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Link between poverty and criminality
Link between poverty and criminality
Relation between poverty and crime
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The film that interested me for this assignment was “Boyz n the Hood”. The movie was about a Los Angeles neighborhood expanding of drug and gang culture, with increasingly tragic results. It was about how one teen had family support to guide him on the right path in life regarding the social problems around him. The other two teens in the film wasn’t as fortunate and fell into the social problems of drugs, violence, and gangs; where one ended up dead. This movie was very sad but depicted the many social problems of struggling black communities in the early 1990’s. We learned in Adler, Mueller, & Laufer how criminal behavior as a result of frustrations suffered by lower-class individuals deprived of legitimate means to reach their goals are …show more content…
Sutherland’s theory that the conditions which are said to cause crime should be present when crime is present, and they should be absent when crime is absent. Sutherland identified that some types of crime are more dominant in minority communities, many individuals in those communities are law-abiding. Similarly, among the powerful and privileged, some are lawbreakers; some are not. His theory is intended to discriminate at the individual level between those who become lawbreakers and those who do not, whatever their race, class, or ethnic background (Adler, Mueller & Laufer, 2013, p. 124). This theory is depicted in the film, the two brothers, Darrin(Doughboy) and Ricky, are an example of how differential association theory can help to clarify why two boys in the same environments from a social structural perspective can still turn out very differently from a social process perspective. It was shown how Darrin only knew how to “gangbang”, unlike Ricky who got a scholarship for playing football really good and the family support of his mom to pursue it. An example of this is when Ricky opens up to his best friend " I want to be somebody" (Nicolaides & Singleton
The book "Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys" is written by Victor M. Rios, who was a former gang member in his hometown and later turned his life around. He went to Berkeley and earned a doctorate in sociology. This book explores how youth of color are punished and criminalized by authorities even under the situation where there is no crimes committed and how it can cause a harmful consequence for the young man and their community in Oakland, California. The goal is to show the consequences of social control on the lives of young people of color and try to remind the authorities. This is important Since society plays a crucial part in shaping the lives of people. And the authorities have biases towards them and mistreat
The final chapter of The New Jim Crow reviews the manner in which the Black community might respond to the racism that exists today. Some research implies that we in America have reached a point of attrition as to incarceration and the positive effects outweighing the negative effects of marginalization and collateral damage to the community. By some research, the "War on Drugs" procreates poverty, joblessness, family breakdown, and crime.
The essay of Debra Dickerson’s “Who Shot Johnny?” she explains how Americans only see the gangster, uneducated, homeless, careless black community and doesn’t
The way Staples structures this essay emphasizes his awareness of the problem he faces. The essay’s framework consists mostly of Staples informing the reader of a scenario in which he was discriminated against and then following it with a discussion or elaboration on the situation. This follow-up information is often an expression stating comprehension of his problem and than subtitle, logical criticisms toward it. For example, Staples describes women “fearing the worst of him” on the streets of Brooklyn. He then proceeds to declare that he understands that “women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence.” Staples supports this statement with information about how he had witnessed gang violence in Chester, Pennsylvania and saw countless black youths locked away, however, Staples pronounces that this is no excuse for holding every young black man accountable, because he was an example of a black man who “grew up one of the good boys” coming “to doubt the virtues of intimidation early on.” This narrative structure highlights that Staples is not a hypocrite because he is not show ignorance toward the problem he is addressing unlik...
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
Boyz N the Hood was a film created to convey an anti-gang message as well as to provide societal members an in-depth look at life in “the hood” so he or she can expand their culturally awareness of identifying societal issues (Stevenson, 1991). Upon the debut of “Boyz N the Hood” violence erupted at theaters across the nation, resulting in multiple shows pulling the film from scheduled showings to alleviate future violent behaviors (Stevenson, 1991). The film profoundly illustrates the realty of the events revealed within the storyline that frequently occur on a daily basis within every impoverish community; however, is overlooked by the individuals who are not directly involved and or affected (Leon-Guerrero, 2016) Children of lower socioeconomic status often are raised in ghetto neighborhoods where they often witness, crime, violence, gang activity, abuse, and drugs (Leon-Guerrero, 2016). Ghetto communities envelop tumultuous cycles of violence and substance abuse creating a pervasive occurrence within the residents of the community. This is prevalent in lower developed communities that unfortunately many children and the youth populace indirectly inherit and sadly conform to, as there are no other means to an end for them (Leon-Guerrero,
Among the numerous movies in this film genre, ‘Boyz N the Hood’ and ‘Menace II Society’ are the two classic movies and are the best examples of Hood Films. Speaking of ‘Menace II Society’, the movie is a directorial debut of Allen Hughes and Albert Hughes which was released in 1993. The movie is a very good example that exposes the city of Los Angeles and its culture. Not only does the city has
The majority of our prison population is made up of African Americans of low social and economic classes, who come from low income houses and have low levels of education. The chapter also discusses the amount of money the United States loses yearly due to white collar crime as compared to the cost of violent crime. Another main point was the factors that make it more likely for a poor person to be incarcerated, such as the difficulty they would have in accessing adequate legal counsel and their inability to pay bail. This chapter addresses the inequality of sentencing in regards to race, it supplies us with NCVS data that shows less than one-fourth of assailants are perceived as black even though they are arrested at a much higher rate. In addition to African Americans being more likely to be charged with a crime, they are also more likely to receive harsher punishments for the same crimes- which can be seen in the crack/cocaine disparities. These harsher punishments are also shown in the higher rates of African Americans sentenced to
Boyz in the Hood is a statement of how urban youth have been passed a legacy of tragic indifference, and the writer has shown that it is an almost inescapable fate for those born into racism and poverty to repeat the patterns they wish to escape. The movie’s characters are clear representations of how the system fails young black youth in the United States, and the difference one mentor can make for these kids. During segregation young black children became targets for white brutality. This movie reflects what the European mentality and what it has done to the African American culture.
Menace II Society, a film about a young Black man who has lived the “hustler” lifestyle and is struggling to leave it, is a perfect example of deviance as the main character, Caine Lawson, and the characters around him violate many of society’s norms. Throughout the film, the characters swear incessantly, carry around guns and drugs as most people would carry around cell phones, commit street crimes, especially burglary and mugging, on a regular basis, and beat and kill people unscrupulously. The following quote captures just how deviant Caine and the other characters in this film were, “[Caine] went into the store just to get a beer. Came out an accessory to murder and armed robbery. It's funny like that in the hood sometimes. You never knew what was gonna happen, or when” (Albert Hughes). Why would Caine consider these crimes “funny”, or rather, so insignificant? What caused Caine to become so deviant? The answers to such questions were woven into the plot of the film and will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
Sutherland states, Criminal behavior is the result of normal social processes, resulting when individuals associate with the wrong type of people, often by no fault on their part” (Sutherland, 2012). Reading information on this website showed that Boyz 'n the Hood would be a good example. According to the Differential Association theory website,” it states, “At the time he is gunned down, Ricky is just hours away from learning that his test scores have qualified him for college, while Darrin is clearly destined for life in the "hood." (Differential Association Theory, 2016). Ricky and Darrin, known as Doughboy, both played roles that exposed them to the real world. For example, there was a scene from the movie that showed where the boys ' mother related more towards Ricky. Basically, Ricky really wasn 't the type to engage in activities because he was trying to get out of the hood; On the other hand, all Darrin could do was mainly focus in on what was taking place in the hood. As you can see, there are times when someone would conform to rules, but there are others who wants to go against the rules and partake in doing criminal
Everybody grows up in a different place. For some people, including African-Americans, they grew up in a poor neighbor. You’re probably wondering what growing up in a poor neighborhood has to do with anything. Well, let me tell you this. According to Congressperson Danny Davis, he said that 70% of black men who are between ages 18-45 that grew up in a neighborhood with poverty especially in Chicago are ex-offenders. This means that because these African-American men grew in poverty, they’re more likely to commit crimes. And from the U.S. Department of Commerce, a total of 26.2 percent, or 10.8 million African Americans grew up in poverty. Knowing all this, over 5.5 million African-Americans
Brent Staples focuses on his own experiences, which center around his perspective of racism and inequality. This perspective uniquely encapsulates the life of a black man with an outer image that directly affects how others perceive him as a person. Many readers, including myself, have never experienced the fear that Staples encounters so frequently. The severity of his experiences was highlighted for me when he wrote, “It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto.” (135) Having to accept that fact as a reality is something that many people will never understand. It is monumentally important that Staples was able to share this perspective of the world so others could begin to comprehend society from a viewpoint different from their
The film Boys Don’t Cry, directed by Kimberly Pierce, brought mainstream media attention to the life and tragic death of Brandon Teena in addition to an unveiling educational debate. “For the first time, audiences were introduced to a transgender character that was not branded as either killer, sexual predator, or deranged psychopath” (Rigney 2004). The fascination with the life and murder of Brandon within contemporary American culture classified the potential to operate as a force of interruption and disruption, suggesting a moment when a critical, potentially educated transgender movement might open up within mainstream culture. The media has a long history of depicting characters who transgress gender boundaries as comic, weak, or as
"What happened then was both unexpected and extremely unpleasant. Lieutenant Kotler grew very angry with Pavel and no one - not Bruno, not Gretel, not Mother and not even Father - stepped in to stop him doing what he did next, even though none of them could watch. Even though it made Bruno cry and Gretel grow pale." This quote is from the the book.(Boyne, 148-149). The perception of women in “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is that they are useful so long as they believe the lie. The movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” describes the Holocaust from a child’s point of view. Bruno thinks the concentration camp is a playground and a place that has a cafe.