Essays on Social Disorganization

Introduction

The desire to conform to the norms is what makes the foundation of a civilized society. Social order, for instance, is a desired attribute that is founded on established written and unwritten rules that are being observed by most people within a society. Deviation from these established rules is considered as undesirable and people who deviate are considered as having abnormal qualities or malfunctioning (Merton, 2002, p. 672). There are instances, however, wherein some people are observed to deviate from the standard pattern of human behavior. This deviation has captured the interest of many social scientists and have been ...

The three main theories of social structure are the social disorganization theory, strain theory and culture conflict theory. These theories explain the various perspectives of crime with respect to society. All three theories have their own representation for the crime. The social disorganization theory represents the relation between crime and society in a pathological framework where the society is the body or organism whereas the crime is a parasite and disease which creates a deviance. These theories mainly relate to the ecological setup of society and were developed in the 1920s and 1930s (“Social structure theories,” n.d.). According to ...

CONTENTS 1. Introduction 3 2. The Causes of Juvenile Crime and Masculinity Theories 4 2.1. Connell’s Hegemonic Masculinity Theory 4 2.2. Youth Gangs in the USA and Masculine Gang Formation 5 2.3. The Causes of Juvenile Gang Crime 6 3. Discussion and conclusions 8

References 9

Introduction The United States of America has one of the highest incarceration and crime rates in worldwide. In accordance with the findings of the United States Department of Justice approximately 10-12% of all crime perpetrated in the country is attributed to the minors. Despite the fact that there is a steady decline of crime ...

Rape is defined as a crime involving one person having sexual intercourse with another person without prior consent, which has most recently applied to male victims, but usually involves physical force or deception to get the victim to submit or become subdued. There are seven theories which describe and define deviant behavior including social control, functionalism, anomie, social disorganization, strain theory, critical theory, and stigma theory. It seems most likely the social control theory can better explain why rapists participate in their form of deviant behavior. This paper will analyze various articles discussing theories related to rapist behavior. The ...

The living environment shapes who people are. Naturally, in neighborhoods with a negative criminogenic environment, people often go deviant, and, when they do, it often is at a relatively young age. Researchers have gone to great lengths to study the underlying causes of delinquent behavior of young residents. Poverty appears to be one of the principal driving forces of offenders long with income disproportion, albeit to a far lesser extent. The blockade of opportunities or the means to achieve culturally acceptable norms in the society is also an important motivation. While race is not universally found to cause delinquency, ...

In any society, there exists an interaction between people of different backgrounds and characters. Hence, it calls for legal checks to ensure a good relationship within the occupants of the region. The wrongdoers in any society are monitored and punished by the law enforcers in that particular locality. While investigating any crime committed, the law enforcers use a stipulated procedure and apply various criminology theories to understand the offense adequately for proper evaluation. In this article, criminological theories will be assessed, and there is a review of their application in crime analysis procedure. Through criminology, criminals, and their behavior ...

Birkbeck, C., & LaFree, G. (1993). The Situational Analysis of Crime and Deviance. Annual Review Of Sociology, 113-137. In “The Situational Analysis of Crime and Deviance” Birkbeck and LaFree argue that there are two explanations of crime and deviance and they are situational and dispositional, but situational explanations are of greater importance. Even though during last decades a lot of scientists were likely to focus on dispositional theories, nowadays there is the awareness that dispositional theories are limited and scientists are encouraged to consider situational theories (main point). In particular, Birkbeck and LaFree state that the majority of studies, which ...

Question 1. Identify the four specific categories of computer crimes. Provide an example for each category and explain the influence on society and criminal justice operations that the crime has under each category.

According to Carter (1995), there are 4 general types of computer crimes. First is computer as target. In this category of crime, the computer is the target and types of offenses under this category include theft of intellectual property. Other crimes falling under this category include theft of market information, unlawful access of government records and trespass. This crime has a great influence on society and criminal ...

A graduate student at Maryland University shot his roommates at the doorstep of their house in campus. The student later shot himself at the same spot. The police found a bag containing several weapons close the crime scene; the weapons included a baseball bat, a semiautomatic weapon and a machete. The student who was later identified as Dayvon Green is said to have set several fires in the basement of the school. Green later asked the two roommates to come help him set out the fire; Green shot the two friends when they came out to help him with the fire. One of ...

Statistically speaking, a substantial gap exists between the cities of San Jose and Oakland in California. San Jose is one of largest cities of the state with a land area of about 176.5 sq. mi., while Oakland is one of the smallest cities in the state with an area of about 55.9 sq. mi. Aside from the land size difference the population of the two cities also places a marked distinction between them: San Jose has a population of 998, 5437 as of 2013, while Oakland has only 406,253 persons officially residing within its jurisdiction (US Census Bureau 2015). Despite its bigger ...

Some people choose to act violently as a way of releasing feelings of frustration, desperation or anger. As such, they undermine the use of nonviolent means of dealing with their negative feelings. Violent tendencies in the United States is a profound issue among the young people. However, there is no general explanation for the increase in youth violence over the years. Several things may be responsible for violent behavior among the American youth including peer pressure, low self-esteem, low educational achievement, witnessing domestic violence, being victims of early childhood abuse among other factors that may trigger negative emotions. Youth violence has ...

Introduction

It is known that high population density could increase the risk of infectious diseases as well as non-infectious diseases. Crowding is also associated to higher crime rates, social disorganization and higher mortality rate according to several empirical studies (Altman, 1981). Another element which is related to high population density is noise. Crowding and noise could affect individuals in a variety of ways. The behavior of individuals could also be affected by crowding and noise especially when their territoriality, privacy and personal space are disturbed. People tend to become aggressive and frustrated when their territoriality, privacy and personal space are affected. ...

Introduction

Low socioeconomic status (SES) has been considered one of the key determinants of criminal behavior. Family-level SES is usually determined by measuring income, education level, and occupation, but SES is a multilevel concept that applies to both family and community levels (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002). Families with low SES will more likely live in neighborhoods with low community-level SES, which limits the children’s educational opportunities and increases their exposure to violence (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002). Consequently, the children will identify themselves with the community and adopt its patterns of violent behavior. The influence of both family-level and community-level SES is ...

A growing number of probation officers, judges, prosecutors as well as other juvenile professionals are advocating for a juvenile justice system which is greatly based on restorative justice. These groups of people have been frustrated by the policy uncertainty between retribution and treatment as well as unrealistic and unclear public expectations. As a primary mission, the balanced approach or policy allows juvenile justice systems together with its agencies to improve in their capacity of protecting the community and ensuring accountability of the system and the offenders. It enables the youths to become productive and competent citizens. This guiding philosophical framework for ...

Introduction:

Criminological theories attempt to define crime and shed light on the criminal justice system. Moreover, the theories further shed light into the intrinsic nature of the crime and its offender, and thus enhancing the rationale in devising the preventive measures (Tibet & Craig 107). Theories envelop the making and the contravention of the law, criminal and deviant conduct, and criminal activity patterns. The principal sociological crime theories consider the immediate social environment, such as the family unit, local community, peer groups, and learning institutions. The theories explain why some individuals have higher inclination to crime unlike others (Black 89). ...

Karl Marx opposed the systematic inequalities in the society around him. He openly Advocated, at least for the near future, many social measures that egalitarians support: For Instance, a graduated progressive income tax, abolition of the right of inheritance, equal liability of all to labor, and universal free public education. It is possible that a society with economic equality can eliminate most delinquency. Crime and inequality are connected. This suggestion is according to three main theories of crime, economic theory of crime, social disorganization theory, and strain theory (Vito & Maahs, 2012, pg.161). The economic theory of crime refers to economic crimes ...

Introduction

Criminal theories seek to examine the reasons why people commit crime. This is significant as it helps to come up with ways through which to handle and prevent crime in the society. Over the past, several theories have emerged and the continuous efforts to explore them are clear evidence about the efforts that are being put in place to reduce crime. In achieving this, the theories are analyzed both as a combination and individually. Criminologists seek to find the best ways to reduce crime levels in the society. This paper seeks to describe all criminal theories in accordance with the ...

Social disorganization theory

According to the theory, the social environment and physical environments are one of the main causes of the behavioral choice that a person makes. The theory highly emphasizes on the importance of neighborhood or locality for the shaping of their behavior. For example, a person belonging to an area where undesired social factors such as Illiteracy, unemployment, lack of moral education and ignorance are in abundance, the chances that the residents may involve in criminal activities are higher. This gives rise to other undesired aspects, such as, if someone does not want to indulge in criminal activities, but lack of educational ...

Social disorganization indicates the failure of a social institution or the social organization such as schools, real estate, business, policing, and the group networking in certain neighborhoods or communities. Social disorganization, however, has its origin in ecology, which is the study of the relations between the environment and organism. In criminology, the social disorganization is considered as the perspective as well as the theory, but ecology is considered as an approach or the school. The social disorganization theory has, however, emerged from the research that is conducted by Shaw and Mckay in Chicago. They have discovered that the crime ...

Introduction

Over the years, it has been widely accepted that disparities in racial, ethnic and socioeconomic status exist in the population of individuals with convicted felony. Also, these trends have been found to be interconnected with each other. Various researches have been made to explore the correlation of these trends and the consequences of being a victim as well as the effects of having criminal record to the offender and to the society (Wheelock and Uggen, 2006, p. 1-2). For example, criminal sanctions and victimizations often result to a disadvantage that worsens their social status because of discrimination in the society, prohibitions ...

Definition of the theories

Rational choice theory is a criminology concept that holds human being as a reasoning actor who can assess the costs and benefits, means and ends and make a rational decision (Miller, 2009). Social disorganization theory is defined as the inability of the members of the community to solve the existing problems or achieve shared societal values in unison.

The Strain theory claims that the existing social structures within a community may influence the citizens to engage in crime.

The theories are the most defendable theories today because they involve prevailing events and ideologies in our society. The theories help to explain why people engage in the criminal activities. For instance, people commit crime because it can be easy, satisfying and rewarding.

Relevance of each of these theories to crime in the 21st century

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Introduction

In the discipline of criminology, the examination of the reasons why human beings commit a crime is very crucial especially in regards to the currently on-going debate about how to handle and prevent crime. Throughout the years, many theories that seek to explain why people engage in criminal activities have been forwarded. These theories are still being explored today, individually and sometimes in combination as people like criminologists engage in the search for the best solutions and strategies for reducing the number and types of crimes in the society. One of the theories that has been very prevalent among ...

Introduction

The topic of the paper is murder, and its mission is to discuss the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer and relating this crime with the three categories of crime causation. Murder is the deliberate taking of another person life. Murder can be first-degree and second-degree murder where in the first degree both the intention and the killing is planned (Brown et al, 2010). This paper will also discuss how Jeffery Dahmer killed people deliberately out of ill will.

The Crime

The paper will address the crime of murder and will discuss the life of an American serial killer and sex offender Jeffrey ...

Introduction

On 16th November 2012 seventy eight year old Rahmatollah Vahidipour a resident of Great Neck was killed under unfamiliar circumstances. The motives surrounding the killing could not be clearly established at an instance. Investigations into the death did not last a week before the killer was known and arraigned in court. Salvatore Pirrone, a native of Bensonhusrt, Brooklyn was charged with three counts of second degree murder and one count of first degree murder. He was responsible of Rahmatollah’s killing on the fateful day (Goodman J. D. 2012). Pirrone was a said to be a middleman for a clothing supplier and it was ...

Law

The Strain Theory has been developed by Robert Agnew who believed that a strain is due to the negative relationships in which the individuals feel that they are being mistreated (Siegel, 2008). The negative behavior which resulted from unachieved goals, loss or death of a significant other, financial problems or negative life events such as divorce, and resulted to anger and frustration of the criminals. There are three types of strain recognized under this theory: 1.) When a person is prevented to achieve pre-determined goals; 2.) Removal of a positively valued stimulus; and 3.) The threat under a negatively valued stimuli. The Strain ...

- Discuss the relationship between crime and demography (i.e. gender, age, race, social class, education, employment). In answering the question, pay careful consideration to the measurement of demography and crime. Be sure to highlight and discuss reciprocal relationships between crime and demography (i.e. race increases the risk of victimization and crime increases the risk of White Flight). Draw on Criminological theory and empirical research in outlining your response. Draw on required reading and class presentations. 917 On a national average, the Blacks are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana as compared to the ...

In today’s world, the criminal justice system stands to benefit more from the deterrence of crime than in the actual handling of criminal cases. Lucky enough, crime specialists have a number of tools at their disposal to choose from. One of the ways to used to deter crime is through the use of criminology theories. This is inspired by the fact that criminology theories give an insight into deviant behaviour and the various reasons underlying criminal activities. Among all these theories, social disorganization theory is the most popular within the criminology circles. The social disorganization theory was born from a ...

There are two forms of controlling behavior that members of a society are expected to display. The norms of society are the informal form while the laws of society are the formal form (Licht, 2008). Crime is an action that is a breach of the laws of society and may involve harm to society while a breach of the norms of society is known as delinquency. Of course, adults are not the only ones who commit crimes. Even juveniles, i.e. children and teens below the age of 18, can commit crimes, and a crime committed by a juvenile is referred to as juvenile delinquency ...

Criminology and public policy

Relation to juvenile status offenders According to the biological theory, criminals are born with less advanced biological features as compared to other normal law abiding citizens. In that vein, juveniles with less advanced features such as hairy bodies, broad chins, and shapeless ears are likely to indulge in crime. According to this theory, the tendency to commit crime is inherent as early as at birth. On the other hand, the psychoanalytic theory attributes crime to the nature of upbringing accorded to a child during the period of his or her childhood. In that breath, juveniles who went through tough ...

Univariate Data Analysis

For the univariate data analysis, this study is going to use several variables to analyse data. This includes that number of time subjects committed property crime. We will determine the number of times each student in the study has committed property crime. Secondly, the study will establish the percent of male and female. Here, the study will find out the ratio of male and female students involved in property crimes while in high school. Thirdly, the study will assess the age ranges of the property criminal and also calculate the race of the criminal. Fourthly, the percentage of students ...

Rape can be defined as type of sexual assault in which one or more persons initiate sexual intercourse with another without that persons consent. These situations of enforcing sex maybe done either by using force, abuse of authority of by having sex with someone who is not able to provide such consent. Rape is defined as so in criminology so as to have a clear direction on how courts would handle such cases. Persons who perpetrate such an act is referred to as a rapists and this definition is also applied under the sexual offenders’ registry as used in the United ...

Juvenile delinquency is concerned with criminal behavior by individuals regarded by law as minors. In recent times, the United States has witnessed higher levels of delinquent behavior by its youth, prompting criminologists to probe its causes and effects. In the United States, juvenile delinquency is caused by rational choice, differential association, strain theory, social disorganization and labeling, and leads to problems such as teenage pregnancies, school dropouts and ill-health. There are several documented theoretical causes of criminal behavior in juveniles. One of these is rational choice, which asserts that delinquent behavior among youngsters emanates from the offender, as ...

Introduction

Boyz n the Hood is a film which was produced in 1991 depicting the American hood. It was directed by John Singleton and its main characters were Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Morris Chestnut, Regina King and Angela Basset. The movie reveals the way of life in the urban and poor South Central Los Angeles. Boyz n the Hood was declared ‘culturally significant’ in 2002 by the United States Library of Congress and preserved it in the National Film Registry (Singleton, 1991).

The Plot

The story begins in 1984 with four youths on their way to school. One of them ...