Author, Victor Rios’s story of rising from the projected outcome of youth growing up in the ghetto sets the tone of Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. Rio grew up in Oakland, California. To the ghetto he returns with a PhD from Berkley and a great understanding of where these youth are coming from as well as the cards stacked against inner-city youth trying to make it in world that expects nothing but the worst from them. The idea behind Rios’s study of minority youth in the ghetto was to examine the lives of these young black and Latino boys and their journey of self-discovery as they encounter the obstacles of stigma and policy policing their lives excessively (Rios 2011). For Rios, this examination involved trailing
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This line of theory is accredited to Shaw and McKay and is often considered to be one of the most prevalent and important theories in criminology (Samson and Groves 1994). The Social Disorganization Theory is important to understanding Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys for its examination of minority boys coming from low-income families in the inner city. These demographics are almost exclusively associated with delinquent behavior. This profiling and criminalization affects the boys in prominent ways as explored with the Social Control Theory and the Strain Theory, both mentioned previously. The Social Disorganization Theory gives weight to the notion that place really does matter when observing one’s predisposition to deviant behaviors (Samson and Groves 1994). At its core, the theory gives a direct connection to crime rates and the neighborhood that the individual lives in (Samson and Groves …show more content…
Central to this take on delinquency is the idea that criminal behavior is learned behavior (Sutherland and Cressey). This is to say that it is not an inherited trait, but a behavior that has been picked up by association with those engaging in delinquency (Sutherland and Cressey). Much of this learned behavior comes from the observation of how those around you view legal codes (Sutherland and Cressey). There are those whom view legalities as rules to live by and those whom do not (Sutherland and Cressey). While this tends to reference socialization among peers, a more unique account for this theory can be taken by the examination of a lack of protection afforded to these profiled youths and their developing understanding that legal codes do not offer them the same protection they might a white male coming from a higher socio-economic background. If the rules do not apply to protect them, what kind of respect for legal codes are these individuals
This line of theory is accredited to Shaw and McKay and is often considered to be one of the most prevalent and important theories in criminology (Samson and Groves 1994). The Social Disorganization Theory is important to understanding Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys for its examination of minority boys coming from low-income families in the inner city. These demographics are almost exclusively associated with delinquent behavior. This profiling and criminalization affects the boys in prominent ways as explored with the Social Control Theory and the Strain Theory, both mentioned previously. The Social Disorganization Theory gives weight to the notion that place really does matter when observing one’s predisposition to deviant behaviors (Samson and Groves 1994). At its core, the theory gives a direct connection to crime rates and the neighborhood that the individual lives in (Samson and Groves …show more content…
Central to this take on delinquency is the idea that criminal behavior is learned behavior (Sutherland and Cressey). This is to say that it is not an inherited trait, but a behavior that has been picked up by association with those engaging in delinquency (Sutherland and Cressey). Much of this learned behavior comes from the observation of how those around you view legal codes (Sutherland and Cressey). There are those whom view legalities as rules to live by and those whom do not (Sutherland and Cressey). While this tends to reference socialization among peers, a more unique account for this theory can be taken by the examination of a lack of protection afforded to these profiled youths and their developing understanding that legal codes do not offer them the same protection they might a white male coming from a higher socio-economic background. If the rules do not apply to protect them, what kind of respect for legal codes are these individuals