In Class Essay #2 Conformity, Deviance and Crime

What Creates Crime?

       

We are living in a world of danger. Every morning when you wake up and read the newspaper, you can always obtain information about crime. Basically, crime is all around us. There is always someone committing crime every day. So what actually creates crime? According to the article “The Code of the Street” written by Elija Anderson and “Conformity, Deviance, and Crime” by Anthony Giddens, it describe several theories about crime, which explain how crime arises. Anderson employs these theories in his essay and among all of them; the theories that best explain the existence of crime is undoubtedly the interationist theories.

       

Interactionists believe that “deviance” is not inherent but constructed socially. In the article “Conformity, Deviance, and Crime”, Giddens explains how “deviance” is socially constructed.”Individuals become delinquent through associating with people who are carriers of criminal norms. For the most part, according to Sutherland, criminal behavior is learned within primary groups, particularly peer groups” (ES 140). People may not know how to commit crime originally, yet through interacting with primary groups such as their parents or their peers, they may intimidate them and are able to obtain the skills to commit crime. In the article “Code of the Street”, Elija applied this theory to explain how crime arises in inner city area. In his article, he defines the difference between decent families and “street” families. According to his description, “street” families usually refer to the poor in the ghetto or blacks living in the inner city area. Elija explains how the environment of the “street” families can encourage their children to commit crime. “These children of the street, growing up with little supervision, are said to “come up hard.” They often learn to fight at an early age, sometimes using short-tempered adults around them as role models” (CS 175). Unlike the parents in decent families, who are strict in teaching their children, “street” parents have an entirely different approach to their children. The parents in the “street” families tend to spend less time on taking care of their children. With less supervision and consideration of their parents, the children might develop the behavior in the “streets” without consideration. For example, children may observe the norms in the inner city area, which are usually physical aggression and verbal disputes, and learn from this behavior. Thus, the children may go off the track easily, losing the ability to distinguish what is right or wrong, and accordingly increases the possibility for them to commit crime.

In addition, in many occasions, although the “street” parents barely supervise them, they can get really aggressive with their children and the aggressive behavior of them can definitely affect the children’s values. Elija explains how the aggressive behavior of the parents can affect their children. “They learn that to solve any kind of interpersonal problem must quickly resort to hitting or other behavior” (CS 174). Hence, they may think that it is normal to use aggressive behavior and tend to use this kind of behavior as a solution to interpersonal problems. As a result, growing up with these factors in the “street” families has made them to have different values from others, encouraging them to commit crime.

       

The second theory of the interactionist theories is labeling. Referring to the article, “Conformity, Deviance, and Crime” written by Anthony Giddens, he describes how labeling theory affect an individual. “Once child is labeled a delinquent, he is stigmatized as a criminal and is likely to be considered untrustworthy by teachers and prospective employers. He then relapses into further criminal behavior, widening the gulf with orthodox social conventions” (ES 161). Basically, labeling means once an individual is tagged with label, for example, such as “deviant”, he or she would accept the label and treat themselves as “deviant”.  He or she would continually commit crime due to the fact that they have already considered themselves as a criminal.

       

Similarly, in the essay “Code of the Street”, the author employs the labeling theory in describing the situation of the “street” families. The “street” families, who are usually being tagged as criminals, are subject to these labels as a result of discrimination. Elija explains how these labels affect them in the essay. “At the same time, many less alienated young blacks have assumed a street-oriented demeanor as a way of expressing their blackness while really embracing much more moderate of life; they, too, want a nonviolent setting in which to live and raise a family; they, too, want a nonviolent setting in which to live and raise a family” (CS 183). Indeed, most of the people in inner city are not fully invest in the “code”. It is the minority of youths who have aggressive behavior commit crimes. Yet through the labeling and discrimination of the society, all the people living on the “streets” are considered as criminals. As a result, based on the labeling theory, even the innocent ones in the inner city area may accept the label as a criminal, and consequently commit crimes.

       

“Deviance” is not inherent in people. Yet through series of socialization, an individual or group can become “deviant”. I consider the interactionst theories the best sociological explanation due to the fact that it can alter people values and perception in various ways. For instance, the rare supervision of the “street” parents, have undeniably a fundamental effect the children’s development. Moreover, the label as a criminal by the society has made the people living in the “streets” to accept the label as a criminal and relapse to commit crime.
Reflection

It has enable me to better understand on how crime is formed. Moreover, writing this essay also improve my innovative skills and writing skills. This is because writing this essay demand us to think critically and to conclude the most prominent theory. Although writing this essay is definitely not easy for me, it really helps me a lot.

The second thing that I think assignment helps me is that I found that it is related to the essay we wrote before. For instance, the aritcles we read about crime explains how the identity of the criminals are constructed. This also made me to have a better understand on identity construction and how this can affect our behavior. After writing  these essays, I have undoubtedly have a better knowledge on sociology.