To start with, a vast number of neighborhoods suffer from gradual increase of criminal activities. Black teenagers still build their own street-based gangs that provoke crime. Nevertheless, there are number of social theories that can explain such behavior. The documentary filmed by Stacy Paraeta, named “Crips and Bloods: made in America” reveal some vital facts about the reasons of criminal behavior in black neighborhoods. Different strain theories can also explain gang activity and gang violence. For instance, according to the documentary the black people often felt the sense of alienation and became culturally disorientated.
White and black neighborhoods were separated and such distancing and hostility provoked a vast number of misunderstanding. In fact, the idea was not only a segregated society, but that blacks are inferior people and have to be treated as such, which contributed to development of self-hatred. Police was seriously controlling these borders. From 1950 till 1956 the Los Angeles police department was commanded by Chief William Parker, who ran a police department as a military unit. He was extremely strict about preserving initial border lines between the neighborhoods. Thus, the cops were treating criminals as if they were animals in warfare.
Such behavior and control enhanced the feeling of alienation in black American’s. There are invisible barriers and the primary job of police officers was to reinforce that barrier, because one was supposed to stay in his neighborhood Nevertheless, these tasks were brutal and violent. For instance, the people could have been shot by making the wrong turn into the wrong intersection. People were shot in the back, because police wanted to prevent looting. In this documentary, we hear the truthful words of African American, who said that this country uses violence whenever it chooses and then it legitimizes the violence.
As a result, such violence increased the hatred of African Americans and made them feel inferior. As one man mentioned, they sent the message out that their lives had absolutely no meaning. This deep feeling of inferiority was gradually accumulated and had to be released. The man often wondered when and who get all this anger that was building up inside. The strain theory explains that deviant behavior is usually motivated by such restrictions. The blockage creates a strain that leads more people in the lower than in the upper classes to commit crimes.
Strain falls especially hard on the lower classes. In fact, prior to World War two most of the black population lived in the south. Black people lived in the south because of the slavery and throughout the history they struggled and wanted to become the upper class citizens. World War II radically changed a black history, while black people were engaged in industrialization. Nevertheless, as the US economy moved to economy based on service and technology blacks found out that their skills do not fit in any of these demands, and they did not have the education or the training to obtain such positions.
According to Merton’s theory, society establishes goals we all try to achieve – the goals worth striving for. Similarly, Black Americans cherished the idea of American dream and equal opportunities. They did not want to have the low-end jobs because they felt these jobs were jobs that American citizens should not have. Nevertheless, it was even impossible. According to the strain theory, although society establishes the goals, for some people, social structure blocks achieving them. Thus, black people could not even choose where to live, although they could afford it.
For instance, in the LA county region, there was an effort to keep white neighborhoods free from blacks. Some times they wanted to keep the white neighborhoods free from any other race besides white. In addition, the factories gradually began to disappear and children overtime began to do worst than their parents. For the black in the ghetto the goal is surviving and a lot of people thought that crack was a way out. “Opportunity” is central to routine activities theory. The first variable identified in the list of crucial variables for the explanation of drug use is availability of the drug.
For instance, in order to commit shoplifting, shops are essential, or car theft is impossible without an automobile. In short, opportunity to commit an offense as measured by available target is central to routine activities theory as an ecological theory and is completely compatible with “availability” as a crucial variable. The main reason of drug dealing lies in the social structure and their accessibility. In addition, the lower classes don’t have their fair share of opportunities to get rich by hard work. Social learning theories can also be used to explain gang membership.
The social learning theories depend on the assumption that we’re blank states at birth and our parents, friends, teachers, religious leaders, and government write attitudes, beliefs, and values on our behavioral slates. In fact, the gangs that were internally created in black neighborhoods significantly shaped behavior of young males and enhanced criminal activity. Routine activities theory attempts to explain ecological variations in crime in terms of the availability and vulnerability of unguarded targets and proximity to motivated offenders.
Variations can have a serious impact on criminal activities. For instance, in the presence of peers, deviant acts will be easier and more rewarding, the absence of authority figures also reduces the potential for social control responses to deviance; and the lack of structure leaves time available for deviant behavior. Thus, these gangs increased the feeling of alienation and hostility within the community. Criminal behavior, just like any other behavior, depends on our associations with other people. People were increasingly associating themselves with particular territory and gang.
Gangs have separated the geographic of the neighborhoods; even certain streets, alleys, schools and parks were claimed according to the gang. The gang was created to counterattack your enemy. It is also a matter of self-defense and a constant battle for superiority. The member of the gang will say they joined a gang not only for the protection but also for the family and for the love. The gang became a sort of family unit. In addition, state significantly contributed to such criminal behavior by legalizing guns. As youngsters in poor neighborhoods received their own guns, they joined gangs and started to threat and shoot each other.
Parents also play a tremendous role in shaping values and behavior of their children. A lot of minds are messed up, because they do not have necessary parental support. In addition, there was an absence of the male father figure and role model in the home. Boys were taught to be men by fighting and killing each other. Young males were often misguided. As a result, a majority of African-American males were jailed or imprisoned. Unemployment provoked criminal situation. At the same time, these criminal activities are now being tackled. The grassroots movements are taking the first steps to battling the street violence.
At the end of the documentary we hear wise words that summarize the whole movie. In our democracy we have the resources for the richest country on earth and it is absolutely outrageous, it is inexcusable that we have failed to meet the most elementary test of what it means to be fellow citizens and build a community. Therefore, the main ingredient of success is to start caring about other people. All in all, “Crips and Bloods: made in America” is a documentary that provides valuable information about criminal activity that can be backed up by social theories.
Strain theories can perfectly explain gang activity and gang violence. Thus, diverse constrains, such as extreme police control or restricted borders enhanced hostility within black communities and accumulated hatred that was later exercised in the form of violence. Social learning theories also prove that the lack of effective parental control negatively impacts young boys, who join gangs from the young age. Overall, there are many reasons for such deviant behavior and there is much to be done to address this issue effectively.
