How The Cross Sectional Factors Affect Inner City Youth Essay

Throughout decades, education inequality is still one of the most deliberate and controversial issues in the United States. Thus far, the privilege or right to receive education has not attained the level of equality throughout the nation. Poor districts obtain less educational funds while rich districts obtain more, which create an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas. In other words, the education gap is the root of inequality in America. Inequality in education is linked to the major problems in the society. The need for studies to be done to find ways of overcoming these inequalities is very inevitable. The means of mitigating these inequalities are important for the entire world. This is something of great interest due to the fact that children need quality education which is a pillar for a guaranteed future. Generally speaking, the distinctions among races, genders, and classes in the society have caused the educational inequality in America.

In the years prior to the creation for the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program, America’s inner cities was experiencing a substantial increase of gang membership along the youth living in impoverished communities. During the early 1990s, many viewed gang activity as a particular community’s problem, but as youth and gang violence was increasing drastically across the United States’ inner cities, the public’s perception about this social issue changed. Due to the rapid rise of gang violence and youth membership, delinquent behavior by youths began to receive a substantial amount of academic and media attention.

For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused

Most people have preconceived notions regarding the relationship between social class and delinquency. A common assumption is that lower-class juveniles are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior than their higher-class counterparts. Criminologists have performed a large number of studies examining the socio-demographic characteristics of delinquents, which often yielded contradictory results. When analyzing the extent and trend of juvenile delinquency in the United States conclusions can be drawn from estimates derived from arrest records, self-reports, and victimization data. Arrest estimates, self-reported information, and victimization data provide different estimates of the extent of delinquency in the United States (Maxfield et

The research done for this paper examines different studies of juveniles and their place in the United States’ justice system based on their race, gender, and social class, as well as looks into policing tactics that may be beneficial to the affected youths. By looking at a wide variety of academic journals and books it was clear to see that youths are looked upon and treated differently depending on what their race is, the sex that they were born, or their family’s economic standing. Resulting in the outcome of these youths being treated more harshly than others due to aspects about themselves that are out of their control. Doing further research into the juvenile justice system and how it is structured to help certain youths while neglecting others, it is clear that the treatment of minority youths is entirely unjust and that a reform of this system is, without question, necessary, not only to maintain an even and fair justice system for juveniles, but also to help these minority youths strive in their lifetime rather than fall victim to a life of crime.

The research report A call to action on behalf of Latino and Latina youth in the U.S. justice system, focuses on the Latinos community residing in the United States and Latin America. Primarily, the research focuses on Latino/a youths in the criminal justice system. Furthermore, the research report discusses Latino communities are getting differential treatment than other racial and ethnic communities from the United States criminal justice system. The research report has many case studies and story of incidences of Latino/a youths facing racial and ethnic disparities. Some of the examples of disparate treatment of police and criminal justice system provided by the report are police stop, arrest, detention, a waiver to adult criminal court, and sentencing. The justice system has used their discretion to treat Latino youth differently than others. In this reflection paper, I will connect few important issues discussed in the report such as negative stereotyping of Latinos communities and its impact, differential treatment of the Latino community from the police and justice system with the course materials covered in the semester.

Mass incarceration has become a youth phenomenon in Black and Latino Communities. Ninety-five percent of all juveniles sent to adult court are youth of color (Rios, 2006). This disproportionate number of incarcerated youth starts with the policing, surveillance, and targeting of these groups by law enforcement. The issue that will be discussed in this paper is the high rate at which young people of color are assumed to be associated with crime and gang activity within the city of Chicago. There are several effects that drive and produce this misconstrued image of young people of color. Beginning with the discretional judgment of police officers, to the false outcries of the media, these negative views of colored youth have seemingly become ubiquitous in our society. Even when these young people are not committing crime or participating in gang activity they are wrongfully targeted by law enforcement (Skolnick, 2007). This form of policing that involves stopping or targeting an individual based primarily on rather than any individualized suspicion is racial profiling.

Overall, these studies suggest that while criminal behavior cuts across race and class lines, the societal response to these behaviors may significantly influence the course of a potential criminal career. Decisions regarding the most effective balance of responses by law enforcement, social services, and community intervention are critical in determining many of these outcomes Race and Class Effects.

“Delinquency is defined as the total prevalence of delinquent acts during the past12 months. The delinquency scale was adopted from the delinquency scale currently utilized in the Monitoring the Future Study of United States students that has been ongoing since1975” (Benschop, Harrison, Korf, & Erickson, 2006, p. 67). Race and ethnicity play a significant role in juvenile delinquency. As we grow up we are and become a product of our environment. Race and ethnical background play huge roles in who we are, how we are raised and what kind of life we

Social disorganization is a macro-level theory which focuses on the ecological differences of crime and how structural and cultural factors shape the involvement of crime. A person’s residential location is a factor that has the ability to shape the likelihood of involvement in illegal activities. The social disorganization theory looks at how socioeconomic status and the environment affects individuals and motivates them to become a part of a gang. Shaw and McKay link area delinquency to three attributes of the social disorganization theory; economic deprivation, residential instability and race and

The purpose of this paper is to address residential segregation, why it exists, and how it relates to crime. Residential segregation is the physical separation of one or more groups based upon race and is more pronounced in suburban areas and inner city neighborhoods (Class Notes, 2014). Inner city neighborhoods are heavily populated with racial and ethnic minorities and tend to lack socially stabilizing resources such as adequate parental supervision, education, and long-term, stable employment (Walker, 2007). The conditions of poverty limit the opportunities for residents to escape inner city neighborhoods and create opportunities for the existence of crime and criminal behavior.

Juvenile Delinquency Kojo A.Dei,in his book ‘Ties That Bind: Youth and Drugs in a Black Community’, has given insight in to an important aspect and concern that faces the US in this era. Emphasizing on the black youth in America, Dei gives the relationship of the black youth with the drugs, the influences of society and the cultural influences that build those relationships. As is given Dei’s vivid presentation of the portraits of five youths—the emic point of view—reveals individual thought processes that shape behavior and attitudes. Ties That Bind is not about despised antisocial individuals whose morals are debased. Instead, it is about people who are attempting to achieve success as members of their family, their community, and the

Juvenile delinquents have been around for a long time, however it has not been until recently that society has cast light on this very serious issue. Nonetheless, there is still much that is unknown about juvenile delinquents which is why it is so easy for bystanders to label them as gangsters and criminals and forget about them. In reality, there are multiple factors that come in to play that when determining how juvenile delinquents got to the point where they are now. After watching the films Crips and Bloods: Made in America, Gran Torino, and A Better Life one is better able to understand what these factors are, such as income level as well as ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Despite the fact that all three of these films have very distinct plots, they are each able to accurately represent the various struggles that people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds have to face in their efforts to assimilate into the American culture. Now when applying the criminological theories to the protagonists in these films, one is able to gain a better insight as to why the characters in these films go down the path of delinquency. And with better explanations for their behavior, the viewer can better determine which course of action would be necessary help these troubled juveniles stay away from this dangerous lifestyle.

“Living in a place shouldn’t condemn a person to poor health, weak education, unsafe living conditions or segregation from other races, socio-economic classes and religions. However, in cities around the world urban youth face countless barriers to successful lives.” (Fletcher). One of the biggest issues facing social services today is the urban youth problem. Many people believe that this issue with the urban youth is that they are all thugs, poor, and/ or pregnant teens. The truth is that the reason urban youth face these issues is because of the disadvantages they are provided with. The stigma against the urban youth just enhances the problem. The education system is lousy, the health system is inadequate, and the segregation is very high. All these issues are not the fault of this group, these systems are completely out of their grasps.

Following Cohen’s subcultural theory of Delinquent boys, Walter B. Miller (1958) examined adolescent street corner groups in lower class communities in Boston, United States. Miller derived at different and almost opposing conclusion in relation to Cohen’s finding. To understand the difference in findings between Cohen’s and Miller’s work, it is essential to understand the research questions they were asking and the way in which the research was conducted. For Miller, he was looking for a specific type of delinquency in lower classes, one that transcends into law violating behavior by the adolescent street corner groups in lower class communities. Miller implemented ethnography which relied on direct observations as a technique to understand his research group. He hypothesized the following, “dominant components of motivation underlying these acts consists in a direct attempt by the actor to adhere to forms of behavior, and to achieve standards of value as they are defined within that community” (Miller, 1958, p. 5) . Through his research and findings it was understood that middle class standards were less important to gang delinquency, this is in direct disagreement with Cohen’s work which outlined that lower class groups, specifically youths were engaging in law breaking and illegal behavior because of their inability to achieve a social status and maintain it – strive to become the middle class (Cohen, 1955).