to belong.On the way to her friends house Tammy hit the curb and killed a little old lady coming from the store. Everybody got out the car and ran. Tammy was left holding a crime of vehichle homocide. Tammy know's the subculture rule "Snitches Get Stitches". Cultural Deviance applies when youth go totally against the law with their own way of thinking and acting.
Cultural Deviance Theory can be defined as youths' action of deviant behavior, by which their individual sub-cultures integrate into the dominant (Caucasian American) society. Culture sets a control on delinquency, by creating a conflict barrior which denies certain youth groups from gaining the same opportunities of potential and success as other youth groups. So, the disadvantaged youth groups are more likely to join gangs and be involved in criminal activity than other more privileged youth. By engageing in deviant/criminal behavior, disadvantaged youth are seen as rebels by the dominant culture.
For example there is a 17 year old African American male named Mike. Mike lives in Germantown Philadelphia. He has the ambition to go to school to become a dentist. Unfortunatly he comes from a low incomed single parent family. He lives with his mother and three younger brothers. His mother doesn't work because she has four sons to care for as well as keeping their home maintained. She recieves funding from the government, but that keeps them well fed and the roof over their head. Mike tries to find a job while still in high school so he can support himself and his family.
One of Mike's friends at school saw how he needed a side job, and involved him into illegal drug dealing. Mike was aware of his consequences if he were to be caught by the police, but he took those risks so he could provide money for himself and his family. Mike was eventually arrested for drug dealing. He was sent to a youth facility for six months. He had no prior offenses of criminal behavior. When he was released, he found a job working for a dentist. He had no further criminal charges, and he continued to go to school to become a dentist.
The theory that I was assigned was social disorganization which involves delinquency in low income areas due to no social organization. In disorganized neighborhoods social control is limited and because of economic factors the neighborhood suffers from poverty, violence, and health risks which are examples of social disorganization. Social disorganization occurs where there is limited social control, fear, instability, poverty, deterioration factors, and influences delinquency.
An example of a juvenile that lives in a community that suffers from social disorganization is "Jarmal". Jarmal is the oldest of two sisters and two brothers growing up in a house of six. He lives with his mother who is single and on welfare. He lives in a community that has drugs and gang related violence. Jarmal does not go to school and sells drugs to help out his mother. The juvenile courts warns his mother, gives Jarmal one more chance to start going to school, and to stop selling drugs or he will be sent to a correctional facility. Jarmal has a criminal record involving truancy and drug related crimes involving the gang that he is associated with. Even after the judge requests to stop selling drugs and to start going school, he refuses to support his mother and his family. In these types of living conditions the delinquent feels that he has no other choice but to sell drugs as a way for him to help his mother. This relates to social disorganization for the fact that because he lives in a community that is high in gangs, drugs, live in a low income neighborhood, the child will have greater risks of committing juvenile crimes.
Control Theory:
1) The control theory is based on the social bonds or lack of social bonds a youth has in his life. These bonds are made with parents, friends, other relatives, teachers, group etc. It is argued that if a youth has no social bond then he/she is more likely to commit a crime than than those youths who do have normal social bonds. According to Hirschi, there are 4 elements to having normal social bonds, they are: Attachement, Commitment, Involvement and Belief. Losing one or more of these elements will allow the youth to act out and commit crimes, because in his mind he has nothing else to lose anyway.
2) Curtis Williams, a now 20 year old has been in and out of correctional facilities for the past 8 years. Curtis lived with his grandmother up until she died from a bloodclot in her lungs. To him his grandmother was the only person who really cared about him and what he was going to do with his life. When she passed away apart of Curtis passed away with him. His mother is dying from AIDS and is on drugs, and she never really wanted him anyway and his father basically told Curtis to his face, "I don't have a son." Surprisingly, this was something Curtis was able to deal with, but he couldn't quite shake the fact that his grandmother was gone. Before his grandmother passed Curtis went to school, played basketball on the school teams, was not into drugs and was doing all the right things. Despite the fact that he knew his mom didn't want him, he moved in with her anyway because he didn't have anywhere else to go. When he moved in with him mom, she was also going through some changes, but for the better. She stopped doing the drugs and was able to communicate with her son. Everything was okay for a while, until Curtis realized that his mother started to become distance and never wanted to be bothered, staying locked up in her room. He also had two younger sisters whom he was now responsible for because his mother once again stopped caring. This was way more than Curtis wanted to deal with, so he began stealing from his mother, breaking into cars, dealing and using drugs, starting fights and just acting out, because to him he had already lost everything. Although today Curtis is out on the streets and trying to put his life back together there is still something in him that wants to act out.
What causes delinquency in the Social Disorganization is that juveniles tend to become a poduct of the inner-city, provety stricken area that they live in.Social disorganization states that juveniles raised in the inner-city are more likly to become a delinquent vs. those who live in organized communities.
Because of this theory, 17year old Rell was involved in three shoot outs at the age of 14.felling that there is no way out of the "hood" but to get rich or die trying, young Rell stop attending school in the tenth grade to become a full time drug dealer.Being rasied by his aunt not knowing his mother or his father he tends to hit the streets and look for love in all the wrong palces such as many different young girls and his homies.Unable to find a way to get to Rell his aunt fells that later on in life she will also lose her two sons to the streets(with Rell as their role model).this young man is an example of social disoragnization and its long list of social problems:residentail instability, family disruption, amd ethnic/racial conflict.
1)According to page 132 and 133, social conflict theory declare that society always stay in conflict. The government and social institutions should help the society to solve the problem.
Coflict theory think that capitalist cause the problem because capitalist put new machine so that youths can't get a job.
2) Robert is 17 years old he drops from high school and he can't find a job, and has been looking for a job for one year. He walked in street with his friend who drops out of school and who doesn't have a job. he wanted to buy a car so he could drive in another city to get a job. he was so angry and he can't get a job so he didn't have money to buy a car. He and his friend went to the dealer at night and stole a car from outside lot. The next morning the dealer came and he didn't see the car,and he reported the missing car to the police. Second the police looked for the car. They found the missing car in new -jersey. He was driving by Robert. The police man arrest Robert and his friend.
SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY STATES THAT MORALS (RELATIONSHIPS, COMMITMENTS, VALUES, NORMS, AND BELIEFS) PREVENT AN INDIVIDUAL FROM COMMITTING CRIMES. IT INTERPRETS THAT GOOD UPBRINGING AND STRONG MORAL VALUES CAN PREVENT A CHILD FROM COMMITTING DELINQUENT ACTS. TRAVIS HIRSCHI DEVELOPED AND PROPOSED FOUR TYPES OF CONTROL THAT ARE:
1. ATTACHMENT
ATTACHMENT TO SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
INTERNALIZE NORMS AND VALUES
RESPECT FOR THOSE YOU CARE FOR (INDIRECT CONTROL)
2. COMMITMENT
COMMITMENT TO A PARTICULAR LINE OF ACTION
A. UNDERSTANDS THE RAMIFICATIONS FOR PURSUING OTHER INTERESTS
B. THIS PROVIDES ONE A STAKE IN CONFORMITY
3. INVOLVEMENT
LEGITIMATE USE OF TIME AND ENERGY
A. OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES
B. TOO MUCH LEISURE TIME LEADS TO PROBLEMS
4. BELIEF
BELIEF IN COMMON VALUE SYSTEM
IN CONCLUSION, DELINQUENCY IS THE RESULT OF A WEAK OR BROKEN BOND TO SOCIETY
MARIA RIVERA IS A 17 YEAR OLD THAT WAS BORN AND RAISED IN NEW CASTLE, DE. HER FAMILY CONSISTED OF 6 PEOPLE, MOM, DAD, TWO SISTERS AND ONE BROTHER. THE NEIGHBORHOOD SHE LIVED IN WAS VERY QUITE, SUBURBAN DEVLOPMENT AND PREDOMINATELY WHITES LIVED IN THE AREA. AS A YOUNG CHILD, SHE HAD IT ALL. SHE DID WELL IN SCHOOL AND FAMILY VALUES WERE ALWAYS PRESENT. IN THE YEAR 1999, HER PARENTS SUDDENLY SEPARATED LEAVING HER WITH THE DECISION TO SAY WITH ITHER PARENT. SINCE SHE WAS A DADDY’S GIRL, SHE STAYED WITH HER FATHER. HER MOTHER DECIDED TO MOVE TO PHILADELPHIA. A YEAR LATER, HER FATHER WAS DIAGNOSED WITH LEUKEMIA AND A COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER HE PASSES AWAY. MARIA WAS THE ONLY ONE IN THE FAMILY THAT RESORTED TO DRUGS AND DELINQUENCY AS A RESULT TO HER FATHER’S DEATH. SINCE THEN SHE HAS BEEN IN AND OUT OF DETENTION CENTERS AND HAS NOT FOUND THE HELP THAT SHE NEEDS. SHE IS ALMOST AN ADULT AND THE REST OF HER FAMILY TRIES TO HELP HER BUT SHE REFUSES.
Control Theory can be explained as a social bond that a child has with close relatives,friends and teachers.According to Hirschi, kids who obey the law have been taught self control and knows how to control their behavior. The cause of delinquency is controled by a social bond that a child might have through an indiviual or groups.
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