Crime in the subculture of poverty: Problems in the Community - Essay Example

?Crime in the subculture of poverty: Problems in the Community Introduction Many a theoretical investigations have been carried out on the subcultureof poverty but little light has been thrown upon how the children of this subculture respond to the circumstances of life created by this subculture. The members of this subculture are faced with a serious problem among their children, that is, the tendency to drop out from formal education. For example, it can be seen that among the black people of the US (who constitute a major portion of the population coming under the subculture of poverty), around 18% of male youth are school dropouts (Meyer, Esquivel and Stewart, 100). Similarly, it has been observed regarding rural poor households, “low incomes…can induce…(people)… to withdraw kids from school in hard times” (Fafchamps, 36). It can be logically concluded from these findings that this increased number of school dropouts in this subculture would create an unemployment problem. The dropouts have every probability to remain unemployed or get employment in low-income jobs. When this possibility is examined against the higher crime rates in the subculture of poverty, one can wonder whether there is a connection between the two. It is in such a situation that this essay envisages finding out whether, in a subculture of poverty, there is a cause and effect connection between increasing criminalism and the increased percentage of school dropouts and vice versa. Background of the problem Regarding the subculture of poverty, it has been a proven fact that “poverty, despair and crime are recycled from one generation to the next” (Meyer, Esquivel and Stewart, 100). Hence, every generation is born into an ambience of poverty and crime. The children grow up getting used to that. For some children, poverty is something accepted as destiny but for some others, it can be frustrating as well. Most probably, this second group is more prone to be caught in the quagmire of crime, out of their frustration. The first group of kids mentioned here will on the other hand, become carriers of the subculture of poverty and whatever it breeds, including crime, to the coming generation by accepting poverty as fate, without questioning. In this way, the vicious circle that is completed by poverty and crime repeats itself endlessly. But a less known aspect of the problem has been that the children born in a subculture of poverty may even skip whatever opportunity they have to get out of this subculture, that is, by way of education. This is a less explored side of the problem in its totality. And the reasons for dropping out from the school could be the same frustration with the existing social establishment that has chained them to poverty, the influence of the prevailing tendency of dropping out inside the subculture, the inability to find adequate resources for continuing education, or even the improper conduct that these children might have assimilated from their crime-prone subcultural ambience. It has been said that “dropping out is associated with a greater probability of criminal behavior, mental and physical health problems, and inferior occupational status and income” (Galster, 31). Another problem is that “children from lower social strata will have lower expectations of their chances for success as they observe other, older youths similar to themselves” and this will increase their tendency to drop out (Galster, 32). Whatever the reason might be, the issue in question here is whether there is a visible social pattern emerging in the subculture of poverty whereby a considerable percentage of school dropouts turn to crime. A major finding regarding this subject (in the case of a city) has been that “ignoring any positive feedback effects, an exogenous increase of one standard deviation (0.042, or 31.1 percent) in the city’s dropout rates would be predicted to yield a 6.9 percent increase in violent crime rates, measured at the mean” (Galster, 53). From this finding, it naturally follows that the already proven high percentage of dropout rates in the subculture of poverty could potentially translate into a high percentage of crime rates. Another important aspect of dropping out is that “widespread joblessness strongly enhances the appeal of crime” (Devine and Wright, 129). Also, while exploring the background of increasing percentage of school dropouts and the increasing rates of crime in a city, a third factor has been identified which says that “female headship rates for households with children” contribute to the two other factors mentioned (Galster, 49). This third factor incidentally is also a major feature of the subculture of poverty as is described by Devine and Wright (125). Previous studies have also shown that “drug use, crime, teenage pregnancies and so forth are all much more common among high school dropouts than among any other group of youth” (Devine and Wright, 210). By highlighting the heterogeneity of the subculture of poverty, it has been also argued that the group of “street criminals” is a distinct subgroup of the “underclass population” and again a major portion of this subgroup is ‘school dropouts’ (Devine and Wright, 85). The nexus between the phenomenon of dropping out from school and becoming involved in crime can be explained by seeing that in a low income household there is a diminished possibility of “parental supervision”, “family stability”, “job information networks”, and “stable role models” (Galster, 53). All these observations support the argument that school dropouts inside the subculture of poverty are more prone to become involved in crime. The affected groups As mentioned above, it is the children inside the subculture of poverty that is affected by this problem directly and also all the members of the subculture and the society as a whole. The children are affected because they loose their rights as normal citizens and become prone to arrest and imprisonment once they enter the realm of crime. They also loose their opportunity to make their lives better through education and proper employment. All the members of the subculture are also affected because of a set of reasons. Primarily, a considerable percentage of youth getting into crime will make the entire community prone to state violence and unreasonable persecution. Secondly, the families to which these youth belong to, miss the opportunity to get out of the poverty conditions in the new generation as well. Thirdly, the entire community will be stereotyped by the society as criminals. Last but not least, the community looses its potential to prosper through the skills and efforts of a new generation. The school dropouts in the subculture of poverty turning to crime will also be a problem for the whole of the society as the crime rates will increase and social security will decrease accordingly. The society as a whole will also be loosing its potential human resource also by loosing the youngsters to crime. A problem of fact The problem being discussed here is a problem of fact, where the issue is related to concrete facts alone. The sequence of this chain of facts include the occurrence of poverty as a subculture, the perceived injustices involved in that, the revolt that comes out of that perceived injustices, the different approaches in identifying the targets of that revolt among the members of the subculture, and the various manifestations of that revolt. What is at stake regarding this problem is, the peaceful and secure life of the members of the society and the chances of the underclass to improve their situation. There has been a set of legal and moral precedents, which influence this problem. The loophole in the educational system, which fails to help the marginalized children from the subculture of poverty to cope with the mainstream atmosphere in a school, is one among them. Again a legal system, which does not ensure equal availability of resources to all in the society, is also to blame. This is what originates poverty. And this is what compels poor children to become dropouts. Indirectly, this also contributes to the high probability of unemployment among the poor. Another moral issue involved is, the stereotyping done by the society as a whole when it comes to viewing criminalism among the poor people. While calling poverty as a subculture and attributing certain characteristics like crime, to it, it has to be kept in mind that there can also be a subculture of wealth, which if investigated may show similar patterns of crime rates. Thus it can be seen that there is certain amount of stereotyping in any discussion about the subculture of poverty and this stereotyping can be a moral influence on the prevalence of crime among school dropouts who belong to the subculture of poverty. Works Cited Devine, Joel.A. and Wright, James.D., “The Greatest of Evils: Urban Poverty and the American Underclass”, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1993. Print. Fafchamps, Marcel, “Rural Poverty, Risk and Development”, Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization, 1999. Print. Galster, George.C., “Econometric Model of the Urban Opportunity Structure: Cumulative Causation Among City Markets, Socil Problems, and Undeserved Areas”, Darby PA: DIANE Publishing, 1999. Print. Meyer, Matt, Esquivel, Adolfo Perez, Stewart, Lynne, “Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners”, Oakland CA: PM Press, 2008. Print. Read More