Analysis Of Crips And The Bloods Essay

The labelling theory shows how crime is socially constructed based on labels created by the powerful, which is important for our understanding of who commits a crime as they show how the powerless can be labelled as deviant whilst powerful groups are not. This undermines the

Anderson posits that this is a major reason why they join gangs; they want to earn their “manhood” or at least learn what it means to be a man. This leads to them getting a twisted idea of what it is to be a true man (Anderson 14-16). Another issue that Anderson discusses is the growing intensity of girls becoming more violent in reaction to different types of threats to respect such as rumors and gossip. While Anderson does say girls are less prone to killing others based on these issues, there is still a rise in fighting amongst those in the areas these gangs run rampant (Anderson 16-18). Finally, Anderson ends his article with a final component in which gang members try to earn a reputation for being “bad” as they call it. This comes down to the willingness to perform risky behaviors, and how little they fear death as a result of their activities (Anderson 18-19). Anderson terms this kind of culture to be an oppositional culture (Anderson 20).

Labeling theory makes no attempt to understand why an individual initially engaged in primary deviance and committed a crime before they were labeled; this then limits the scope of the theory’s explanations and suggests the theory may not provide a better account for crime. Labeling theory emphasizes the negative effects of labeling, which gives the offender a victim status. Also, the same likelihood exists for developing a criminal career regardless of deviance being primary or secondary. Furthermore, labeling theorists are only interested in understanding the aftermath of an individual getting caught committing crime and society attaching a label to the offender. This differs from the view of social learning theory, which seeks to explain the first and subsequent criminal acts. Many critics also argue that the racial, social, and economic statuses of an individual create labels, as opposed to criminal acts; this theory then fails to acknowledge that those statuses may factor into the labeling process. As a result, the above suggests that labeling theory does not provide a good account for crime and appropriately has little empirical support. Moreover, in terms of policy implications, labeling theory implies a policy of radical non-intervention, where minor offenses

The documentary Crips and the Bloods: Made in America tells the dramatic story of the perpetual gang violence that runs the streets of Los Angeles, California. Gaining an inside look at how and why this violence is continued, the video focuses on the individuals that are affected by the gangs. Families are torn apart due to endless murders, children are taught to hate and act violently towards their neighbors, and people lose their soul to the gangs that they call their families. Of course every person must make a choice to engage in this sort of life, but sometimes these people are put into situations where there are no other options. In order to further think about what has caused and maintained the violence in the LA area, we can look towards Agnew’s General Strain Theory and the Labeling Theory.

The Seville Blocc Mafia Crips are a multi-cultural Crip set located in Eastern Los Angeles. Born from the struggle of poverty, neglect from the government, and general desire to resist the reality that was life in the hood. Originally a group of friends growing up on the East side, the S.B.M.C (Seville Blocc Mafia Crips) were meant to keep a strong bond in times of need. Around the time of the 1980's crack epidemic, violence in Seville rose steadily as well as general crime, and the youth of Seville was no exception to these changes. Introduced through the public school system, narcotic sales became a popular activity in the neighborhood with multiple dealers flooding the street corners with ages as young as twelve and thirteen. Recognizing

I believe a big group of criminal activity would be gang violence and drug cartels. Gang violence has taken a big role of criminal activity threw out the years. In many places you may have two gangs going at each other because of something that could’ve happened 40- 50 to even 60 years ago. In the United States you have two gangs known as the “crips and bloods”. The crips have with an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 members. The crips are one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the United States. Bloods refers to a loosely structured association of smaller street gangs, known as "sets". Bloods have estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people in their membership. The crips and bloods have been in rival since 1920’s. They are associated with robbery,

Labelling theory is relevant as it shows how society has branded men in gangs as deviant and the social reactions to this naming (Tierney 2013, p.148). As individuals like Asling and Blewitt are already part of a deviant subculture and habitual offenders, they strive to fulfil the deviant label. Thus, all further behaviour, activities and tasks orbits around the attempt to find social status, power and authority that they might not find in a legitimate society. This act of crime also solidifies their association with Williams, a notorious figure in Australia’s underworld. As a result, stuck in this criminal label, both men are conditioned to value success through illegitimate means to obtain a sense of identity and therefore committing crimes

Labels are only classifying words or phrases placed on people or things by other people and are often inaccurate and restrictive. However, they carry a lot of power. Labelling perspectives in criminology looks at how crime is a "social process" (pg. 94; (White, et al., 2012)) and how certain power structures determine what is considered deviant or not; the perspective studies crime as an "outcome of specific types of human interaction" (pg. 94; (White, et al., 2012)). This essay will consider the question "Does criminal labelling encourage criminal behaviour?" and will answer it by giving an overview as to what criminal labelling is, outlining the consequences of social interactions, highlighting the effect labels have on individuals and critiquing

In trying to understand crime and societies impact on the individual criminal, we can look towards many theories. The labeling theory, which society can share the blame for as well, categorizes criminals who are simply filling their role. It is applied to a specific class of people to include criminal, felons and juvenile delinquents (Schmalleger, 2016). Once the individual has become labeled, they consciously or subconsciously fulfill the roll they were given. Compounding the individual’s obstacles are the legal tags they also become associated with. The effects of tagging an individual begin at the local community level and can be seen throughout the criminal justice system (Schmalleger, 2016). In example, assume a young male is arrested

Youth often report joining a gang for protection. However, as numerous research studies have shown, the risk and rate of victimization, especially violent victimization, increases substantially while youth are in a gang. This finding is notably similar to that of the increase in the criminal offending rate during periods of active gang membership. Thus, there is a seemingly paradoxical relationship between the expectation that joining a gang will provide protection from violence and the fact that actual rate (and risk) of victimization while in a gang increases. Research specifically examining this issue points to a compelling explanation: Given the “choice” between seemingly random acts of street violence when not in a gang versus the more structured and less random acts within the gang culture (including the sense of group protection that being part of a gang engenders), individuals are more likely to choose to belong to a gang.

A few commonly used labels such as “criminal”, “ex-con”, and “junkie” tend to isolate people from society and lock them into lives of crime. In some instances, there are kids whose parents are in jail and because of that, the kids at school label them as a “future criminal” by saying, “ You’re going to grow up to be just like your dad”. It is situations like that that put ideas into these kids minds and they just grow up living up to those kids expectation. Sometimes, even a child’s parent label them as a criminal because a member of their family is in jail or they tend to misbehave and are disobedient in the household. It is situations like these that shape that child into the person they will become and more times than not, they do end up becoming criminals. Eventually, people just accept the labels given to them and ultimately, their personality is built around these labels. It is for this reason that convicted criminals that serve time then are released tend to commit a crime again ultimately sending them back to prison. For example, let’s say that little Timmy’s father was sent to prison when he was 2 years old, robbing little Timmy of a father figure. The kids at school pick on him for being such a “momma’s boy” and said he

With respect to the labeling theory it is fact a true theory and, while many scholars have accepted the labeling theory as such. The problem is that it has become a major distraction among scholars and as well critics who have concern of the labeling theory’s effectiveness. At the same time, critics caution that while the labeling theory supposed to be diminishing criminal involvement and state intervention and they concern and their anticipation is that they are afraid that it could actually worsen criminals in having the opposite effect as most criminals typically started to accepted the concept of labeling as the norms, which, in turn leading to more crime.

Labeling is the process by which society responds to a criminal in a definition of a criminal and they are labeled criminal. This is a form of labeling by society in which to perpetuate crime and delinquency rather than reduce it (Schmalleger, 2012). Negative labels can carry significant liabilities that are visible as well as hidden. After an offender is arrested, convicted, and sentenced, society and the community label the person as delinquent and criminal. The offender is thought of as evil and all their actions are considered evil and are looked upon as suspicions (Schmalleger, 2012). This individual who used to do bad and deviant things had now become bad and unredeemable as a human. Communities cannot deal with people such as this.

When society acts in a particular way towards the labeled individual, it causes that person to act in a way that lives up to their label, encouraging them to do wrong in their society. A critique of this theory states that too much attention is paid to the interactive process of labeling and ignores what it is that lead to

Critical thinking essay - social class and unemployment: relationship to crime In contemporary society social class is defined based on a complex model characterized by occupation (employment), which leads to victimization of low income and lower classes mainly with respect to stereotypes concerning crime. A study of prisoners showed that a large percentage of them were from poor backgrounds, unemployed before incarceration, and uneducated (Glueck and Glueck). The results suggest that there is a class-crime link; however, other social thinkers and philosophers associated the relationship to poverty and unemployment as causing ordinary crime.