Social Structure of Crime
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Locate an example of a crime that can be explained by social structure theories.
1. How did the socio-economic status of the criminal affect his or her decision to commit the crime?
2. What could have been done to prevent this crime from occurring? (200-300 word responses)
I need help with these questions and finding an example. Thank you.
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Solution Summary
Based on an example of a crime that can be explained by social structure theories, this solution examines how the socio-economic status of the criminal affects her or his decision to commit the crime. It also explores what could have been done to prevent this crime from occurring.
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Please see response below, as well as a supporting article for extra reading. I hope this helps and take care.
RESPONSE:
Interesting questions! Let's take a closer look at research and examples for you to consider for your final post.
1. How did the socio-economic status of the criminal affect his or her decision to commit the crime?
Research clearly links poverty as one risk factor that drives crime. For example, Hannon's literature search revealed a clear link between socio-economic status (poverty) for both White and black Americans. For example, some researchers suggest that the remarkably high violent crime rates found in African American communities are likely a reflection of remarkably high levels of poverty in these areas (Sampson and Wilson, 1995). Other researchers, however, note that while there is a strong relationship between socioeconomic disadvantage and violent crime rates for the general population, the relationship is not necessarily the same for African Americans (Messner and Rosenfeld, 1999). The notion that disadvantage is a weaker predictor of violent crime in black communities has been interpreted as a challenge to traditional social disorganization theory and the general assumption of racial invariance (Ousey, 1999; McNulty, 2001; McNulty and Bellair, 2003; Wooldredge and Thistlethwaite, 2003). Moreover, evidence of weaker effects of structural disadvantage on black violent crime rates could be seen as supportive of the belief that the problem in inner-city ...
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