Criminology Essay Example For Students

Criminology Essay Hai Pham 6/16/99 Criminology Essay One child grows up to be somebody who just loves to learn. And the other child grows up to be somebody who just loves to burn (198) An excerpt of this poem paints a picture of two brothers, John and Robert Wideman, leading different lives. Robert Wideman, embraced a path common for black men during that era; a life of crime, glamour, and drugs. Quietly sitting in jail, he reminisces deeply about his troubled past and the consequences of the future that now haunts him. John, on the other hand, chose the path less taken by those living in the same world as he did and in due time become a successful professor at a University. How did two people from the same origin, living in similar environments, and raised by a caring family choose such different paths? Some might explain the cause to be risk factors, learned behavior, or missed opportunities. When explaining criminal behavior, it is inevitable to identify sociological, behavioral, and psychological problems as causes of crime. John and Robert always dreamed about running away from the poverty embracing their community. Even though they shared the same dream, each considered different means of achieving this dream. John determined early on that to get ahead, to make something of myself, college had seemed a logical, necessary step; my exile, my flight from home began with good grades, with good English (27). In order for John to climb the social status, he realized that his only ticket out of poverty and his community is through a good education. Status must be earned through hard work and determination. Robert is just the opposite of John. Early on, Robert acknowledged that school and sports could not satisfy the glamour that Robert so much desired? Unlike John who disliked blackness, Robert got a thing about black. See black was like the forbidden fruit (84). Robert embraced the people living in Homewood, Pittsburgh. He felt connected to them especially when he discovered Garfield cause thats where the niggers was. Garfield was black (85). By embracing what other people valued and thought, Robert incorporated the same criminal values as his own. Robert has accepted his fate, a life of glamour through deviant behavior. Delinquency at an early age may have contributed to Roberts behavior. According to Cohen, deviant behavior derives from an inversion of values. Roberts values can be best summed up by the statement the thing was to make your own rules, do your own thing, but make sure its contrary to what society says or is (58) . Inversion of values is practically portraying what society views as socially acceptable, unacceptable. A great example explaining this inversion of values is captured during a school strike. Robert recaptures the greatest moment of his life when he took over the school. Through his eyes, it was the white mans world and wasnt no way round it or over it or under it so I kept on cutting classes and *censored*ing up and doing my militant thing every chance I got. (114). It seems that Robert felt frustrated living in such an oppressed environment. He once believed that prosperity can be achievable but somehow his belief in what society has taught him relating to success is wrong. Through this belief, Robert maintains a violent life. Other variables such as family, the community, and opportunities for success play a critical role in shaping the behavior of adolescence according to Cloward and Ohlin. There were lost opportunities when Roberts family decided to move back to Homewood from Shadyside. A good education in a community that cared for the student was stripped from Roberts grasp. Robert was never able to attend the school that his older brother had previous graduated from. Now living within the boundaries of the poor community, Robert is exposed to violence and the substandard values of the neighborhood. Homewood is a community that scared Roberts Mother. Her prediction of trouble and Roberts wild side connecting turned into reality and she was right. Nineteen Eighty Four - Fiction Essay The tricks of the trade, so to speak, are much more readily available in a city where most crime occurs than in a far off suburb. For example, even if one does figure out how to hot-wire a car on their own, where are they going to take it after the fact? The car is hot (it has either been reported stolen, or soon will be, to the police, who will put out an APB on the stolen car) so one doesnt have much time to get rid of it. The longer one is on the road, the higher their .