Sheldon Johnson Crime Research Paper

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Yang Zhaoqing
CRIM3030 HW 3 According to the differential association, the perspective is unable to well explain why three generations of Sheldon Johnson committing the crime. They share many similarities and characteristics factors that are pulling them into a career criminal lifestyle. According to the perspective, criminal behaviors are learned sets of skills from one’s imamate group, such as peer group and directly depending on the rate of intensity, frequency, and interaction with such group. For example, after dropping out of school, all three spend most of their time with problematic friends, conducting behaviors that on the edge of criminal offending. At the same time, they all have a clear motivation for participating drug trafficking
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For example, first, they all lack attachment to their families and schools, they are born and grow up in broken and problematic families, such as a missing father. The role of a father is a positive role model, usually establishing an emotional relationship with his children, and the role of the father is missing in Johnson’s families, therefore, there are no relationships between father and son, and they are often neglected and received inadequate care and support from their parents. As a result, they are seeking and establishing relationship supports on the streets from their peers. In addition, lacking attachment leads to lack of commitment that all three Johnsons are unable to confirm and unwilling to accept conventional social values and means, such as attending school and pursuing a lifelong career. Thus, they do not believe in involvement that achieving those goals in a legitimate mean. Thus, they invest more time in deviant activities, because they believe that is the right way. Finally, they do not believe and accept the traditional means of achieving social goals, but believing in “illegitimate measure” is more acceptable to achieve their …show more content…
At first, they come from a broken family of the bottom of the social class and are constantly experiencing social oppression and rejection from the top of the society, and at the same time, upper classes do not offer a legitimate channel to elevate their social status. Therefore, they must find their own “legitimate” mean to change when all legitimate means are blocked to them. The limitation of this conflict perspective is that many people do come from low social class and share the same social status and conditions as like as Johnsons’ family, but many of them do not commit any crime in their lifetime. Each of the theoretical perspectives explains only why they are committing crimes under different circumstances because all three theoretical perspectives of explaining crime are intertwined with each other, whatever crime is a learned behavior, or family or social class shaping them in such way. Criminal behaviors are complex under Micro and Marco level explanations, therefore theories must be cross-examined and studied to gain a clear picture of why crime happens in its unique

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