Hutchinson, Kansas Case Study

Three correlates of criminality in the film were: poverty, mental health status, and family circumstances. The neighborhood, Beecher Terrace was the low-income area where most of the prisoners and juveniles delinquents came from. Neighborhoods like the one in film are the stereotypical type of areas where people in poverty live. The neighborhoods contain large populations of low income residents. A low income neighborhood typically means the schools zoned to the neighborhood are low quality and the crime rate is high. A individuals mental health status is also a predictor of

As demonstrated by Crime in Chicagoland, Little Village is an area plagued by high crime rates and gang violence. Although the community comprises only 4.4 square miles, police recorded 263 crimes from June 21-July 21, 2017, including 92 thefts, 20 robberies, 5 criminal sexual assaults and 58 quality of life crimes (Chicago Tribune, 2017). While these crimes rates may be construed as normal occurrences in an urban setting, violence and gang activities have a pervasive impact on the development of Little Village youth. According to Kimberly Shinew, Monika Stodolska, Caterina Roman, and Jennifer Yahner (2013), “fear of crime, level of crime victimization, and perceived level of incivilities in the community were related to physical activity,

Neighborhood's ecological conditions shape crime rates over and above the characteristics of individual residents. Communities that have been invaded by businesses and industry cease to function effectively as a means of social control. Their traditional norms and standards eventually weaken and disappear. The community's resistance to

In chapter 4 the chapter considers a variety of possible explanations for the significant drop in crime and crime rates that occurred in the 1990s. Based on articles that appeared in the country’s largest newspapers, the authors compile a list of the leading, commonly offered explanations. The next step is to systematically examine each explanation and consider whether available data support the explanation. What the authors, in fact, demonstrate is that in all but three cases–increased reliance on prisons, increased number of police, and changes in illegal drug markets–correlation was erroneously interpreted as causation and in some cases, the correlation wasn’t even that strong.

It is very plausible that social constructs and environmental influences greatly impact the decisions and conditions of communities and the people that reside within them. All around us we can see evidence that may formulate our opinions and sway our opinions for good or bad. It is important not to forget that depictions of criminals, their habitats or way of life, can be misconstrued by media outlets and other press coverage. It is rare that the whole story told, so we must research deeper into matters and combine facts to fully comprehend the situation. In turn, this will produce the most accurate answers, or reasons behind acts committed.According to author Frank Schmalleger, "Places can be criminogenic because they have certain routine characteristics associated with them or because they provide the characteristics that facilitate crime commission." This has to be a true statement, if not partial, since history shows us that crime tends to occur in rowdy or overwhelmingly poor areas. At the same time, crime also occurs in less dangerous zones, albeit less frequently. It is my

According to the FBI data on violent crime in 2013 shows that there has been a decrease of 4.4 percent in the level of crime over the years ("FBI — Violent Crime," 2010). Since the public has based their assumption that the socioeconomic can determine the level of crime one can commit at a given time. Basically, there is close gap between the socioeconomic and the level of crime one commit, and again, crime varies across geographical

These areas are home to people with less means who are easy targets for crime: the homeless, the addicted, the mentally ill, and the elderly poor. The effect of safety precautions is less pronounced in poor areas. Residents of poor areas have a much greater risk of becoming victims because they live in areas with many motivated offenders; to protect themselves, they have to try harder to be safe than do the more affluent. In turn, it is the characteristics of the neighborhoods, and to a great extent, how neighborhoods change, that may change the level of

The crime index of Salisbury (4 out of 100) was lower than Raleigh (17 out of 100). In areas where there are low income per capita and higher levels of poverty as demonstrated in the demographical statistics of Salisbury, there is more likely to be crime. Race can be an another possible explanation that is used to explain the low crime index of Salisbury when compared to Raleigh. Since there is a higher African American percentage, there is a greater chance of crime because statistically they are more likely to commit crimes. With higher rates of crime, deviant communities can be created which as the population grows crime can increase.

The relationship between Crime and less fortunate people cannot underestimated; it may just be the way the media has conditioned us to characterize what a criminal looks like and how they live their lives. There are many low income cities and crime rates widespread across America. One may say that people with low income have nothing to lose when they commit crime or depressed or desperate to the point that they will commit crimes for the profit of money. Even though crime is committed at all walks of life, one can still pose a question to know if crime is more likely to be committed by people with low income that those with high income.

Street crime is essentially in the loosest definition Park’s and Burgess’s Zonal Hypothesis theory refers to the zone outside of city’s Central Business District as the “Transitional Zone”, an area outside of the city’s centre and inbetween residential zones. It is in this zone that Parks and Burgess found crime to be at it’s highest. As the name suggests, this transitional zone is an area of low stability. The transitional zone is social disadvantaged due to three key factors, low stability, ethnic heterogeneity and poverty.

Upon graduation, I would like to move farther South, but would also like to stay in the Midwest. Kansas City is an excellent option that meets both of these requirements. The only problem is, that I would prefer to live in a smaller community in the outskirts of the city. Therefore, I have chosen the city of Liberty, MO, located Northeast of the heart of downtown Kansas City.

An article written by Hirschi and Gottfredson concluded that a spike in crime in adolescent years, then the sharp decline in adulthood has been continuous in terms of “… different times, places, crime types, sexes, and so on” (as cited in Farrington, 1986, p. 190). An analysis was formed by Brame and Piquero using data from the National Youth Survey of 1976, which focused on 1,485 youth ages 11 to 17, and relied on self-reports of committing any one of the following crimes; “(1) aggravated assault; (2) gang fights; (3) motor vehicle theft; (4) stole something worth more than $50; (5) breaking into a building or vehicle; and (6) robbery” (Brame & Piquero, 2003, p. 111). The study revealed that as the youth aged, there was a decline in the commonality of crime from the first group of surveys collected, to the fifth group of surveys collected (Brame & Piquero, 2003). It was noted that the decline was most striking for those aged 15 and 17 at the time the first surveys were conducted, as opposed to those aged 11 and 14 (Brame & Piquero, 2003). Lauritsen believes that this is reasonable because those aged 15 and 17 were closer to “…their peak level of involvement in criminal behaviour at the time of the first wave of the study” (as cited in Brame & Piquero, 2003, p. 112). This study contributes to

Crime in Urban America has been around for many years, it is atrocious and there are many reasons why people commit these crimes. Crime is a big issue all around the world and while there is more production of drugs and loss of jobs, the crime rate will continue to increase day by day. While there are many motives that contribute to crime the most obvious causes would be poverty which causes the poor to adapt into a violent and aggressive behavior to which later becomes ingrained into them. The environment where a person grows up in which could consist of gangs that participate in illegal activities. Abuse of drugs or alcohol attribute to crime because people commit abominable crimes while under the influence. The anger that an individual

A violent crime occurs every 23.5 seconds in the United States of America. Even though crime has been at a low during the past decade, violence is still prevalent in today’s society. Most of these crimes happen in places that are socio-economically disadvantaged. There then is the debate of whether violent crime is associated with environments struck with poverty. There is a correlation between violent crimes and poverty because of the unemployment rates in major cities, the culture of poor areas, and drugs.

Throughout History, there have been many speculations as to why people commit crime. Criminologists, Psychologists, Sociologists and even Biologists have all, at one time or another claimed to have an explanation. However, there is one underlying explanation that has been maintained across centuries, presented by various theorists, and to this day, is widely perceived as truthful. That is the explanation that a certain propensity to commit crime exists within the lower classes of society that does not exist elsewhere. While this may be able to explain some crime, these explanations can lead to the perception that any and all types of offences, (the only exception perhaps being the complicated corporate fraud-type) including the most violent, are characterized by low-income neighborhoods and poor, under-educated individuals from broken homes. It is dangerous to assume that one’s position on the spectrum of social class affects their willingness and ability to disobey the law, especially if in a violent manner. Inversely, this suggests that those of a lower socio-economic standing somehow adhere to a different set of morals, in which violence and deviance is justified or normalized, as posited by Walter Miller (Alder, et al., 2012). Others like Albert Cohen, in his book “Delinquent Boys,” theorize that delinquent youth subcultures emerge when young men in the lower-class, feel the strain of not being able to measure up to middle class expectations.