Boardwalk Empire: The Causes Of Crime

The United States of America was once touted as being the land of opportunity, a place where a little bit of hard work, dedication and smarts could launch you from rags to riches. If an individual worked hard enough, they could have a plentiful life of wealth and happiness. Boardwalk Empire shows a world where even in the early 1900’s this idea proves to be not entirely the case. Much like Breaking Bad or the Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire tells a story of people trying to make a life for themselves in an unforgiving world. Towing the line of gangster dramas, it, like many other shows, presents a kind a fellowship of tough guys with equally tragic and trying backgrounds. It follows a gang called The Combined or Big Seven Group during the turbulent …show more content…
Most people today accept that poverty, parental neglect, low self-esteem, drug abuse, and alcohol are all connected in explaining why people commit crimes. Some people are simply at a greater risk of becoming offenders because of the circumstance into which they are born. When looking at current crime and statistics we have a hugely disproportionate prison population however, there is no “one size fits all” for labeling or dealing with criminals. We need the different disciplines to work together if we are to reduce prison population and reduce crime. Historically experts in different areas have this idea of the “Golden Egg” of crime. Casually discarding ideas if they were not the sole explanation for crime. This mistaken belief that there is one sole reason for someone to become a criminal is naive, outdated, and frankly damaging to those committing the crime as well as those who are trying to prevent it. If we can realize that many different factors can make up the whole of what makes us commit crime and even really how we label crime. To start there are some common theories behind …show more content…
Crimes committed by the Proletariat are crimes of accommodation or resistance to the Bourgeoisie. This is shown still in our current system by how crimes such as crack use vs the Enron scandal are handled by those in the criminal justice system when something like drug use affect a small amount of people compared to the jobs and lives affected by white collar crime. There are some opposing sections however even in Marxists theorists. Instrumental Marxists believe the entirety of the political state, the law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system as tools of the ruling class. Structural Marxists believe that in the short run, the political state is relatively independent and may occasionally reflect the interests of the working