The majority of crime can be linked to economic causes. First, poverty is a growing concern in our country. "Children aged 4 to 11 years, in poor families, were in worse health, more hyperactive, had poorer vocabulary and math scores, participated in few sports, and had more friends who got in trouble" (City of Toronto, 2005:1). These factors, in turn, lead to school drop outs wich may lead to criminal behaviour. Secondly, cuts to community resources is a problem that needs to be stopped. A recent survey by Toronto 's Task Force on Community Safety identified cuts to community resources as one of the underlying causes of crime in Toronto (T.T.F.C.S, 1998). Community resources keeps kids out of trouble, because of this cutting these resources may lead to an increase in criminal activity. Lastly, unemployment is a contributing cause to crime. Numerous studies find that an alarming number of youth and adults admitted to correctional facilities are unemployed (CS&CPC, 1996). Continual unemployment often leads to a sense of dispair, particularly amongst youth and can bring about outraged expression including theft, substance and alcohol abuse, as well as child and family violence. Therefore, criminals are created because of economic causes such as poverty, cuts to community resources and unemployment.
Social elements in life can lead to normal people becoming criminals . To begin with, parenting has a dramatic effect on the way a person is raised. Child abuse, one of the most extreme examples of ineffective parenting, is increasing with 23% of childrens aid societies investigations in Ontario involving police agencies (City of Toronto, 2005). Inadequate parenting and socialization issues are seen as key contributing factors to crime. Also, hate crimes are affecting an ever growing number of people. "A survey of lesbian and gay men conducted by the 519 Church Street Community Centre Victim Assistance Program found that 78% of respondents reported experiencing verbal assaults, 38% reported being chased or followed, and 21% reported being punched, kicked or beaten because someone assumed them to be gay" (City of Toronto, 2005:2). Hate crimes are a good example of how the beliefs a person is taught may affect them criminally in the long term. In addition, mass media has an influence on both kids and adults. The mass media depicts crime in a glorifying way through movies, television, and recently music (Jewkes, 2004). A person exposed to violent media has a better chance of becoming violent themselves because they might accept the images they see as being normal and part of everyday life. In brief, social causes such as child abuse, hate crimes, and mass media all have an influence on whether a person becomes a criminal.
People who use drugs are more likely to be involved in crime one way or the other. To start, selling drugs and possesion of drugs is a crime. "In fact, more than 60 percent of all federal prisoners are in jail for drug-related offenses" (The Narconon Drug Rehabilitation Program, 2004:24). Selling drugs is a risky business but people are attracted to it because of the amount of money that can be made from it, once they decide to become a drug dealer they are also deciding to become a criminal. Furthermore, drugs are very expensive. In 1996, 96 people died from drug related causes in Toronto (City of Toronto, 2005). The price of drugs can not only result in poverty, but can also lead people to murder others for free drugs or control of drug territory. Moreover, drug abuse has an effect on the user 's children, who could develop into criminals because of the drug use. "The number of Toronto newborns diagnosed with conditions related to prenatal drug exposure (76 babies for the most recent reporting period) is significantly higher than totals observed in previous years" (City of Toronto, 2005:4). These newborns can develop psychological problems (such as psychosis) that may result in them displaying criminal behavior later in life. To sum up, selling drugs, the price of drugs, and using drugs all can lead to an individual becoming a criminal.
It is clear that criminals develop through their life experiences. They aren 't born criminals; they grow into them because of the root causes of crime. Economic causes change the way a person lives, making them much different than they would have been in a contrary circumstance. Also, social causes twist and recalibrate a person into what they are told they are and what they see themselves as. Lastly, drugs lead them down a shady path of confusion and recklessness. It is unmistakable that people see criminals and convicts and they think "that person will never change" or "they 're stuck like that the rest of their lives", but in reality that person has been changing their whole lives, and in order to fix the problem of crime one must first look at the roots of it and change those roots so that all people have a fair shot at a healthy, clean life.
Works Cited:
City of Toronto. "What We Know about the Root Causes of Crime in Toronto." Toronto, 2005.
http://www.toronto.ca/safety/sftyrprt3.htm
CS&CPC. "The Root Causes of Crime." CS&CPC, 1996.
http://www.preventingcrime.net/library/Causes_of_Crime.pdf
Jewkes, Yvonne. Media and Crime (Key Approaches to Criminology). California:SAGE, 2004.
Narconon Drug Rehabilitation Program, The. "Eradicating Crime at the Source." Freedom, 2004:24.
Toronto 's Task Force on Community Safety. "Toronto Talks Safety: Summary."
Toronto, September 1998.
http://www.toronto.ca/community_safetytf/tfsafety_report1.htm
Cited: City of Toronto. "What We Know about the Root Causes of Crime in Toronto." Toronto, 2005. http://www.toronto.ca/safety/sftyrprt3.htm CS&CPC. "The Root Causes of Crime." CS&CPC, 1996. http://www.preventingcrime.net/library/Causes_of_Crime.pdf Jewkes, Yvonne. Media and Crime (Key Approaches to Criminology). California:SAGE, 2004. Narconon Drug Rehabilitation Program, The. "Eradicating Crime at the Source." Freedom, 2004:24. Toronto 's Task Force on Community Safety. "Toronto Talks Safety: Summary." Toronto, September 1998. http://www.toronto.ca/community_safetytf/tfsafety_report1.htm
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Individuals lead to crime for slightly different reasons which relate to their unique genetic character, their corresponding mental ability, their socialization and life circumstances; it is the interplay of these and other variables, any one of which may be more determinative in a particular case that causes a particular individual to resort to crime. Consequently, crime, like poverty, doesn't lend itself very well to comprehensive solutions, unless these solutions simultaneously address all the dominant factors underlying its causation in the majority of cases. The “Urban Society-Gesellshaft Thesis” goes on to say that important normative constraint which served to deter criminal behavior in the past tend to be absent in modern urban societies. The dramatic increase in crime in the 19th and 20th centuries has been attributed to the absence of a sense of community in urban societies.…
- 262 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
At first glance of the cityscape the thought may arise on why crime is not the principle personal concern. However, decades of research suggest poverty is the driving force for crime. The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote “poverty is the parent of crime.” Nevertheless, poverty, crime and the lack of education are all related.…
- 473 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
According to the Institute for Prevention of Crime (2009), for every 1,000,000 Canadians there are 60,000 victims of assault, 16,000 victims of sexual assault, and 18,000 victims of theft from or of cars. These statistics are limited because they come from police recorded data. Statistics Canada surveys show that less than 50% of victims report to the police. Additionally, there are 600 recorded homicides annually. Approximately, 100-120 of these homicides are related to handguns and gangs. This gang related violence has increased drastically from the 1990’s. Crime rates have been relatively stable over a ten-year period for sexual and physical assaults, robberies, break and enter, motor vehicle thefts, theft of house property, and vandalism.…
- 2569 Words
- 9 Pages
Better Essays -
What Starts Criminal Behavior? History shows that through life violence is a cycle within itself. Criminology shows different views on how and why criminal behavior happens. By watching the movie “Boyz in The Hood” we see the crimes take place and show why these events happened. Based off the information from class and from past theories I formulate my own theories of why crime happens.…
- 1286 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
There are three main influences that explain why a person will turn to crime. These are cognitive, biological and upbringing. One influence that might cause an individual to turn to crime is upbringing. Farrington (2006) conducted a study in delinquent development to document the start, duration and end of offending behaviour from children and to adulthood in families. Farrington’s study concluded that offenders tend to be deviant in many areas of their lives. One of the most important risk factors for criminality in the family was poor school performance. This statement can be backed up by Farrington’s results that showed that, those who started criminal careers aged 10-13 were nearly all reconvicted (91%) and committed on average 6 crimes. Ages 10-16 (the early offenders) accounted for 77% of all crime in the group. This concluded that early intervention programmes for the under tens could have significant impact in reducing offending.…
- 923 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The debate regarding criminality being a result of nature or nurture has been a topic of discussion both within criminology and outside of it for decades. Criminologists brought forward theories attempting to address and explain this paradox, and explanations for crime included psychological, sociological, economical, biological reasons, amongst…
- 1665 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Ezeonu, I. (2010). Gun Violence in Toronto: Perspectives from the Police. Howard Journal Of Criminal Justice, 49(2), 147-165.…
- 933 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
there are many theories of crime out there, but the most agreeable one is Emile Durkheim’s Theory of crime. The french sociologist states in his book Suicide that:…
- 729 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
It goes without saying, that not all under the poverty lines are criminal offenders, however, it is known that the majority of those incarcerated are those who suffer from poverty. Many of the crimes committed are due to acts of desperation and survival. Research done by Raise and Rates Coalition has found that extremely low income levels has a direct correlation with crimes (Ivanova, 2011). This included crimes such as sex work, burglary, sexual assaults, and staying with abusive partners. The Federal Government of Research posted statistics which calculated the total costs of crime in Canada. They concluded that the direct costs such as policing and jail systems as well as indirect or intangible costs such as pain and suffering account of a total amount of $99.6 billion dollars in Canada (Ivanova, 2011). Through the use of proactive measures implemented by the government, crime and the economic costs behind it can be drastically…
- 1189 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Youth gangs in North American society are nothing new. When we turn on the news we often hear stories of misguided youth contributing to yet another gang related crime. Even though it is known that youth crimes are overrepresented in the media today, the subject of youth gang activity is quite a predicament to our society. Over the last few years, there has been a moral panic created by constant exposure to the media which portrays a great amount of youth crimes and violence. In Canada there are large urban cities with high proportions of young people, many of which live in poverty, that now have the issue of dealing with youth gangs and youth crimes. Toronto, British Columbia, and Ottawa are examples of Canadian cities that have youth gang problems. The implementation of the new Youth Criminal Justice Act (2002) has changed the way youth crimes are dealt with legally in Canada. It is one step in the right direction for dealing with the issue of youth offending. Although the new act is not perfect, it will provide a better sense of justice to society because it calls for greater punishment for youths who re-offend. Youth Gangs in Canada are a potentially serious problem that needs to be addressed and tactically prevented. If preventative measures are not taken, these large populated urban areas in Canada will have problems similar to those of some major American cities. This essay will analyze the youth gang problem in Canada. It will cover topics such as types of youth gangs, the seriousness of the problem, and the cause for the creation of youth gangs from a Social Disorganization theory perspective. It will also examine the effect of the Youth Criminal Justice Act on gang crime.…
- 3458 Words
- 14 Pages
Good Essays -
If a person grows up around gangs and crime, there is a higher chance they will develop more violent thoughts than the average individual. If a person's family is poor, wanting to harm someone that has more money is a thought that comes across one's mind, which could ultimately lead to criminal behavior. Growing up in an environment where parents do not care what their children do causes the children to act out for attention. This is with them throughout their whole life, and even as adults they feel like what they do doesn’t matter because they were not disciplined as a child. Criminals aim towards the nicer environments, because that’s something they’ve never had.…
- 1925 Words
- 8 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Youth crime is simultaneously a social problem and an intrinsic part of consumer culture, young people not in work and education are labelled as antisocial and susceptible to crime.…
- 285 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Crime is believed to be a product of neighborhoods that are characterized by physical deterioration and conflicting social values. Major sources of informal social control (family, school, neighborhood, civil service) are broken are ineffective.…
- 1185 Words
- 5 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Do individuals become criminals as a result of heredity or genetics or is it their environment that is in fact at play? This question has left Criminologists in debate for the better part of our modern era. In order to help answer this question we must first take a closer look at the concept of Nature vs. Nurture, a popular psychological term initially created by Darwin and other positivists. "Nature vs. Nurture" refers to internal and external factors that play a role in behaviour, in this case in reference to criminals. "Nature" is paired up with the biological explanation known as internal factors. "Supporters of the biological perspective argue that we must identify the role of heredity and the importance of biophysical, as well as biosocial…
- 1945 Words
- 8 Pages
Better Essays -
The first argument is that criminals are pathological and their genetics is a major reason why they offend rather than learning criminal behaviour from their parents. In the 1970’s it was established that less than ten percent of persons committed more than 50 percent of all crimes. This provoked researchers to further investigate the origins of the career criminals (Moffin, 2005). The media has also drawn attention to families who have a majority of members who are criminals…
- 1457 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays