Individuals Are Propelled In To Committing Crime

Essay, Research Paper

Individuals are propelled in to committing crime

Every crime is the result of individual, physical and social conditions. (Ferri, 1893). In Thinking seriously about crime Jock Young described crime as a product of the undersocialisation of the individual. This can be a result of (a) an innate genetic or physiological incapacity of the individual to be easily socialised; (b) a family background which was ineffective in the use of socialisation techniques in its child-rearing practices; (c) a social setting which lacked coherent and consistent consensual values . This statement nicely introduces this essay, as all the main aspects that lead people in to crime will be discussed.

Drugs are constantly the issue of intense government and political debate. Drugs and Alcohol are major factors in why people commit crime. An individual may be dealing in drugs to make money; they may commit crimes to feed their habit or they may just use drugs for recreational use. All these are practices are illegal. In the United States of America the number of inmates and prisoners has more than tripled since 1980. Four out of every five got there with the help of drugs and alcohol, says a report released by the National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. The report says: Of 1.7 million prisoners in 1996, 1.4 million had violated drug or alcohol laws. They had been under the influence when they committed their crimes, they had stolen to support their habit or had a history of drug or alcohol abuse that led them to commit crimes.

In The Drugs-Crime Connection John Ball discusses the criminality of heroin addicts. There is a general agreement among criminologists that an increase in criminality commonly occurs following the onset of heroin addiction . Ball goes on to present the results of a survey conducted on a large group of heroin addicts and their activities whilst on and off heroin. The results are quite significant and clearly show that more crimes were committed whilst on heroin. It is important to note that most of the crimes reported were for theft and that drug use or possession was not classified as a crime. This is hardly surprising. Drug addiction is expensive.

But have these people been propelled in to crime or are they committing crime by their own choice. It was most likely that they chose to take heroin but eventually could not come off it. They were then forced, because of their addiction, to go out and commit crime. So in a way they were propelled in to committing crime. But the question should be asked: What propelled them in to taking drugs.

In every city there are Problem areas . The idea of the criminal area has a long history and its legacy can be traced in contemporary descriptions and accounts of crime in poorer locations. In Swimming against the tide Power and Tunstall outline the patterns of social decline in council estates:

· Poor physical and social conditions

· Applicants with choice are deterred

· Low social status of estate

· Estates become harder to let

· High turnover and vacancies

· More vulnerable groups get housed

· More difficulty in managing estates

· More damage and disrepair

· More unpopular more exit

· Lack of social cohesion

· Breakdown in social controls

· Difficulty in maintaining management control

· Poorer conditions

· Other services adversely affected

· Chaotic conditions

Are individuals who grow up or live in poverty propelled in to committing crime. It is certain that individuals who live in poverty are more prone to committing crime than individuals who live in opulence. Comparing crime figures for different areas will clearly show that. But do individuals who live in poverty only commit crime for financial gain. The fact that money is not in abundance is not a just reason to commit crime. There are many people who live in less privileged areas that do not commit crime. So what is the main reason why a person will commit crime.

An Individuals upbringing surely plays the most significant part in determining how they will turn out in life. An article published by Reuters in 1998 discussed the effects absent fathers had on children: Sons with absent fathers are more likely to be jailed . When a father is not present in the home, his son is twice as likely to end up in jail, according to a new study by Cynthia Harper of the University of Pennsylvania and Sara S. McLanahan of Princeton University. Tracking a sample of 6,000 males ages 14 to 22 from 1979 to 1993, the sociologists also found that even after accounting for differences due to race, income and education:

The boys who grow up with a stepfather in the home were more at risk than those with an absent father, with roughly three times greater risk of incarceration than those who live with both their parents . Young men whose parents divorce during their adolescence were roughly one and a half times as likely to wind up in jail as children from intact families — faring slightly better than boys who were born to single mothers. While whites have lower rates of father absenteeism than blacks, white youths whose families split are at a higher risk of incarceration than their black peers. The presence of live-in grandparents in househ

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать