Life Course Theory: Code Of The Street

Frank Schmalleger explains the theory of social disorganization as one that depicts both social change as well as conflict, and lack of any agreement as the origin of its cause for both criminal behavior as well as nonconformity to society and closed associated with the ecological school of criminology (Schmalleger, 2012, p. 152). The philosophy behind the organization and structure of a society and how that contributes to criminal behavior within society is by stressing poverty, economic conditions, lack of education, lack of skills, are not sought-after in the work place, and divergent cultural values. Criminal behavior is the result of the person’s assignment of location within the structure of society.

Criminologists have long tried to fight crime and they have developed many theories along the way as tools to help them understand criminals. In the process of doing so, criminologist have realized that in order to really understand why criminals are criminals, they had to first understand the interrelationship between the law and society. A clear and thorough understanding of how they relatively connect with criminal behavior is necessary. Therefore, they then created three analytical perspectives which would help them tie the dots between social order and law, the consensus, the pluralist and the conflict perspectives. Each provides a significantly different view of society as relative to the law. However, while they all aim to the same

For years, gang crime has been loathed by society, as society has perceived it to threaten the well-being of its members. In addition to the fear of gang violence, concerns have been raised of gangs polluting youth; hence, policing strategies have emerged more increasingly in an attempt to put an end to the delinquency. Nevertheless, for society the causation of gang crime has been discussed to a lesser extent; thus, the objective of this essay will be to depict a viable explanation of gang crime through the use of two criminological theories. To accomplish the task at hand; I shall, define gang crime, provide a description of social disorganization theory, illustrate how the application of social disorganization theory provides an explanation of gang crime, describe differential opportunity theory, demonstrate how differential opportunity theory can explain gang crime, and exemplify as to which theory provides a superior explanation of gang crime. In the end, it will be clear that social disorganization theory is a superior explanation of gang crime in comparison to differential opportunity theory, due to its ability to deliver a more enhanced explanation than the one that is provided by differential opportunity theory.

The Elijah Anderson’s article, “Code of the Streets” is a perfect illustration for cultural arguments because it involves environments that are susceptible to learning a criminal culture; even up to a point of promoting that type of criminal behavior as “normal”. It also has links to Differential Association and Social Learning theories of crime

Fleisher & Decker (2001), note that there are several factors that can impede a successful integration back into the community when it comes to gang members. First, gangs are comprised of a vast network type system. Within this system there are countless members who become associates, this relationship does not have to include the same crime. The criminal link can be broad and range from misdemeanor crime to severe crime. Further, this is not only a complex network, but a social system where criminal activity is accepted. Therefore, desistance is an obstacle for offenders, especially if they remain in contact with these individuals. Also, gangs do not go away just because key members go to jail or prison. There are always others there to

Even as delinquent subcultures classically are related to a wide variety of criminal activities, among delinquent groups and subcultures there is enormous disparity in the quality and force of group standards, morals, and interests. Furthermore, the degree to which delinquent activities is associated to these aspects is challenging. A large amount criminal

The " Code of the Street" written by Eljah Anderson is an explanation for high rates violence among African-American Adolescents in Philadelphia. He wrote about poverty, lack of job, racial discrimination, rampant drug use and trafficking that leads to anti-social attitudes, violent behavior, alienation, and lack of hope for the future of the African Americas in Philadelphia.

In the 1950’s, Cohen (1955) took Merton’s theory of crime further by focusing on gang delinquency within the working class demographic. Cohen used the central idea of the anomie theory but narrowed its focus on this particular subculture and elaborated it in order to explain the characteristics of gang delinquency.

For this assignment I decided to read the book Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city by Elijah Anderson. This book is about how inner city people live and try and survive by living with the code of the streets. The code of the streets is basically morals and values that these people have. Most of the time it is the way they need to act to survive. Continuing on within this book review I am going to discuss the main points and arguments that Anderson portrays within the book. The main points that the book has, goes along with the chapters. These points consist of Street and decent families, respect, drugs violence, street crime, decent daddy, the mating game, black inner city grandmother. Now within

This basis of legitimacy is partly due to shared factors contextualized by authorities and institutions that play a critical role in identifying risk factors linked to youth offending. Part of this involves linking violence, with sociological constructs (e.g., personality characteristics, neighbourhood characteristics, immigrant concentration). For instance, Papachristos, Meares, & Fagan (2012) propose that young people from neighborhoods saturated with criminal associates and opportunities for gang-related activities and drug trafficking, more likely to become young offenders. The perceived legitimacy of the risk factors, in turn, increases public compliance with legal authorities—the belief that behavior of young people needs to come into line with societal norms, values, and rules. As a consequence, police supported by the public, legitimately use heir authority to indiscriminately target civilians to fight crime and disorder in the community.

In the life course theory there transitions that occur in a person’s life as a part of growing up and developing like many other social theories on crime, it is the family relationship’s that guide these transitions to take place accordingly. If these transitions are not properly guided or become disrupted it can lead to criminal behavior in the child. Likewise, children in poverty or who have altered family dynamics are more likely to experience these disruption’s to their transitions. The time of transitions is very important to development the previous transition provide a

In the movie City of God, it differentiates the progression of individuals and their life choices based on their history and what path one ultimately decides to take. Many researchers have examined the importance of one’s life-course such as the work of John Laub and Robert Sampson, who hypothesize that those who engage in criminal behavior may have trajectories’ and turning points. Individuals that experience certain life events may help them to make the decision to engage in criminal activity, such as growing up in a very underprivileged environment, such as the City of God. Terrie Moffitt offers a dissimilar interpretation of the theory. Moffit posits that the basis of crime rests in environmental factors and separates offenders between those with temporary and those with persistent anti-social behavior. Temporary for this purpose is to mean, behavior that does not extend past adolescence. Moffit suggests that those who have temporary anti-social behavior only commit offences when they deem it advantageous thus; it seems likely that they should continue their delinquent

The sociological analysis of gang membership explores the different types of effects that arise due to criminal involvement. Because of the social conflicts that are associated with gang membership, this paper will explore the different theories of social learning and both personal and control issues that relate to the recent surge in crime across Chicago. As we open the doors of a crime ridden society, the truth begins to unfold. It isn’t just the thought of helping, it is the action that remains the barrier between living a life of crime or a life that carries hope.

Throughout the years, the association between a criminal offense and a criminal have become more relevant. Although there are many theories that try to illustrate the concept of why crimes happen, no theory has a profound influence of understanding an individual’s nature, relationship, development, and a society itself (Coleman & Ganong, 2014). To further explain, “theories of crime are defined in relation to modernity, spanning their development from the enlightenment to the present, with the advent of postmodernism” (Miller, 2012, p. 1798). In other words, theories of crime are an approach to understanding an individuals behaviour and actions in their environment, society, and themselves that may lead to crime. Nevertheless, within this paper, it will be comparing the case of

Criminology itself is the systematic study of the nature, extent, etiology and control of lawbreaking behavior. The core components revealed in this course are definitions of crime in nature as harm causing behavior, the descriptions and classifications of criminals, the analysis of crime, profiles of everyday victims and offenses, and the origin of crime. The field of probation relies heavily on these components in order to understand and properly categorize offenders, stay aware of offender’s mental and emotional status, and attempt to predict the future of criminal offenders. The various theories presented in Criminology 262 help shape the Dallas County Adult Probation Department and serve as model types used to minimize the risks associated with sentencing alternatives. The agency assesses the same theoretical categories provided by Criminology 262 such as sociological, biological, and psychological explanations of crime in an attempt to better deal with offenders. The internship experience has supported the previous notion installed through Criminology 262 that one single theory cannot explain crime. The combination of each theory and perspective enabled an opinion of individuality to form. In opposition to the core components embedded in the course, the personally constructed opinion that criminal offenders cannot be categorized and must exist on individual levels was formed from the internship experience. The Dallas County Adult Probation