Structural Functionalism And Crime

The social problem highlighted in this video is society’s failure to understand and police crime properly in the United States. Furthermore, the United States has the largest prison population in the world at a cost of 80 billion dollars per year, paid for by the taxpayers. The film Three Strikes Law, states in the 90’s the United States saw violent crime rise at epic proportions in the big cities across the country. The United States had already been locking up these criminals, but the criminal justice system would allow violent criminals to be released from prison early. Most of these career criminals were repeat offenders and ended up back in jail. It took two horrific crimes in California to grab the nation’s attention and create a social …show more content…
This theory states that a crime has a function in society because it strengthens group cohesion with individuals who do not commit crimes to band together. This can lead to social change, such as, higher arrest rates in communities or the creation of special task forces. Crime has always been part of the fabric of society. According to Merton, “crime occurs because some people are not able to attain all of their needs and desire through legal means. … Furthermore, the theory of anomie suggests that they then try to attain those things through illegal means” (p. 148). Most repeat offenders who are released from jail have a hard time transitioning to civilian life. These individuals can feel lost and are usually strained for resources. This structural environment opens the door for previous inmates to commit petty theft or crimes, which under the three strikes law can get them locked up for life. Society must find a way to address the underlying issues that maybe forcing individuals to commit crimes they normally would not …show more content…
The first steps have been taken in 2012. Voters were able to amend the three strikes law to remove non-violent crimes as a means to staying in prison. Another idea to cut back on the prison costs is to implement more drug treatment counseling and probation for low-level offenders. This is much more cost effective and has been proven to work better than staying in prison for life. Most criminals learn from other criminal in prison and come out with more knowledge to commit crimes. Probation and counseling breaks that cycle and allows the individual to become a productive member of society. Furthermore, with the money saved from these programs, better transition programs should be implemented to help former inmates transition to civilian life. Moreover, this should include partnerships with local businesses to give these individuals a chance at a job, instead of brushing them aside once they see their record. I believe these small changes can go a long way to solving crime in