Preview

burglars on the job

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1425 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
burglars on the job
Burglars On The Job Scott Decker and Richard Wright studied and wrote a book on criminals who make their livings burglarizing people’s homes. They named the book Burglars on the Job. Their study found that most of the criminals that were career burglars stole to further their drug habits. Many of these career criminals were only making a living by stealing from others. In 1893 Emile Drurkheim came up with the original concept of anomie. He studied suicides in Europe and found a condition of normlessness or lack oh norms and called it anomie. Robert Merton borrowed from Durkheims work and came up with the anomie/strain theory. His theory was a way to explain delinquency. He stated that when a person is unable to reach societies set goals then they suffer from strain. In the case of this book the goals of society would be money. The burglars in the Burglars on the Job would be considered innovators according to Merton. They accept the goals of society but reject the means to get the goals. The criminals in the book said that most of the money to had stolen was used to buy clothes, jewelry, cars, and drugs. They wanted to be rich and have nice things they just refused to get a legitimate job and earn their money so they burglarized. They seemed more worried about their appearances of being rich then anything else. Their spending habits would put them in a position that they had to continue to steal because the money they had previously stolen was spent as soon as they got it and did not think about the next’s months bills and such. Some of these burglars, or otherwise known as hustlers, had legitimate jobs and only burglarized for the cheap thrills and excitement. Many of the burglars that have jobs and careers stated that they can make more money by burglarizing one house in an hour then they can make working a week or more at their real jobs. Many of them feel that it is for this reason they are seemingly forced to commit these crimes. Some of the hustlers

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    It is in this article that Messner and Rosenfeld’ version of anomy theory can be applied to explain white-collar crime. In Messner and Rosenfeld’s book Crime and the American Dream they outline their own version of strain theory, the ‘American Dream’, which highlights how in American individuals want to be successful, that success is measured in money, and that the perverseness of money compels people to break the law because of the limitations that the legal economy represents (Messner and Rosenfeld, 8). They aim to explain why white-collar offenders commit their crime and they believe that anomy theory explains white-collar crime. In their case, they show the commitment that people and groups put into the schemes in order to obtain their…

    • 173 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Functionalist such as Merton explain crime through “strain theory” stating that individuals commit deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals through legitimate means, arguing that an individuals position in society affects how they respond to the strain to anomie. There are 5 types of adaption such as; Conformity is where individuals accept culturally approved goals & achieves them legitimately, this is usually found within the middle class. Innovation refers to Individuals who accept the goals of money & success however uses illegitimate means to achieve this success through activities such as Fraud & theft. Ritualism is usually associated to individuals who give up on trying to achieve goals however still how still follow rules for their own sake; on the other hand Retreatism describes individuals who reject both goals & legitimate means leading them to becoming dropouts which can result to individuals resulting becoming drug addicts. The final type is Rebellion individuals reject society’s goals & replace them with new ones in desire to bring about revolutionary change. This theory is useful as it explains how crime arises from mainstream goals as both conformist & innovators are pursing the same goal but one is legitimate & the other is illegitimate, however it all seems to take notice of utilitarian crime &…

    • 550 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    To understand the development of Strain Theory which was developed by Robert King Merton, we first have to examine the history context from Emile Durkheim. The beginning of Anomie Theory evolves from the famous Sociologist name Emile Durkheim. The term anomie is the any social or rapid changes in society that threatens or weakens the collective consciences which disable people the inability to form the shared values, norms, and beliefs. Therefore, individuals are unable to regulate each other behavior which results in crime (Durkheim, 1897; quoted in Lanier & Henry, 2004:238). As a student who studies under Emile Durkheim, Robert Merton borrows the term Anomie and uses it in his own languages. Merton transforms Anomie into his own language by asserting that the social structures within society that is culturally defined goals may pressure individuals to commit crime through illegitimate mean when people is face with block opportunity for them to gain access to the American dreams (Merton, 1995; quoted in Lanier & Henry, 2004:240). Those who are able to achieve the American dreams is subject to owning a house, car, and providing comfort. Other person who is restricted to the opportunity becomes strain. Though, some people who experiences strain does not commit crime, others other who expose to strain adapt to strain by five modes of adaptation. These five modes of adaptation include conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and…

    • 2253 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Shrock paper one

    • 1747 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Robert Mertons' anomie theory also stated as the means-end theory, this displays a functionalist view how individuals who are unable to meet the goals of life find innovative ways to meet the means of society. With this being said, those within the novel Burglars on the Job seek out the ability to burglarize friends, family, acquaintances and random individuals. This shows how one without the means of society use criminal acts to acquire these means. Then how their actions from each step of this process effects their mentality and creates many stressful instances which in part turn toward crime and the ability to stress the consequences but much less rather be affected negatively by the inability to show how one does not have the societal means than it does have stigmatic consequences to achieve these means.…

    • 1747 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    However, Merton another functionalist argued that many types of crime exist because society as a whole shares the same ‘American dream’ (i.e. to become rich and successful), but not everyone can achieve these things lawfully, so a strain exists between the goals and ambitions of people and their ability to achieve them. The problem with Merton’s strain theory is that there are many people in society who have not achieved the so called ‘American dream’ but haven’t turned to crime, so it can be argued that crime is committed collectively and maybe because of a lack of socialisation and upbringing.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early times, burglary was a crime of precise definition and only under certain circumstances were acts considered criminal. Furthermore, burglary was originally defined in the old common law as “breaking and entering into the dwelling or structure of another at night with an intent to commit a felony inside”. At present, by court decisions and regulation, the characterization of the crime of burglary has evolved to include many more accurate situations. To common law writers the above progression made sense because the expansion of the original concept of security of the dwelling was in response to social…

    • 100 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Malcolm X the Tragic Hero

    • 1836 Words
    • 8 Pages

    "I was a true hustler - uneducated, unskilled at anything honorable, and I considered myself nervy and cunning enough to live by my wits, exploiting any prey that presented itself I would risk just about anything. Right now, in every big city ghetto, tens of thousands of yesterdays and today's school drop outs are keeping body and soul together by some form of hustling in the same way I did And they inevitably move into more and more, worse and worse, illegality and immorality. Full time hustlers never can relax to appraise what they are doing and where they are bound. As is the case in any jungle, the hustler's - every waking hour is lived with both the practical and the subconscious knowledge that if he ever relaxes, if he ever slows down, the other hungry, restless foxes, ferrets, wolves, and vultures out there with him won't hesitate to make him their prey. (Autobiography, pp. 109-110)…

    • 1836 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The general assumptions of strain/anomie perspective basically discuss that social structures within our culture could coerce people into group and situations that would push them to commit crime. The reason why I chose this over subcultural perspective is because the strain/anomie perspective has more application to explaining the causes of crime though expounding upon certain goals and motivations than to claim that certain groups and subcultures of people just have a great affinity for crime that others. I argue that out of all of the strain/anomie perspectives, Agnew’s general strain theory provide the best explanation for the overrepresentation of homicides in inner-city areas. While the other theories claim that they can identify the causes that give people the motivation to commit…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    White-Collar Crime, or financial crime, is a widespread problem in America that usually does not get the type of attention it deserves. It is perceived as boring and people do not usually care to learn about it. Everyone knows about Blue-Collar crime (Street Crime) and murder, rape, and theft are usually met with feelings of anger and disgust. But unfortunately, White-Collar crime does not stir up the same feelings one would expect to receive from a murder. Fraudulent loans and embezzlement are just as noteworthy, if not worse than Street Crime. But financial crime is ignored most of the time in the media. Financial crime is more detrimental to society as a whole than street crime. It causes greater financial loss and affects a larger amount…

    • 1686 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The two metropolitan areas I have decided to do my research paper on are Cincinnati, Ohio and Dallas, Texas. I choose Cincinnati because it is one of the bigger cities where I live. I choose Dallas because there seems to be a big difference in crime rates compared to Cincinnati. In this paper I will be comparing the burglary rate between these two cities. I will identify the number of burglaries reported to the police in each area and also explain which area had more reported burglaries as well as what were the rates of the crimes in each area. I will also explain whether the rates have changed at all and look into what factors that might be involved that might explain the difference in the burglary rates.…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sociology White Collar

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The types of crime had more widespread dangers to civil society both in term of human cost and tax dollar, is White collar and which had more extensive consequences. Professor Edwin Hardin Sutherland (1949) was the first to coin the term, and hypothesize white-collar criminals attributed different characteristics and motives than typical street criminals. White collar is a financial motivated, economic, non violent crime committed for illegal monetary gain as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation. For instance, one of the most notorious corporate crimes was committed by Ford executives in Houston kept faulty Firestone tires on their Explores that cost the lives of 200 people, and not one executive spent even a single day in jail. In contrast with street crime committed by poor individuals financial motivated to commit crime if they are caught stealing cars it’s more likely that they will be sent to prison for years (p. 145 -146). Furthermore, “The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison”, this article is very true in the way that the poor get discriminated on in almost every…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This is an easier crime in which to establish a strategic plan that would put an end to such crimes. There are four types of crimes that are classified as a property crime, they are burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Property crimes involve the taking of money or property and are high volume crimes with the target often being cash, electronics, such as televisions, power tools, cameras, and jewelry. According to the statistics from the F.B.I’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report, January - June of 2012, “The number of violent crimes reported by law enforcement for the first six months of 2012 increased 1.9 % over the figures from the same time period in 2011. Property crimes rose 1.5%.” To further break down this figure, there was a 1.9% increase in larceny-theft crimes, 1.7% increase for motor vehicle theft, and 0.1% increase for burglary. Current trends suggest that there will be an increase in property crime in…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    White Collar Crime

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    For example when rich and powerful people are accused of wrongdoing, they have the means to hire lawyers, accountants, and other people who can help them avoid being labeled as deviant. White collar crime is committed by people of high social positions and mostly relates to their job. As we know, white collar crimes typically don't involve violence, generally money is the root it also include embezzlement, business fraud, bribery, and similar crimes. Many of these crimes go unknown to the public. While blue collar crimes are committed by the lower so economical or average person. Blue-collar crimes range from violent crime to thievery and are sometimes committed as a way of life or desperation. They are usually more visual and attract public…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin with, Social structure theories enlighten on how social economic structures can influence economic opportunities in our society, which then could also lay an impact on criminal tendency to a person. According to (author), strain theory, developed by Merton, states that there are certain things or circumstances that could increase the likelihood of a person to commit a crime, these are known as strains or stressor. These strains or stressors create a negative impact to the person’s emotions such as frustration and anger. These types of emotions influence the corrective actions and behaviors of an individual, thus committing a crime is an unavoidable result. Moreover, material success, such as cars,…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I was asked the question, “Gaesha what is one thing that really upsets you?” It did not take me more than two seconds to answer that question. I replied, “You know what really gets my gears grinding, my biggest pet peeve, what upsets me, and takes me to the highest level of frustration are people who are known as robbers, thieves, stealers, or burglars!” I can’t understand how a robber can invade the private homes of another person who has worked hard to earn the things they have and steal from them! I’m wondering where these low life’s consciences are. What happened to the Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not steal? What mind frame do they have when they are about to steal?…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays