Disparities in Crime Distribution

Name

Institution

Disparities in Crime Distribution

Geographical disparities in crime rates are a common phenomenon all around the world, and in a way the social control theory, the social disorganization theory, the differential association theory and the strain theory in my opinion, candidly explain why these disparities occur. There in a way are two major reasons for the differences in crime rates: economic inequality and the cosmopolitan nature of communities within various urban cities and metropolitan areas. Most of the disparities occur depending on the degree to which the make up of the given society is cosmopolitan, as well as how affluent those within the society are. Even though these are not the only reasons of crime causation, they play a huge role in the distribution of crime.

The social control theory argues that the relationships people may have with others, as well as their commitments, beliefs, values and norms, usually play an important role in ensuring they refrain from crime (Hirschi, 2002). This is actually quite relevant to crime distribution, as highlighted by the fact that the highest crime rates are actually recorded in cities as compared to suburban areas (Kneebone & Raphael, 2011). One could argue this is actually attributable to the diverse nature of the populations in such areas, which essentially means weaker relationships and commitments, two very important aspects when it comes to indirect control, according to the social control theory. Ellis Beaver and Wright (2009) present findings that serve to reaffirm this point, postulating that ethnically heterogeneous neighborhoods usually record higher rates of crimes compared to homogenous ones, representative of cities and suburbs respectively.

Location also matters in terms of the social class of people capable of living in certain areas, poverty means that individuals can only afford to live in certain areas. Seeing as there is no disputing the existence of a direct correlation between poverty and crime as claimed by Kelly (2000), areas concentrated with families living below then poverty line are bound to experience higher crime rates. These higher rates in the poorer areas can be explained by the differential association, neutralization, and social disorganization theories, whereby, in a bid to provide for their families and meet individual and societal goals (Agnew, 1992), delinquents engage in criminal behavior, which they attempt to justify through “appeal to higher loyalties” (Siegal, 2005). In addition differential association also takes place within such environments thereby perpetuating a constant cycle of crime through the generations.

Even though these theories can be used to explain the disparities in the rates of crimes within different areas, they can also along with genetics be used to explain the odd occurrence of crime in low rate areas, as well as the fact that some individual’s refrain from crime in some of the high crime areas. For instance, the odd existence of tightly knit families and relationships might actually be credited with the reduced urge to indulge in crime amongst some individuals, while the genetic predisposition to engage in criminal behavior may actually be credited with the odd occurrence of crime in the low crime rate areas. This does not however mean that the environment does not impact criminal behavior, but rather simply highlights the fact that indeed a number of factors be they individual, ecological and societal interact to bring about criminal behavior (Domjan, 2003)

References

Agnew, R. (1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency.Criminology. 30(1), 47-87.

Domjan, M. (2003). The Principles of Learning and Behavior. Belmont, CA:Thomson/Wadsworth.

Ellis, L. Beaver, K., & Wright, J. (2009). Handbook of Crime Correlates. Academic Press.

Hirschi, T. (2002). Causes of delinquency. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.

Kelly, M. (2000). Inequality and Crime. Review of Economics and Statistics 82(4), 530-539

Kneebone, E., & Raphael, S. (2011). City and Suburban Crime Trends in Metropolitan America.Metropolitan Opportunity Series, 16.

Siegal, L. (2005). Criminology: The Core Second Edition. Thompson.