Comparing Violent Crime Rates Between Corvallis, Oregon And Carbondale, Illinois

This week reading discuss social disorganization and collective efficacy. Higgins (2010) stated that the social disorganization theory where a person live is important in deciding if their is weakness to commit crime. In both text, it stated that social disorganization theory came from the Chicago School's social ecology movement. The theory stated that many factors such as "geography, population movement, and physical environment" and the combination of these factors can cause criminal behavior (Higgins, 2010, p. 30). In explain social disorganization theory, it is broken into zones. The concentric zones explain crime because these are the zones where individuals worked and lived. By having this view it can tell that crime is probably

It is shown that areas in Chicago that have higher poverty levels have consequently higher homicide rates. For example, the area of Fuller Park, the poverty levels are at 56% and the homicide rates in this area are 63 per 100,000 people. On the other hand, in Mount Greenwood, where the poverty levels are at 3%, the homicide rates are 2 in 100,000 people. This shows that with increasing poverty levels come increased homicide rates. Poverty has such a big impact on the homicide levels in Chicago is for many reasons. One of these reasons is because many homicides are poverty on poverty homicides, as many people living in poverty in Chicago are easily caught up in violent crime. This happens because they are unemployed or without a home, so turning to gangs and a life of violent crime gives them a place to belong. Poverty is one of the main roots of the crime problem in Chicago, but the city council are unable to admit it. Therefore, instead of jobs and anti-poverty strategies being used to try and stop the violence, repression and moralism are being used to hopefully stop all the crime. Concentrated urban poverty often leads to violence, and many communities within Chicago fall into this spectrum. Concentrated urban poverty is defined as

As we look at social disorganization theory we knew that they were using spatial maps to look at the locations of juveniles. As Shaw and McKay, found out that the rates of crime were not evenly spread out across areas of the city, and around the city. Though the theory was that crime was around certain city’s and remained stable within certain areas despite changes in the populations where certain people lived in the community. Though as they showed that areas with high crime rates were high regardless of ethnic group

During ancient times and the Middle Ages, crime was basically a rural problem rather than a urban problem and it wasn’t until after the 1960s in the United States that urban rates for homicide exceeded those of rural areas. In Canada, the rural homicide rate still exceeded the urban rate in the 1970 and a number of studies have shown that countries with greater inequalities in income distribution have higher murder rates. In the Unites States, racial disparity is highest in arrest rates for crimes of violence and the arrest rate for blacks is about eight times the rate of whites.

“Overall, the broken windows theory did not support the theory that disorder directly causes crime. First of all, it is true that where violence was high, the levels of disorder detected and the relationship was not strong. Second, the level of disorder varied strongly with neighborhood structural characteristics, poverty being among them. Once these characteristics and collective efficacy were taken into account, the connection between disorder and crime vanished in most instances. Homicide, arguably one of the best measures of violence, was among the offenses for which there was no direct relationship with disorder.” (Sampson and Raudenbush, pg. 8)

Thus, making these factors vital to examine when looking at violent crime. Social economic factors place structural issues on those in poverty, creating more barriers and thus more opportunities for crime to occur. As Blum states “Criminologist frequently affirm that gender, race, and social class affect criminal involvement; on average, men commit more crime than women, blacks commit more crime than whites, and higher poverty areas have higher crime rates than suburban areas” (2008). Thus, making social economic status an important factor in violent crime. Lynch argues that you must look at class when looking at crime, because if not you are neglecting real-word productions of crime (2015). Asserting that class/poverty and crime influence one another. Furthermore, this is not necessarily a predictor of violent crime, but rather a structural factor that makes more individuals likely to commit violent offense. In addition to this there are many different factors that contribute to low economic status such as underemployment, education, single family house-holds, and disabilities (cite). These factors are often left out of theories that discuss poverty and

The social disorganization theory is directed towards social conditions. This theory argues that crime is due to social conflicts, change, and lack of consensus in the group.

Along with poverty rates, the researchers also compared neighbourhoods on other measures of disadvantage: levels of male joblessness, female-headed families, and professionals living in the community. They then calculated a disadvantage index that combined all of these measures. Violent crime rates were lowest in those neighbourhoods with low disadvantage, regardless of whether they were predominantly black or white. Extremely disadvantaged neighbourhoods had violent crime rates that were “16.3 per 1000 higher than rates in low disadvantage neighbourhoods”. (Patterson, R 1989.)

American people live in societies usually fitting to their social class, that is usually considered by the dissemination of success, supremacy, and status. These individuals share similar thoughts in relations to the desire for things, feelings, beliefs, norms, and a required lifestyle. The Chicago School Theory, better known as Social Disorganization Theory, and Strain Theory are both branches of the social structure theory that focus on crime by analyzing the unfairness distribution of wealth, desperateness, and hopelessness. Based off two Chicago sociologists, Clifford R. Shaw and Henry McKay, social disorganization theory, crime stem from a disorganized area in which society of social control, such as schools, have failed to perform their anticipated purposes (Siegel, L.J. 164). With the numerous school within the inner city has broken down the

This shows the more poverty in certain area the more incline for there to be higher crime rates.” Chicago’s west and south sides have incarceration rates that are double—and sometimes triple—the national average” (Bedi).

Common characteristics of neighborhoods with low-level socioeconomic status and physical disorder, which include poverty, high mobility, etc., are all characteristics that the social disorganization theory finds related to high-crime areas. In the article, “Life and Death in the City: Neighborhoods in Context” by John Logan, the author discusses what exactly causes crime and disorganization within a neighborhood. He stated, “Robert Sampson used census data to show that the higher the proportion of divorced adults and the higher the proportion of households headed by a single woman in a neighborhood, the higher proportion of residents who have been victims of crime.” He also explained that the unconventional families within a neighborhood, the less control over youths who are tempted to complete deviate

Although various theories can be used in order to explain the link between poverty and crime, the one that best fits would be social disorganization theory. Social disorganization theory is a theory, which emphasizes environmental impacts of living in neighborhoods that are high in crime and also stresses that this is the reason that criminal activity increases (Tibbetts & Hemmens, 2015). The Chicago school theory is otherwise known as the theory of social disorganization as well. Chicago was the fastest growing city in America back in the 19th century (Tibbetts & Hemmens, 2015). This theory aimed at explaining why such rapid growth of a city caused so much crime in areas that were growing (Tibbetts & Hemmens, 2015). This is important to the reader as it shows that there is a major social aspect to the problem of crime in which the environment of an individual, if living in poverty, may influence the way in which they socialize, live and ultimately

Social disorganization theory focuses on the breakdown of institutions in inner-city neighborhoods such as schools, families, and employment (Siegel, 2015). This theory describes why crime is more prominent when social institutions break down. As a core, this theory focuses on the effects of the person’s location and its specific characteristics as they relate to crime.

Social disorganization theory is when a person’s physical and social environments are primarily responsible for the behavioral choices that person makes. In particular, a neighborhood that has fraying social structures is more likely to have high crime rates. Such a neighborhood may have poor schools, vacant and vandalized buildings, high unemployment, and a mix of commercial and residential property.

Social disorganization theory “is a reflection of how crime is related to socioeconomic status, particularly for lower class-communities” (Mallicoat 85). High crime rates are commonly attributed to high poverty rates and this theory reflects that idea. Based on the text, “Alas, the downturn of the economy meant that people were soon left with an area where there was little social structure to help promote a positive community” (Mallicoat 86). The loss of industrial jobs had an irrecuperable impact on the community and Flint’s crime rate reflects that. According to the author, “Since 2007, Flint’s violent-crime rate has been among the top five among cities of 100,000 or more, and the city has been ranked number one since 2011” (Mallicoat 86). The loss of jobs and deterioration of the city has spiked the violent crime rate. This pattern is not distinct to Flint, and many cities have experienced the same