Four Theories Of Deviance In Relation To Gangs

Decent Essays
There are a lot of theories of deviance in relation to gangs. Considering the various theories the policy that implications the theories on gangs are the violation of laws, disregarding social norms and the negative labels that devalues a person by changing his or her self-concept and social identity.
If I was a sociologist and I was asked to consult with the local authorities about a program that would help strengthen the community; I would create a place where kids, teens, or adults could go if they were troubled. This place would have a bunch of activities that they could participate in such as sports like basketball, volleyball, and boxing to help reduce anger or to take their minds off things. There would also be people kind of like

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    To truly fix this problem, we need to focus on the youth in areas desperation. In many of our central cities across America, gangs are persuasive to young minorities who feel they are out of options. Growing up in areas with limited opportunity and resources as well a many disparities, the route to college and careers seem so unattainable. On the other hand, what is more attainable are gangs. These people are not evil, rather victims of circumstance, not granted the prospect to live a successful life based on their social background.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Strain theory helps explain why individuals join gangs and how their affiliation to a gang can ultimately lead to these members committing a variety of crimes. Society plays a very important role in how people see themselves in relation to others (Winterdyk, 2016, 177). Individuals believe they are aware with the goals that must achieve and attain in order to be seen as successful by others. For some individuals these important goals could be identified as the house they live in, the car they drive, the clothes they wear, the shops they shop at, etc. (Winterdyk, 2016, 177).…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    THE SOCIOLOGY OF CRIME AND DEVIANCE AC 1. In this essay I will be explaining the distinction between crime and deviance within society and be able to provide illustrative examples to acquire an easy understanding of them. Later, evaluate and compare some sociological perspectives and their points of views in terms of crime and deviance as well as recognising limitations about particular methods of measure crime.…

    • 1746 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gangs in North Carolina Prisons, and How Gangs Communicate with the Outside World Gangs are undoubtedly one of the largest problems that the Department of Corrections faces daily. According to David Starbek prison gang is defined as: “an inmate organization that operates within a prison system, that has a corporate entity, exists into perpetuity, and whose membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment”(Starbek). A person who was in a gang before coming to prison is generally able to find comfort with that gang while in prison, however a person who was not must earn the respect of that gang after they arrive. Prison gangs are considered to be security threat groups or STG’s and when dangerous or leaders of a gang are detained they are placed in the security housing unit or SHU, where they are on lockdown twenty-three and a half hours a day.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sociology of Crime and Deviance Laws, in their purest form, are the set of rules created by a governing body to protect people’s fundamental rights, and create a guideline for acceptable behaviour (Haralambos and Holborn, 2009). The act of violating the law is called crime, and although it leads to a number of punishments including imprisonment or probation, a lot of criminals are not caught, and not all laws are strictly enforced (Kirby et al., 2000). Oftentimes, crime, in addition to being illegal, includes anti-social attitudes and general deviant behaviour. Deviance, however, is not always synonymous with illegal activity. It is described as a behaviour that defies social norms and expectations of a specific social group, or society…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Gang Members

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Therefore, possibly forcing young gang members that are weak minded to go back to the gang life. Many gang members struggle to reform, as they suffer from employment, legal and psychological issues. Many of the social issues that…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Are civil gang injunctions an effective deterrent? Gangs have been in existence as long as Law has been, dating as far back as the 1500’s, when Shakespeare wrote about "gangs" of sailors. Then in the 1600 's- 1900 's with the Chinese triads, the Italian mafia, and the KKK. . (Gangs before thrasher) the glorification of Jesse James, and Capone kind of set the stage for the gangs of today. Poverty, lack of parental involvement, and the "need" to feel important, combined with the promises of money and popularity it’s easy to see how these young kids choose the gang route, and at an increasingly frightening rate.…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gang Recidivism

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The shift to a criminal justice system based on partnerships between law enforcement and the community from the previous idea of strict punishment and a lock-them-up attitude has only occurred in recent years. This means there has been ample time for few programs to be implemented to prevent gang member offending and to rehabilitate gang members. Due to the small number of programs that have been implemented in recent years, only a small amount of research has been done to see if these programs are effective. Furthermore, only a portion of this research conducted has been conclusive. One reason for the largely inconclusive research is the programs themselves are not uniform.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Gangs in the United States started to pop up in vast numbers during the civil rights movement in the 50’s and 60’s. In those days’ gangs were meant as more of a support system for the African American community than the disturbing drug dealing violence evoking entities that they are now. The question now becomes what led to such a change in philosophy in the African American gang community, the answer is simple it is institutional racism. Take Chicago, for example ever since the civil rights act of 1965 homicides are up to an all time high, this is caused by the high concentration of African Americans in what people call the ghetto’s and section eight housing developments, in those environments options for good clean work are slim due to the low amount of funding for schools and the according to the novelist Hakeem Muhammad “Chicago is divided between affluent whites on the north-side and impoverished blacks on the South-side “. This shows us that there is still segregation in the United States, although it is not blatant like during the Jim Crow era, this segregation has led to greater poverty and thus causing youth to run to gangs in order to make money, gain respect and stop the cycle of poverty.…

    • 1930 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It has been noted that “Youth gangs in the U.S. have existed since at least the 1870s,” (Mosher, lecture gangs). Since the establishment, gangs have grown across the globe. In the fourteenth and fifteenth century, gangs “robbed, extorted and raped,” (http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Wh-Z-and-other-topics/Youth-Gangs.html). Gangs have evolved into street gangs from the violent past. Although some gangs do participate in violence, violence is not their sole purpose.…

    • 2274 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trying to address the question of why youth join gangs requires the examination of multiple factors, and preferably, multiple theories. Social disorganization theory explains that the place where an individual grows up matters – disordered neighborhoods lead youth to join gangs. Due to its overemphasis on disorganization within neighbourhoods, however, social disorganization theory is not able to assess every factor that causes youth to join gangs. In this paper, I argue that youth join gangs because of neighborhood influence, poverty, and peer influence. Social disorganization theory is able to explain neighborhoods that lack resources and poverty as reasons for youth gang involvement, but it is unable to account for why gang-affiliated peers cause youth to join gangs.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essy Lamb Intro to Sociology Dr. Castro “Gang Leader for a Day” Course Paper Education and poverty are inversely correlated. If a person has more education they are less likely to be in below the poverty line. This also goes the other way, meaning that a person with little to no education has a very high risk of being bellow the poverty line. Venkatesh has several conversations with different people about education verses poverty. In one conversation, he is talking to Mrs. Bailey.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deviance is found in all types of societies. Some sociologists such as, Emile Durkheim, believe that deviance is universal and not abnormal in a society. Durkheim puts his ideas of deviance into a structural-functional theory, which sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. Whereas other sociologists, such as Alexander Liazos, believe that deviance is a result of social inequality. Liazos ideas fit into a social-conflict theory, which sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change.…

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The media has fed myself and others lies about what gangs truly are and what their purpose is. The overarching theme of gangs is that they are dangerous, full of thugs, blood-thirsty, and out to cause trouble. These fears lead to the constant oppression and lack of understanding of gangs. The truth is that they are more complicated than what society and the media has often made them out to be. There are multiple factors that go into making a gang what it is including why they form, the environment that their society and culture create for them, the structure and laws they enforce within the group, and the harsh reality of how difficult it is to leave.…

    • 1326 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Cause Of Gang Crime

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gang crime today is no longer just an inner city problem. Gangs are often associated with inner cities where it had its early origins. However, they have now spread like the plague seeping its way into some areas of the U.S where gangs and the crimes associated with them were once unheard of. With now gangs being a nationwide problem it is important for law enforcement nationwide understand how gangs operate, their gang members, and the roots behind this phenomenon. By better understanding gangs it will help us get at the roots of the problem and better combat them.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays