The Underclass and Group Offending - Essay Example

? The Under and Group Offending of Submitted by s The Under The term under was coined by journalist Auletta while in US, who in defining the term emphasized more on the values and behaviours of persons likely to be assigned the term “underclass”. This has been found to be very narrow by sociologists and criminologists alike who think that such a narrow definition does not give or address the root cause for the emergence of crime amongst the underclass of the society. However, since the term underclass was coined, there has not been a precise definition of the term underclass but most sociologists have now come to define underclass as those members of the society whose incomes fall below the level of poverty and may be eligible for assistance by the government. Wilson (1987) attempts to define the underclass as the most deprived sections of the urban community composed of black population, the heterogeneous grouping of individuals and families outside the main employment of the American system. He stated that this group includes those people lacking necessary skills, training to secure employment, have not been in employment for a long-term or are not members of the mainstream labour force. They are those individuals that are often engaged in crime and other forms of behaviour that are abhorred by the society and have experienced long spells of poverty relying on assistance by the government (Wilson 1987, p.8). The underclass has therefore through their behaviour and attitudes can be said to have cut off themselves from the normal society and therefore are a threat to the well-being of other members of the society. In our study of criminology, we will narrow down to the underclass as people at the lowest end of the society below the low class who have faced long-term poverty and are therefore more likely to involve crime or deviant behaviour in order to conform to the economic, social and political norms of the society. Therefore, it is suggested by researchers that with the absence of opportunities, the underclass ultimately deviates into criminal acts as they see little or no chance in attaining personal growths in terms of social, economic and personal aspects. Within weeks of ascension to power, the labour government of Prime Minister Tony Blair appreciated the menace posed by the underclass by setting p a social exclusion unit that would deal with what it referred to as Margaret Thatcher’s underclass that defines people who were without jobs and skills, often without homes and hopeless. These individuals were also considered alienated from the conventional setting of a society (Mark 2011); therefore according to the studies by Murray, the underclass are not only defined by their economic positions but also by their behaviour in that they respond to their lowly economic situations through engagement in behaviour that can be deemed to be deplorable (Murray 1990, p.68). One distinct area associated with the underclass and group offending is found among gangs who in most cases belong to a minority underclass found in urban areas. Gangs are often avenues for particular groups of people especially the underclass to get out of poverty and in the mix, they are always brought into the world of crime and the gangs are normally organized in peer groups, street gangs or criminal networks that are organized. Several researchers have suggested that the existence of gangs and gang-related crimes increase when there are limited economic opportunities available. A study conducted by the Crime Justice Research Centre of Ohio State University found that when jobs were lost in the industries, unemployment became rampant; consequently, there was always an upsurge of gangs engaging in criminal activities (Watts 1992, p.819-820). These findings confirm that there is a direct correlation between criminal activities, lack of employment and poverty often associated with the underclass, and most people join gangs discerning that it can provide them with an opportunity to be financially stable. However, when this fails to materialize, they involve themselves in crime collectively as a gang furthering the concept of group offending amongst the underclass (Weisel 2002, p.12). Therefore, residents in areas with an underclass underpinning where there are high rates of unemployment and poverty will most likely be involved in criminal or quasi-illegal activities as a source of getting the desired income. According to Murray (1990, p.4), the underclass of any society is easily identified through its lifestyle that is laden with violent crime and behaviour that is deemed as antisocial that is mainly found in the inner estates within the city that the law enforcement agencies have abandoned the role of policing. He therefore states that this is the reason for the rise in figures of criminal activities as the rise of the underclass has been simultaneous to criminal activities in the society. He gives the examples of the criminal activities as rampant cases of drug abuse, gun-related crimes that are full of violence, violence in the domestic setting that may include physical abuse of children, common assault and thuggery that is general as the hallmark of underclass criminal deviance. Group offending is motivated by several factors that all hinge on the social conscience of the members of the particular group, crime such as violence and others just become victims of circumstances. These may occur due to political or cultural factors, the use of drugs, and lack of financial well-being or adequate social amenities such as housing. Inequality in the provision of necessary services such as healthcare and education has also been found to consolidate people to engage in-group offending. However, the most common cause of group offending occurs due to pressure from those that have involved in the criminal activities through gang mentality and organized networks that are formed to participate in deviant behaviour. For group offending to take place, there is what are known as risk protective factors that are the conditions that exist to make a person resort to gangs as a way of continuance of his criminal activities. These include isolation by the larger society, difficulties in obtaining financial services, absence of education or employment and the influence by the lifestyle and associates involved in it. The group offending can also be attributed to the ease with which the underclass can involve in crime undetected in the areas that they are in. This is because an underclass society has developed networks that are conducive for benefitting through crime, as there is little risk of detection and the punishment is often less severe or not present as it is difficult to enforce the law. The underclass has therefore exploited the opportunity of little risk detection due to the absence of policing to engage in criminal acts and other acts of deviance. This means that the underclass believes that the commission of a crime is not a big deal or a risky business, and can be deemed as a way of life as it is the only way generating income or the occupation that they have. Collectively, this becomes group mentality thus encouraging the underclass engage in crime as a furtherance of the frustrations felt as a close-knit society. The Underclass and Group Offending Strain Theory and the Underclass This theory made up by Merton states that people from deprived or underrepresented areas in terms of economics are likely to be involved in illegal activities to achieve their goals of status and wealth (Tunnel 2006, p.96). Therefore, this shows the marked shift from the normally acceptable norms of the society to acts of criminality and justifies the large numbers of offenders that come from this particular group of the society. This is closely connected to the class system as espoused by Karl Marx whereby the society is divided into a capitalist society and therefore crime or deviance from the acceptable norms is a rational response to the structures and institutions that hinder one class from progressing to the upper classes economically. This means that due to the strain that is encountered when a person strives to attain greatness or wealth, persons from lower classes are likely to adopt unconventional means such as crime as a way of advancing the system. It is important to note that involvement in crime or the occurrence of offences happen across all the classes in the society but most convictions or guilty verdicts are more pronounced amongst the lower classes. These include conviction for crimes such as theft, robberies, violence-related crimes and burglary while the members of the upper classes or the middle classes are likely to involve in other forms of crime often classified as blue-collar or white-collar due to their proximity to systems and resources. Under the strain theory, crime is therefore a way of reacting to the inequality by those who involve in it that see it as a common cause through the influence of family, friends and peers (Newburn 2007, p.486). Newburn through his research has found that most of those who have been convicted of the offences associated with low class such as burglary and theft were raised in areas that are deemed as deprived sections of the society. Consequently, the government is likely to criminalize the offenders while disregarding that they involved themselves in the crime due to deprivations and inequality experienced in the society. The strain theory by Merton has found that there is a marked strain on the ability to acquire wealth through the conventional or usual education offered to the society, and therefore in order to bridge the gap, it is in order that people involve in crime. Through the participation in criminal activities it is possible that the criminal will most likely involve in other criminal activities such as the use of drugs and violence. Victimization by the society for persons occupying the underclass or the lower segments of the society is common and predictable mainly based on their deprivations or lack thereof. For example, a report titled “Criminal Victimization by Family Income Study (2000) found that in the United States, a person from an economically deprived family or family with considerable limited income is thrice likely to be convicted of an offence as compared to those from rich upper class families. Similarly in the United Kingdom through a survey titled British Crime Survey 2008/2009, it was found that those who were unemployed or were from ethnic minorities each had a 7% chance of being convicted for an offence and those who had already been convicted have a chance of falling victim to the crime again thus becoming repeat offenders. Labelling Theory and the Underclass This theory accounts for the victimization often associated with specific subcultures or groups. Research has found that law enforcement agencies play a big role in furthering the labelling theory as the constantly victimize persons from neighbourhoods associated with the underclass or the low class due to the areas they reside in. This theory confirms that the self-fulfilling aspect that shows that victimization of the lower classes and the underclass will most likely occur as the society labels them as continuously delinquent. This occurs when associated to the person who is deemed criminal or is perceived as of delinquent behaviour and the labelling may force a person who was not previously not a criminal to resort to it as a way of conforming to the criminal culture. There are processes in which the labelling theory may increase the probability of making members of the underclass associate with their criminally deviant peers. This may be due to the fear of rejection or embarrassment that makes the persons who have already been labelled as criminals to be involved in group offences. Evidence has shown that when there is perception of deviant labelling by the society, the members of the underclass will most likely associate with the deviant characters. Labelling may therefore have an impact of making those who have been labelled as criminals associate with the deviance as opposed to association with the conventionally desired norms of a society (Bernburg, Krohn and Rivera 2006, p.69-70). Discussion Merton’s Strain Theory suggests that the strain in the lower classes to obtain wealth through the conventional education means often fail and thus the justification to involve oneself in criminal activities. This theory posits that due to the predictability of crime amongst persons of the lower class or the underclass, it is easier to group them together especially when they come from common areas where they are deprived of the benefits enjoyed by the middle class or the upper classes. Therefore, young people especially those who are single, unemployed and are from ethnic minorities or those that had been previously convicted who form the larger portion of the underclass are likely to fall to victim to criminal activities again and commit offences as a group. However, the labelling theory suggest that continuous victimization and group offending is likely to occur amongst the underclass in the society when they are branded as delinquent which can have the effect of enforcing compliance with the criminal activities in order to fit in the grouping. This is because the person who wants to conform is pushed from the acceptable norms of the society to the criminal acts. When the society disregards the fact that these members of the society such as the underclass are deprived and are faced with inequalities in terms of resources and facilities which has led to the offences, it leads to victimization and the labelling of persons as criminal. There is no sure way of controlling the people amongst the underclass from resorting into criminal acts, deviant behaviour in order to get out of poverty. Governments may however offer appealing social welfare programs that provide assistance to those in dire need as well as motivating the poor underclass to find employment through providing incentives in the labour market. Ultimately, governments must also depart from categorizing the underclass under behavioural indicators as a means of knowing the true correlation between the underclass and the group offending mentality. This is because when the authorities focus on behaviour as a way of connotation of criminal or deviant acts amongst the underclass, it only results in policy recommendations that only treat the effects of underclass crime and not the causes. They should adopt the definition of the underclass that addresses the labour market relations within specific social contexts giving attention to the economic structural problems that are the root causes of poverty among the underclass. This calls for a remedial of the of the factors that impede labour force attachment such as inadequate institutions of learning, poor housing and other factors that encourage crime among the underclass. It must also take note of the influence of the undesired income generating strategies such as crime and social welfare system and the effect they have on the society as a whole in consolidating group offending. Reference List Bernburg, J. G., Krohn, M. D., & Rivera, C. J. 2006. Official Labeling, Criminal Embeddedness, and Subsequent Delinquency: A Longitudinal Test of Labeling Theory. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 43, 67-88. Mark, E. England riots: The return of the underclass. BBC News UK. August 11, 2011. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14488486 [Accessed on June 12, 2013]. Murray, C. 1990. The emerging British underclass. London, IEA Health and Welfare Unit. Newburn, T. 2007. Criminology. Cullompton, Willan Pub. Tunnel, K. D. 2006. Living off crime. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Watts, H. W. 1992. [Review of] The Urban Underclass. Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 45, 819-820. Weisel, D. L. 2002. Contemporary gangs an organizational analysis. New York, LFB Scholarly Pub. Available athttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=85979 [Accessed on June 12, 2013]. Wilson, W. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged. The inner city, the underclass and public policy. 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