Food, shelter, and money causes juveniles to turn to gangs. Areas with high gang activity forces/intimidates, (peer pressure), children to join gangs. Less popular juveniles join gangs to become cool or to claim the social letter. Gangs may present themselves as a means of survival to youth who lack basic essentials such as food, clothing and shelter (http://www.gangfree.org/gangs_why.html). Juveniles who live in low-income neighborhoods or poor neighbors join gangs for food, shelter, and money.
(Introduction to Criminology, pg. 175) This writer wanted to emphasis that some gangs are more involved in social structure than the individual differences. Some of these gangs that he researched are from the low-income families and he describes it, as defiant individualism is people that become involved with money-producing economic activities whether it is legal or not. This theory of is linked into seven attributes like intense competitiveness, mistrust, self-reliance, emotional detachment, a survival instinct, a social Darwinist world-view, and a defiant attitude. An example of defiant individualism are gangs that are capable of producing benefits for their members and other people in society, they as well work in their rank, and regulating leadership.
One aspect that was said to have pushed them away from the education system and towards these gangs was because they had middle class standards and values and these boys were unable to live up to the high expectations of these teachers. Therefore, sociologists believe that to some extent, this is one of the key points which can easily cause crime in society. The opportunity structure is where sociologists have explained that crime is determined in the level of legal and illegal opportunities available to
This paper attempts to explain the reasons behind Kody Scott’s delinquent behavior and why he decided to live the life of a gangster. The numerous strains and obstacles placed in Monster Kody’s path cannot be attributed to the reasoning of a single theory. The combination of theories of delinquency that best explains Kody Scott’s life is the social disorganization theory, the differential association theory, and the social learning theory. By exploring Kody Scott’s delinquent behavior it is possible to understand similar individuals’ reasons for committing delinquent acts. Differential Association Theory At a young age Kody had to make a decision whether to live a gang life or a life of a civilian.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF GANG MEMBERSHIP TO DELINQUENCY BEYOND DELINQUENT FRIENDS* SARA R. BATTIN KARL G. HILL ROBERT D. ABBOTT RICHARD F. CATALANO J. DAVID HAWKINS University of Washington Both being involved in a gang and having friends who are delinquent have been shown to contribute to an individual's own delinquency. However, the unique contribution of gang membership to delinquency, above and beyond having delinquent peers, has not been well studied. Increased delinquency among gang members may not be due to gang membership per se, but to the members' association with delinquent peers. Using data from the Seattle Social Development Project, this research compared involvement in delinquency for gang members, nongahg youths with delinquent
There are so many reasons as to which juveniles can talk themselves into joining gangs. Reasons having to do with family problems or even involvement in the gangs, to friends being there, making money fast and having a sense of “security” when with his or her gang members. One of the main reasons why kids partake in gang activity is because of a neglected feeling from their family. “If young people aren’t getting positive attention from parents, joining a gang certainly provides lots of negative attention. Youth who are angry at a parent may join a gang to shock or be defiant toward the parent”.
Strain theory is as sociologic theory that tries to explain why people commit crimes. It explains the likely hood of delinquency in two parts one is the addition of strain in a persons life and the second portion is the persons coping mechanisms to combat the strain that they experience. Another large part of strain theory explains how people measure the positive and negative things that will happen whenever they commit any crime or delinquent act. We know that juveniles are involved in more crime than adults and we can also use strain theory to help explain why this is happening. Being a juvenile comes with many different strains that most adults do not have to face as well as having far less consequence in many cases is they do something wrong or make a mistake.
The gangs still operate in full force, despite the restrictions on where the gang leaders are location-wise. The communication with the outside gang members still remain, and “hits” are still made to those that cause a threat to the gang and its members. The video regarding the Pelican Bay State Prison support the idea of social structure theory due to representing an environment that creates a negative reaction in its prisoners. The prisoners of Pelican Bay all begin to engage in criminal behavior and adapt to their surroundings. In this situation, social structure is the most logical explanation for the behavior of the inmates and the remaining criminal behavior.
Organized crime participants are master manipulators and can easily instill fear in the citizens within the area. This fear is often times enough to keep innocent people quiet when being questioned by law enforcement. This practice has helped organized crime not only survive but evolve within the United States. In addition, when the criminal group has the assistance of local law enforcement and judicial officials, it becomes common for a criminal case to end in a dismissal. In conclusion, it can be said that crime and politics have existed in America for decades, Money, and power are both present in crime and politics.
The criminal is barred from certain types of employment, the family may make them unwelcome, the police may give them an undue amount of attention. The modification of self-image comes about because of the stigma the criminal experiences. We have a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby the individual becomes the person so described by the label. The labeling theory has a great effect on adult offenders. If a person does the time for the crime that they committed then they should be able to enter back into society without any problem but with the labeling theory adult offenders are still ostracized by the crime that they had