Essay on Explaining Crime & Delinquency: A Structural Approach

Introduction

Crime is a deliberate act usually considered socially detrimental or perilous and precisely defined and punishable under criminal law (Thornberry, 2018). At the same time, delinquency is a criminal act carried out by a juvenile. Therefore, both crime and delinquency conduct does not conform to society's legal or moral standards (Thornberry, 2018). The structural approach to explaining crime and delinquency emphasizes wider structural aspects such as sociological, economic, political, and legal features of the international schemes. This paper seeks to obtain a holistic view of how structural forces influence crime and delinquency in El Barrio by describing how crime has been normalized, applying theoretical aspects, and suggesting prevention strategies to be employed.

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Normalization and Legitimization of Criminality to the El Barrio Populace

The laws of specific jurisdictions define criminal behavior and vary significantly with the state. Changing of social traits and times have led to changes in criminal regulation in El Barrio, Mexico, so that offensive behaviors have become legitimate (Bourgois, 2013). The irresistible changes imposed so swiftly on the once rural-based population translating to high unemployment rates, broken families, substance abuse and deteriorated health. For instance, all kinds of law-breaking could be evidenced in the streets of El Barrio, ranging from nests of narcotics, stealing, thieving cheating, and every conceivable kind of lawlessness (Bourgois, 2013).

School provides learning and growth environment; it inhibits an organized routine that provides students to accomplish every day. Therefore, failure to comply with school attendance routine instills in students the violation of the societal norms. Significantly, the type of school attended also contributes to the delinquency of a child. For example, congested and underfunded institutes incline to order and discipline deficiency. Consequently, chaos frequently experienced in these schools pressurized children to develop defensive mechanisms due to the surrounding environs.

Exposure to violence and substance abuse at home and in the neighborhood also contribute greatly to delinquency. A child exposed to violence assimilates and becomes a fierce person, lashing out at others for the fears and frustrations experienced at home. The child will apply the street survival methods to stay safe from the gang members or violent people (Vigil, 2019). Besides, peer pressure from direct acquaintances adversely affects the juvenile actions by imitating their criminal habit to be accepted. In the streets of El Barrio, the juvenile became so wild after the substance abuse that even the militia could not dare curb the evils they were executing on the streets (Weegels, 2018).

Theory Explaining the Prevalence of Delinquency in El Barrio

There are two generally competing theoretical approaches of what drives crime in cities and neighborhoods of Mexico, social disorganization and Institutional Anomie (Thornberry, 2018). The Institutional Anomie Theory (IAT) has a different logical line that arose in the recent past. Messner and Rosenfeld set the anomie theory founded on Merton's concept of a connection between social controls, criminal behavior, and weak normative (Messner et al., 2019). The concept models overtly on Merton's formulation of anomie by attributing crime to the dynamic association between social and cultural structures. Rosenfeld and Messner have shown how profit-oriented societies drag social relations toward functional ends to cause a lack of ethical standards (Messner et al., 2019). Following the major exponents, social institutes are merged components of the economy, culture, and polity that control aims and standards. According to Rosenfield and Messner, there are four elementary functions of social institutions: goal realization, adaptation, pattern maintenance, and integration.

Economic establishments are crucial for stable employment and livelihood creation, but their interruptions undermine social structures leading to a rise in crime and delinquency. Explicitly, lack of living remunerations, jobs, public investments, and credit can lead to unintended effects (Deitzer & Copes, 2017). Equally, economic collapse and inflation may force needy people into states of anomic divestment and mental strain. As a result, institutional anomie develops faster in places with an unfavorable economic setting to achieve socially beneficial purposes. Community and solidarity coherence are impaired in a weak polity where cultural structures collapse in their old norms and cause some members of society to become criminals.

Strategies for Prevention of Delinquency in the El Barrio

Although several strategies can be applied to prevent adolescent delinquency in El Barrio, the most appropriate would be to help children and their relatives avoid criminality through educational programs, juvenile justice prevention programs, and family and society interventions (Pickering, 2019).

Educational Programs. In the past, educational model programs had assisted parents with information on how to raise their children successfully, and are still important if applied. Some programs would sensitize children on the side effects of gangs, drugs, weapons, and sex, while others aim to express the net worth of the youths and the youthful stage (Wilson et al., 2018). Furthermore, they would enhance the youth's understanding of the consequences of their actions, thus very critical in an era where adolescents are faced with violence and sexual challenges.

Family and Society Intervention. Parents should take the obligation of fighting against any odd personality developed by their children by ensuring that the children are hanging out with friends who are morally upright and belong to their class. The creation of friendly and healthy relationships with the children would enable them to share their feelings. Similarly, a society is a strong force in building teenagers' character; it should initiate and provide an empowering environment to the juvenile, hence reducing delinquency rates (Rueda & Cara, 2018).

The Juvenile Justice Prevention Programs. The juvenile justice systems in El Barrio should offer opportunities for assistance to youths joining the system. In this case, the youths under the care of the state should receive counseling, educational opportunities, and drug rehabilitation assistance (Wilson et al., 2018). The system should do its part successfully so that when the youth is released to the community, there should be no further criminal offenses pursued by the youth. Finally, all juvenile confinement amenities would empower minors upon their education, accord them assistance to break the detrimental habits, facilitate them with job training, and enhance their life experience under a stable atmosphere (Huggard, 2016).

References

Bourgois, P. (2003). In search of respect: selling crack in El Barrio (Vol. 10). Cambridge University Press. https://www.worldcat.org/title/in-search-of-respect-selling-crack-in-el-barrio/oclc/881237397

Deitzer, J., & Copes, H. (2017). Subcultural theories. The Encyclopedia of Juvenile Delinquency and Justice, 1-5. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118524275.ejdj0117

Huggard, C. (2016). Juvenile delinquency: we are the cause, but we can also be the solution. https://www.nap.edu/read/9747/chapter/5

Messner, S., Rosenfeld, R., & Hövermann, A. (2019). Institutional anomie theory: An evolving research program. In Handbook on crime and deviance (pp. 161-177). Springer, Cham. https://www.amazon.com/Crime-American-Dream-Steven-Messner/dp/1111346968

Pickering, L. (2019). Bourgois’ 1995 classic In Search of Respect: a tale of three readings. Addiction, 114(7), 1309-1312. https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/173698/7/173698.pdf

Rueda, C., & Cara, L. (2018). Urban safety and crime prevention: Architectural perspectives from Quito and Guayaquil. In Urban Safety and Peacebuilding (pp. 28-55). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315149158/chapters/10.4324/9781315149158-3

Thornberry, T. (2018). Developmental theories of crime and delinquency. Routledge. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0093854819876306

Vigil, J. (2019). Street gangs: A multiple marginality perspective. In Oxford research encyclopedia of criminology and criminal Justice. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249558408_Urban_Violence_and_Street_Gangs

Weegels, J. (2018). ‘The terror and scourge of the Barrio’: representations of youth crime and policing on Nicaraguan television news. Journal of Latin American Studies, 50(4), 861-887. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1057567719849485

Wilson, D., Olaghere, A., & Kimbrell, C. (2018). Effectiveness of restorative justice principles in juvenile justice: A meta-analysis. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/250872.pdf