All God's Children by Fox Butterfield - Book Report/Review Example

The book thus shows the origin of the family of Bosket and partially provides a theoretical investigation into form of violence in the US and Blacks society. It discusses Willie who was imprisoned for various murder cases of New York people at the age of 15 years and who believed that the tougher the behavior and actions the more he becomes a hero. He believed that people controlled and gained respect and power from others because of fear of more violent acts, and this was something that Willie desired even before he hardly attained age six.

Therefore, in outlining an extensive Bosket’s family history, the story provides the audience a framework into how violent people legacy started, and how the origin of street problems progressed over to the fifth generation. He also demonstrates the source of Willie’s violent acts and claims that violence in the US is geographically placed in the Southern Carolina. Criminological theories that best explains Willie’s behavior The two main theories that best explain Willie’s behavior are seductive crime quality theory and differential association theory.

The two theories do not object each other instead complement each other and provide an increasingly complete crime analysis seen in the Butterfield book. Seductive theory of crime quality applies to Willie and other criminals. The theory claims that people can develop a logical comprehension of badass manner through differentiating between three intimidating aggression degrees. Badass refers to a bad, tough, highly impressionable, and hard to influence person or a person who is anxious of other people’s opinions about him, (Butterfield, 1995).

This theory is depicted in various cases by Willie’s behavior, for instance, when he writes to his father, the father reacts with an advice that was crucial for controlling outburst of violence. Instead of listening to the advice, Willie rejected his father’s earlier opinion and decided to follow his conflict decisions with the system. Another way of being a badass is the creation of strange aspects in you, for instance becoming bad as in the streets sense. Willie celebrated his title as a badass, at his youthful years he desired being tough – being referred to as a crazy nigger – a person with unpredictably aggressive and violent reputation - in the streets made him proud.

Willie aspired to outdo his older colleagues as a means of preserving respect, and in a cruel manner, he took penny nails and stuck them in the feet of a man as a way of cultivating respect – a crucial aspect of badass persona. Differential theory of association suggests how criminals learn crime acts via a process of social learning and the learned behavior is strengthened via direct values observation that people learn from their street peers. Learning entails the rewards and punishment application and individuals are likely to link themselves with teams that appreciate their behavior.

Willie learned from the criminal past of his father and his teacher reinforced the behavior by telling him that he would be a lawyer. He behaved like his father. Significance of the book in relation to this class The book is crucial because it explains the learning social theory of crime. The main factors