Youthful Deviance Essay

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I live in Chaparral, New Mexico. My family and I moved here from Worcester, Massachusetts last November. Since then, I have had time to explore the town and meet some of the people who live and work nearby. I have also had the time to see and experience the positives of living in this area, as well as the negatives. Chaparral is a very economically depressed area and just this fact builds a foundation for issues with the youth. When young people are faced with non-palatable circumstances, they typically resort to harsh means to make their lives more simple. The circumstances that I’ve witnessed in Chaparral range from economic issues to social injustices. Living near the border and a big city have affected the social structures of the home and family here. There are many people who live here with no jobs, no language skills and little to no education. Also with the immigration laws the way they are and the amount of people who live in town illegally, there is much uncertainty on how their lives will play out in the long run. When children are raised in homes like these they are exposed to many issues and topics that children in “better off” communities do not usually face. Here, in Chaparral, these issues include alcoholism, drug abuse, teen pregnancies, unemployment, malnourishment, and crime. These issues often are the cause for the living situations these youth, typically high school through college aged young adults, are dealing with everyday. When someone receives a poor education, has no job and has a family early in life they are faced with poverty and a desperation that serves as motivation to commit crimes and turn to alcohol and drugs to make their situation easier to live with. Thus creating a vicious circle for their children and grandchildren to come to be affected by. (Katz, Rebecca S. 1999) This seems like an overwhelming issue to have placed in

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