Crime

Every time I turn on the TV to watch the news, there always something that happened in my local town that angers me.   I am been learning alot about crime in my social scychology class, and so I have been thinking alot about the crime going on in my town and around the worl.

            Here are just some of the causes:           

·         Small chance of being caught

·         Lure of easy money

·         Drug Related (but not responsible)

·         Impulsive behavior

·         No line between right and wrong

·         Inherited (if parents do crime, you are likely to do it too)

·         Christmas (people need money for presents)

·         Lack of consistent enforcement

·         Crowding (size of population)

·         % of youth in population (youths account for a big percentage of crime)

·         Economic conditions

·         Cultural factors

·         Family conditions

·         Climate/time of the year

·         Strength of law enforcement

·         Policies of judicial system

The causes that I think are the most likely causes of the recent crimes that I have been hearing about, concerning the gangs, are: no line between right and wrong, inherited, % of you in population, economic condition, family conditions, climate/time of the year, strength of law enforcement, and policies of judicial system.

No line between right and wrong, is pretty much self-explanatory, the kids taking part in the crimes and violence maybe don’t understand, or probably don’t care that what they are doing is wrong. Because they live in a “lower class” neighborhood, often times referred to as “the ghetto”, their parents probably are involved in some type of criminal behavior.  This also goes along with family conditions and economic conditions.  Since their parents may not have much money, or are in criminal activities, they probably don’t have the best family life, probably lacking support and positive influence.  Economic conditions also play into the neighborhood they live in. 

Percentage of youth in the population plays in to this because the crime being committed is by youths, and they are all from the same neighborhood.  The news said that there is pretty much a battle between two youth gangs going on in one neighborhood, meaning there is a lot of youth in that neighborhood.  I think the time of the year also plays into the crime going on because it just recently started to get serious when the weather got nicer.  It was explained to me that more crime occurs in warmer climates and warmer weather conditions because the criminals don’t want to freeze their butt off. 

This has to do with more of my opinion, but I think that another cause of the crime going on is because of the lack of strength in law enforcement.  I use to believe strongly in the Police force. I also think another big reason for the crime going on lately is the policies of the judicial system.  In the judicial system, youths who take part in crime are punished much less than adults, so the youths don’t have much fear of being caught and punished.  These are just my opinions, but I do believe that they are justified.