Factors of Committing Crimes
WHY DO PEOPLE COMMIT CRIMES?
Lisette M. Flores
Ivy Bridge College Of Tiffin University
You’re sitting in your living room watching the news, and as you’re watching the news, all you hear about is how this person robbed a bank, how someone hijacked a car, how this person killed this person, etc. The first question to pop up in your mind is, “What possesses these people to do such things?” We can come up with a few suggestions of possibilities, but is there really an answer to “Why do people commit crimes?” This is a question which many people wonder about every day. People commit crimes for many reasons. According to researchers they believe that people commit crimes due to the environment they in live, others believe it can be the cause of poor parenting, while others blame genetics. Let’s begin with Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Power of Context.” In the article Gladwell theorizes that context, or external pressure, contributes much more to an individual’s behavior than previously thought. The context that Gladwell refers to can be defined by the situation an individual is in. A particular situation can have influencing factors, such as people or the environment that he or she is surrounded by. He further argues that his concepts, such as the “Broken Windows Theory”, are the main reasons for the dramatic fall of crime rates in New York during the 1990s. In this case, the broken window is a signal that the community in New York was neglected, causing others to commit other types of crimes too. Once the window is repaired, people will feel less neglected and refrain from committing other crimes. His main focus of his argument is that people are affected by their surroundings more than what they think. The influence that our environment has on us is the primary factor he uses to explain the “Broken Windows Theory”. Here, he describes a broken window left as it is and not being repaired. Because the window is left broken, he feels that people will
Lisette M. Flores
Ivy Bridge College Of Tiffin University
You’re sitting in your living room watching the news, and as you’re watching the news, all you hear about is how this person robbed a bank, how someone hijacked a car, how this person killed this person, etc. The first question to pop up in your mind is, “What possesses these people to do such things?” We can come up with a few suggestions of possibilities, but is there really an answer to “Why do people commit crimes?” This is a question which many people wonder about every day. People commit crimes for many reasons. According to researchers they believe that people commit crimes due to the environment they in live, others believe it can be the cause of poor parenting, while others blame genetics. Let’s begin with Malcolm Gladwell, author of “The Power of Context.” In the article Gladwell theorizes that context, or external pressure, contributes much more to an individual’s behavior than previously thought. The context that Gladwell refers to can be defined by the situation an individual is in. A particular situation can have influencing factors, such as people or the environment that he or she is surrounded by. He further argues that his concepts, such as the “Broken Windows Theory”, are the main reasons for the dramatic fall of crime rates in New York during the 1990s. In this case, the broken window is a signal that the community in New York was neglected, causing others to commit other types of crimes too. Once the window is repaired, people will feel less neglected and refrain from committing other crimes. His main focus of his argument is that people are affected by their surroundings more than what they think. The influence that our environment has on us is the primary factor he uses to explain the “Broken Windows Theory”. Here, he describes a broken window left as it is and not being repaired. Because the window is left broken, he feels that people will
Bibliography: Bryant, L. (2000-2013). Why Do People Commit Crimes. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/why_do_people_commit_crime.htm. Cohen, P. (2011). Genetic Basis for Crime: A New Look. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/arts/genetics-and-crime-at-institute-of-justice-conference.html?pagewanted=all. Gladwell, M. (2009). The Power of Context. The New Humanities Reader, pp. 151-167.