Substance Abuse And Violence Sociology

“Abuse is still seriously under reported. I was told by leading British social worker that when they hold training courses for employees, they find that a third of the females and slightly less of the males come forward to talk about their childhood experiences of being abused. Over ninety percent of parents as some time hit their children – and some people hit them several times a week – so there is a great deal of emotional hurt, fear and physical pain in the world today” (Davis 251). For this reason alone it makes perfect sense why violent crime rates are so frighteningly high.

Incidents like abuse from family members, bullying, neglect, and sexual abuse are the most common. Repeated abuse can lead to psychological damage and emotional scarring. Not only are traumatic psychological experiences causing these juveniles to commit violent crimes. Situations, where children have poor education, a household without discipline, peer pressure, inadequate role models, low income, and substance abuse coupled with the wrong environment, can lead to a life of crime. These negative influences guide these juveniles on the wrong path towards crime. However, it does not mean these juveniles cannot succeed; it is however up to the juvenile to make the correct choices in their

According to C. Wright Mills (1959), sociological imagination is the ability to appreciate a different (wider) perspective of the self in relation to others and to society than the narrow perspective of the self that comes most naturally to the individual. Today, sociological imagination is a concept that is considered central to the study of sociology and other disciplines such as social psychology because the ability to shift from a personal perspective to a more objective perspective is crucial to understanding other people and to understanding the norms, values, and expectations of other societies that may differ substantially from the society of the researcher or student.

It is shown that areas in Chicago that have higher poverty levels have consequently higher homicide rates. For example, the area of Fuller Park, the poverty levels are at 56% and the homicide rates in this area are 63 per 100,000 people. On the other hand, in Mount Greenwood, where the poverty levels are at 3%, the homicide rates are 2 in 100,000 people. This shows that with increasing poverty levels come increased homicide rates. Poverty has such a big impact on the homicide levels in Chicago is for many reasons. One of these reasons is because many homicides are poverty on poverty homicides, as many people living in poverty in Chicago are easily caught up in violent crime. This happens because they are unemployed or without a home, so turning to gangs and a life of violent crime gives them a place to belong. Poverty is one of the main roots of the crime problem in Chicago, but the city council are unable to admit it. Therefore, instead of jobs and anti-poverty strategies being used to try and stop the violence, repression and moralism are being used to hopefully stop all the crime. Concentrated urban poverty often leads to violence, and many communities within Chicago fall into this spectrum. Concentrated urban poverty is defined as

The War on Drugs, a term that was first popularized by former president Richard Nixon in 1971, was the start of a governmental war on drug abuse, whether it be against those selling narcotics or the ones using them. Over the years, many claims have come to light, arguing that this so called “war” was one waged to oppress minorities, especially impoverished African-Americans in America’s inner city. This program was one that exploited African-Americans who were struggling after the government failed them, leaving them to fend for themselves and making decisions based on their socioeconomic status. Throughout this paper, the sociological theories pertaining to the attack on African-Americans by the government through the means of a proxy war

The United States is the world’s number one consumer of narcotics and thus 90% of cocaine seized in the U.S. comes from Mexico due to the close geographical boundaries it is easy to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. from Mexico. The U.S.’s demand for narcotics and other drugs creates an 18-39 billion dollar market each year, all coming solely from drug sales. Drug violence is a direct result of protecting each business 's product. Cartels like the Zetas use violence to create a “brand” for their franchise. The violent cartels create a sense of fear so no one gets in their way and so others will comply with their wishes and demands.

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.

Along with poverty rates, the researchers also compared neighbourhoods on other measures of disadvantage: levels of male joblessness, female-headed families, and professionals living in the community. They then calculated a disadvantage index that combined all of these measures. Violent crime rates were lowest in those neighbourhoods with low disadvantage, regardless of whether they were predominantly black or white. Extremely disadvantaged neighbourhoods had violent crime rates that were “16.3 per 1000 higher than rates in low disadvantage neighbourhoods”. (Patterson, R 1989.)

A social issue that has been around for years is drug abuse. Sociologist can apply the three major sociological perspectives to analyze how society influences people to carry out certain acts by setting up a framework for specific reasoning. The different concepts used all together gives sociologists a broader and less biased conclusion of the issue.

Capitalism is working as it was meant to work. Capitalism is creating wealth among the United States and the world. Yet, this wealth is concentrated and is creating many social issues such as a disappearing middle class, health and environmental destruction. In the United States, the top 400 wealthiest people in the country own half of the entire wealth of the nation (Robert Reich). We no longer have a government that is for the people, but rather a government that is for big business. Policy is made by and for the corporations of america. We are repeating history with the wealth gap that has not been seen since the last depression. As the soon to be majority demographic in this country I look forward to the position of being able to use education

This article aims to study psychological and judicial feature of a subgroup of inmates with substance abuse. There were methods use to define the prisoners with substance abuse (n=312) are compared to the prisoners without substance abuse (n=591). They tested the assessment of aggression, impulsivity, depression, personality traits, hostility, resilience, and childhood trauma to understand the inmates sociodemographic and judicial data. In results, it showed that substance abusers were more likely to be incarcerated 78.8%, more juvenile conviction 60.2%, more violent behavior detention 29.8%, and a history of one or more suicide attempts 20.8%. Childhood trauma was higher number on the subscales scores then psychoticism and neuroticism, impulsivity

From the Goldstein article it is hard to deny that there is not some link to drug use and violence. According the article it is, "estimated that 10% of the homicides and assaults nationwide are the result of drug use". It also claims that, "research indicates relatively high frequencies of alcohol consumption in rape". Clearly there is some connection between drugs use and acting violently or being a victim of violence. What is that connection though?

While the theoretical reasoning that supports the idea that child abuse often leads to crime gives a basis for the concept, much of the evidence that links the two lies in the concrete details. The visible effects of child abuse and neglect that assist with the basis that has been given by the psychological theories lies in observable behavioral and emotional effects of those who are known to have been subject to maltreatment as children. Some children who have a history with abuse do not experience any repercussions while others experience extreme consequences; this is largely because of the certain child’s ability to handle and grow from negative experiences (Child Welfare Information Gateway 3). Children who experience consequences

Often victims of child abuse suffer from posttraumatic disorder, which according to Mayo Clinic a nonprofit medical practice and medical research group posttraumatic disorder is defined as “A mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event either experiencing or witnessing (Mayo clinic staff 2014). Victims who deal with psychological disorder not always commit violent crimes but instead victims tend to depend on drugs, alcohol to try to live their lives day by day, as time goes on these individuals tend to be classified as drug addicts or alcoholics. The fact that individuals depend on alcohol and drugs can lead them to ended up living in the streets and becoming what we know as the “homeless” often these individuals the lack of resources to buy drugs or alcohol lead them to commit property crimes and lead them to be processed into the criminal justice system as offenders. According to Exploring the Role of Child Abuse in Later Drug Abuse “As many as two-thirds of all people in treatment for drug abuse report that they were physically, sexually, or emotionally abuse, and witnessing or being threatened with violence or other abuse”. (Neil Swan 1998). As has been noted individuals who abuse substances and alcohol are not regular people

A traumatic childhood may predispose a child to violence against themselves or against others, in adolescence or adulthood. This information is and has been off the records, but so far no known relationship between the magnitude of traumatic experiences and different forms of violence at puberty. A study published in Pediatrics, which involved 136,549 U.S. students between 12 and 17 has been commissioned to evaluate this relationship. The researchers sought to determine six adverse experiences for which they had passed the boys in childhood and physical and sexual abuse, witnessing abuse or problems at home by alcohol or drugs taken by a relative. Then he saw the violent behavior at puberty: crime, harassment, bullying, dating violence,