Retaliatory Homicide Analysis

Throughout our time as humans, there has always been the value or notion of that a certain crime deserves an equal punishment in return. This may have been the intention of the lawmakers that designed the crime and punishment system at this countries inception, but this idea has slowly degraded into an informal system, where, residents of less endowed areas of the US turn to more informal means to punish offenders in their neighborhoods. This presents a clear and present danger to the American public, as the people carrying out these “punishments” are probably the least qualified and inexperienced to do so. So, in turn we have many communities that are corrupt and overrun by crime, and the authorities see no incentive to intervene due to …show more content…
Kubrin, and Ronald Weitzer’s Retaliatory Homicide: Concentrated Disadvantage and Neighborhood Culture, they use quantitative data the analyze the effect this type of homicide has on the population of St. Louis Missouri. The key elements to their argument are that this type of homicide is an underestimated social force that captivates communities with its sheer influence. This notion may seem a little far fetched, as one social force couldn 't possibly control or dictate a whole communities actions and desires. But, after examine the well constructed article it seemed that their argument was rock solid. The manner in which they collected and analyzed their data was extremely thorough and presented in a more than professional manner. This presentation of course allowed for a more thorough investigation into the …show more content…
Many people already realize this and accept it as a natural part of society, but both of the authors seem to disagree and instead insinuate that maybe the problem is the culture within the communities themselves. Certainly we have all heard of “gangster” culture or something along the same lines, where, the individual follows a strict camaraderie driven group of people who share unconventional ways of living life. But, the fact remains that within these groups of individuals exists a very unsettling way of life that often leads to the group being a complete detriment of the community in which they operate. Certainly there are many examples of these kind of groups actually stimulating a community by offering services to the community in exchange for the stimulating effect they have from their income of illegally acquired money. Their presence is often more valued than resented due to this effect on the community, and this cause seems to lead to the very problems they deal