REVIEW FOR EXAM 2
CRIME IN AMERICA
CHAPTERS 6 and 7
REVIEW OF THE CRIMINAL THEORIES:
Joe Bad Guy: is 18 years old and has lived in an inner city slum all of his life. His parents were divorced when he was 13 after his father went to prison for drug dealing. Joe is not close with his mother though he lives in the family apartment with six brothers and sisters all of whom have criminal arrest records. The family primarily lives on government assistance. Joe has never had a job and he dropped out of school before completing the 9th grade. Joe belongs to a gang involved in drug dealing. He likes it because he can make some money and he likes being accepted by his friends. He has a long history of arrests and adjudication's and has been through the juvenile justice system including spending a short time in a juvenile institution. How can we explain his behavior?
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Social Disorganization: Joe lives in a poverty stricken environment where the social institutions that ordinarily could maintain social control are weak or non-existent such as the family, commercial establishments, schools, etc. Joe has little hope of ever making it successfully unless he leaves that environment.
Strain (Theory of Anomie): Joe wants what everybody else wants in America including money and power but because he is a member of the lower socio-economic class he does not have the means or the opportunity to reach those goals and must use illegal methods instead.
Cultural Deviance: Joe is only conforming to the norms and values of the subculture in which he lives which often conflicts with conventional society.
SOCIAL PROCESS
Social Learning:
Differential Association: Joe is basically was a good person but he has learned his criminal values and behaviors from his associations with criminal significant others including his father and his peer group. Joe has been exposed to far less non-criminal definitions which could have lead into a law abiding life.
Differential Reinforcement: The rewards Joe receives for criminal behavior are greater than the rewards for non-criminal behavior.
Neutralization: Joe holds attitudes and values similar to law abiding citizens but he is able to neutralize those values and beliefs temporarily to allow him to commit crimes through various techniques of neutralization. For example, he has probably rationalized his criminal behavior believing that everyone else is as corrupt as he is. His loyalities to his gang probably outweigh any inclination to be law abiding as well.
Social Control
Containment Theory: Joe has been pressured into criminal behavior by his adverse living conditions and the pull of his deviant companions. Internally he may be experiencing depression, hostility and/or anxiety. He lacks both internal containments such as a positive self concept and outer containments such as experiencing quality socialization by his parents which could have offset those criminal pressures.
Social Control Theory: Like everyone else, Joe was born with a propensity to commit crime. Joe' s criminal behavior is the result of a lack of attachment to those who hold law-abiding values including family members, school and peer associations. Consequently, there are no social controls in place to curb his behavior.
Social Reaction
Labeling Theory: Joe would not be involved in criminal activity if he had not been stigmatized by the agents of the criminal justice system that turned him into a criminal after he was first arrested.