Review: Gang Leader For A Day

In his recently published book Gang Leader For A Day, Sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh explains how he intended to conduct a study within the notorious Lake Park Projects, one of the most impoverished projects in Chicago. He ends up encountering the gang leader, John Henry Torrence (J.T.), of the prominent gang in the projects, Black Kings. The visit put him in a position where he was identified as a potential Mexican gang member of the Latin Kings and was then lectured by J.T.; told that if Sudhir intended to learn about people he should “hang out” with them rather than use surveys. To the surprise of J.T and the Black Kings, Venkatesh returned with the intention to “hang out". He gains a look inside the lives of the gang members as well as the people they interact with.

The book has examples that support multitudes of criminological theories. One popular theory, strain theory, can explain why the Black Kings gang leader decided to pursue a life of crime.

J.T.’s aspirations of attaining financial success were unfulfilled through legal means resulting in him turning towards the gang life. J.T. becomes innovative by approaching his goals of attaining economic success through drug dealing rather than putting his degree to use. As Vanaktesh mentions, he runs his gang and the drug trade under his control as if it was a business enterprise. In return, J.T. expected returns equating to amounts of businesses managerial positions, estimating an excess of $75,000. J.T. also pointed out that his desire for economic gain was to buy his mother a house outside of the housing projects and apartments for his girlfriends.

Though J.T. did not lack the ability to attain success through conventional means, he felt that he was being denied opportunities to gain the successes he deserved due to racism. In turn, he did not reject economic success, rather sought other, illegal, means of attaining it.

Hug A Thug? [continued]

While we are rightly concerned about the new challenges we face since 9/11, we must be sure to invest in our counterterrorism efforts and our crime-fighting efforts at home. Communities across the nation are facing domestic terrorism that is as real as the foreign dangers we strive to keep from our shores. As president, I will invest not only in law enforcement but also in successful and innovative youth crime prevention programs and prisoner reentry programs. I will support initiatives such as after-school programs that keep youth out of trouble and help them to grow into law-abiding citizens. And I will support programs funded by the Second Chance Act that help ex-offenders get back on their feet and end the cycle of violence that plagues our streets and dismantles families.
- Barack Obama in the October 2008 Edition of Police Chief's Magazine

How realistic are Obama's plans to reduce violent crimes in the future?

The Urban Institute points out that the two-thirds of prisoners are re-arrested within three years of their release. The main reason is due to the fact the ex-offenders do not do well in the job market. The Urban Institute concludes that:

Reentry programs that raise the expected rewards from legitimate work reduce recidivism and increase employability.

Yet the Institute also points out that recidivism is highly attributed to the ex-offenders values. Thus, President Obama's plans to reduce crime by aiding ex-offenders is by no means an easy task and clearly must be approached by not only aiding ex-offenders attain the skills but also the values necessary to be marketable and by influencing employers to be acceptant of them within the workforce.

Can we close the revolving door? Recidivism vs. Employment of Ex-Offenders in the US.
2008 U.S. Presidential Candidates Respond to the IACP’s Questions on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security

Hug A Thug?

As the dust is settling on the 2008 election, one may now examine the effectiveness the future of Barack Obama's crime control policy. Many of President Obama's policies revolve around offender rehabilitation rather than extended incarceration. He also proposed for further ex-offender programs to help their reintegration into society.

Obama will work to ensure that ex-offenders have access to job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling, and employment opportunities. Obama will also create a prison-to-work incentive program and reduce barriers to employment.

This proposal encompasses the same proposal of President Bush who enacted the Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative which intended to allocate $300 million in '04 over four years to help ex-inmates find stable jobs and housing. And yet as Devah Pager wrote in the April 11th 2004 Chicago Tribune

The president is on the right track. Developing a more-successful re-entry program would benefit prisoners and their families as well as increasing public safety. Expanding job training and placement assistance, providing help with transitional housing, and support for counseling services would all help make reintegration much easier and reduce the impetus to return to crime. But the president's proposal does not go nearly far enough.

Devah explains that there are laws that prevent inmates from successfully integrating into society and points out that they must change so that ex-offenders do not return to the life of crime.

Will President Obama's proposal be met with the same scrutiny?
That is impossible to tell.
Are President Obama's proposals taking a soft approach on combating crime?
From a sociological and criminological standpoint, no, rather he appears to be addressing recidivism problem with a realistic approach.

Society Punishes Ex-Convicts For Life
Barack Obama: Urban Policy
Barack Obama On Crime

Violent movies lower violent crime?

Over the last decade, they say, the showing of violent films in the United States has decreased assaults by an average of about 1,000 a weekend, or 52,000 a year.

It has been accepted that violent media influences violent behavior, yet a study by economists found trends that violent movies lower violent crime.

Taking a decade of national crime reports, cinema ratings and movie audience data, economists found that after popular violent films are shown there is no rise in crimes from the initial hours the movie ends to as far as weeks. The explanation for the phenomenon is the theory that violent movies attract those likely to commit crime thus placing them in a non-violent environment.

The researchers noted their findings do not refute the studies correlating violent behavior with violent media nor does it explain the long term effects of exposure to violent media.

To go so far as to say that these findings are flawed is exaggerated but its premises meet many contradictions based on violent movies that have been released in the past. One notable movie "Natural Born Killers" is a prime example that refutes the overall idea that violent movies decrease violent crime. The movie "Natural Born Killers" has been in the spotlight of many notorious murders. "Natural Born Killers" was said to be influenced in previous murders and killing sprees including the Columbine High School massacre to a recent case of Eric Tavulares who strangled his girlfriend after watching some of the movie.

Do violent movies take some potential violent people off the streets? Yes. But do violent movies influence others to commit crime? Yes. "Natural Born Killers" is not the only movie that has been criticized for influencing those who have commit homicide, thus it is difficult to confidently say that violent movies lower crime.

Economists Say Movie Violence Might Temper the Real Thing

FBI Criminal Profiling, Unreliable?

Last years November 17th issue of New Yorker magazine, Malcom Gladwell dissected the effectiveness of criminal profiling by the FBI and exposed its weaknesses by showing how the methods in developing a profile held little scientific or deductive merit. A year later, there is still little scientific evidence that validates the profiling methods of the FBI.

In an older (1998) article Brent E. Turvey points out two methods of criminal profiling. The method he criticizes as inductive criminal profiling fall under the same scrutiny as Gladwell's criticisms of the FBI's methods. But Turvey's embraced method of profiling, which he calls deductive criminal profiling, attempts to measure a profile through forensic evidence, crime scene analysis and victimology rather than anecdotal experience of the profile, prior studies and data sources that inductive profiling is reliant upon.

It is no mystery that the popularity of profiling has boomed through media exposure. Many people fail to separate the myths that they see on TV with what actually is/can be done in real life. Both men, Turvey and Gladwell, provide strong argument against the profiling methods that the FBI have claimed to use; the same methods commonly seen on television in crime dramas. Criminal profiling has its uses as a supplement to "old school" detective work but it is clearly not a replacement.

Malcom Gladwell's Dangerous Minds

Brent E. Turvey's Deductive Criminal Profiling

Why Firefighters Start Fires?

In North Carolina, one firefighter would set fire to an occupied house, and then return to the scene and rescue the family. His need for excitement, being worshiped, and getting attention predominated over any concern about the terrible danger to which he exposed the occupants.

In 2003 the United States Fire Administration released a report on firefighter motivated fires. The report provided statistics of the number of firefighter arson, the effect on the community and methods states are utilizing to recognize and combat potential fire personnel arsonists.

The report also included a profile compiling the common traits exhibited by firefighter arsonists as well a comparison with non fire service arsonists. Traits specific to fire service arsonists were the need to be seen as a hero, to practice extinguishing fires, or to earn extra money. Firefighters that have this desire to be heroes fall under one of six classifications of arsonists labeled as Excitement-motivated.

Firefighters [sic] known to set fires so they can engage in the suppression effort. Firefighter arsonists who seek recognition, or wish to be viewed as heroes, may set and “discover” the fires.

Original Article can be found here Special Report: Firefighter Arson

The prevalence of firefighter arson is unknown as the article points out that there has been little record of how many fires were started by fire service personnel. It was also pointed out that there was little training and awareness of firefighter arson within fire service organizations and that there are very few states are pushing for criminal background checks for fire department membership.

To go so far as to say that fire service personnel should be screened just as law enforcement personnel does not sound impractical. Some may compare corrupt law enforcement officers to firefighter arsonists pointing out that even corrupt law enforcement personnel are able to pass the exhaustive screening processes. But one should realize that the majority (majority should be emphasized as police corruption and fire personnel arson is viewed in a case by case basis) of corrupt law enforcement officers become corrupt due to environmental factors (greed, cynicism, etc.) that influence them after they become sworn whereas the excitement-motivated firefighter arsonists, driven by psychological factors, may be easier to detect through psychological evaluations of hiring process.

Like corrupt law enforcement officials, it should be noted that firefighter arson is serious but it is only committed by small number of individuals compared to many more who do not abuse their privileges.

Lead Led Crime

The University of Cincinnati found a correlation between early-aged lead exposure and higher criminal arrests in adulthood. Children from four prenatal clinics that were born between 1974 through 1984 were monitored by the University of Cincinnati since their birth throughout their adult lives.

Researchers found that individuals with increased blood-lead levels before birth and during early childhood had higher rates of arrest—for both violent and total crimes—than the rest of the study population after age 18.

Approximately 55 percent of the subjects had at least one arrest—the majority of which involved drugs (28 percent) or serious motor vehicle violations (27 percent). The strongest association between childhood blood-lead level and criminal behavior was for arrests involving acts of violence.

Original article can be found here
Research Links Lead Exposure and Criminal Behavior Risk

Though it was mentioned briefly at the end of the article, it should be stressed that the living conditions of children are just as crucial as the methods of their upbringing. This finding should raise the awareness of city officials and citizens alike, as it is plausible that houses with potential lead problems would be found in lower income areas where lower quality houses would be affordable. Clearly the "activities" (drug dealing, prostitution, etc.) associated with lower income areas are not the only influences that lead to crime in Cincinnati. While legislation across the majority of states throughout the United States are aware of the seriousness of lead poisoning and have means to prevent or aid children who have been exposed to led, there is little example of proactive methods that am inform communities. Advertisements (television, radio, etc.) similar to the anti-drug ads would be an effective medium to exemplify the significance of lead poisoning and potential criminality. A more costly and time consuming method (but possibly more effective) would for environmental investigators to visit at risk, low income neighborhoods aiming to isolate and eliminate lead sources.

Criminality Genetic?

The University of Wisconsin-Madison tested whether the deprivation of the enzyme known as monoamine oxidase A (MAO A) is linked to criminal behavior. Earlier tests done by other universities tested that people with low MAO A may be more prone to fearless and impulsive behavior as well as increased serotonin (a neurotransmitter in the brain affecting various aspects in the body including mood and aggression). The University of Wisconsin-Madison referred to the database of an older 1972 study at the Dunedin School of Medicine in New Zealand involving 442 subjects that exhibited anti-social personality behavior when they were children and in their adulthood. Of the 442 subjects studied only 12% (52) had low MAO A. The study found that MAO A was not the only distinctive catalyst to their aggressive behavior, rather the mistreatment that the subjects had undergone throughout their lives was just as a significant factor.

Original article can be found here:
Criminals Share A Common Genetic Flaw

The discovery of the effects of low MAO A appears to give "nurture" the advantage in the never ending "nature versus nurture" debate that continues to play a role in criminologic theory . The fact that there are people with low amounts of MAO A who have not posed any problems in society raises the question whether the environment plays a larger role than what people are born with or without. Clearly the article points out that both environment and genes are significant role-players but one cannot help but question if one player is more influential than the other.