The Causes of Violence and Crime in Urban Areas - Coursework Example

of of Lecturer April 30, Contents INTRODUCTION 3 SOCIO-CULTURAL SYSTEMS 3 LAW AND ORDER 5 POVERTY & ECONOMIC ISSUES 7MIGRANTS 9 CONCLUSION 11 Bibliography 13 INTRODUCTION Urbanisation in modern times has been connected to the Industrial Revolution which brought massive transformation to Britain and the United States of America. Industrialisation led to the massive growth and expansion of cities and this was followed by a major rural-urban migration which saw the drift of significant sections of nations’ rural population into the cities. The growth in cities and large towns also comes with major issues like crime and violence. This is because there are numerous agglomerations of people in certain areas that are often the first point of migration from rural areas. These communities tend to have congestions and other issues that fuels violence and illegality. The purpose of this paper is to examine the main causes of illegality and violence in today’s society. To this end, the paper will evaluate the relevant theories and concepts that come together to define the causes of violence and crime in urban areas and communities around the world. SOCIO-CULTURAL SYSTEMS The theory put forward by Dunk indicates that many cities have a history of being built by male workers who form the core of the working class. Hence, they build the city and come up with some radical responses to the kinds of deprivations and challenges they go through (Dunk, 1991). Social inequalities and challenges therefore create a system in which these male residents of cities have to demand changes and improvement. This often involves some violent and illegal practices that might not exist in other communities around the world. The collapse of the traditional social structures as the case may be in conservative nation gives room for the formulation of gangs which fills the void created by the absence of caring and tight-knit families (Sanchez-Jankowski, 1991). This implies that urbanization creates a system and network within which some people in the society are required to form gangs and organized crime entities to survive throughout their stay in urban centres. This is because in the trying and demanding conditions of urban life, most people tend to stick together and form criminal organizations and entities that will protect their interest. These groups replace traditional social and cultural systems that might exist in the traditional family system. In other situations, social inequalities in a given urban centre causes various people and various groups to come up with resistant groups and these groups seem to organise people according to circumstances to demand their rights (Sen, 2007). This is because persons classified as under-class or under-caste are treated so differently from other people in the community. Hence, they need to be violent and justify their illegal acts in order to rise above the levels and the requirements of different people in the society. This is because there are typical cases where people are put in a context and situation whereby they are not permitted to rise above a certain social order. In such cases, there is the need for members of the community to come up with some illegal and sometimes violent actions to assert their rights and back their claims for inclusion and recognition within the society. Many of the inequalities that exist in these settings and these societies have historical roots and it is based on enmities and other colonial and traditional matters that create tensions and differences amongst communities in urban areas (Hansen, 2001). Hansen observed this in India where there were complicated historical relationships between certain people who were considered as a criminal caste. In the case of urbanization and the growth of cities, these issues and problems are viewed as a social issue and there are efforts that are made by dominant communities and societies to “contain” the advancement of tribes and communities that are considered to be inferior on the basis of historical underpinnings. This causes such societies to become marginalized and hence resort to violence and illegality for survival. One point of view suggests that the poor in places like Rio de Janeiro are made to live in isolation and different from the richer and affluent classes of society because they are viewed as an underclass and these persons build a unique social system and structure (Goldstein, 2003). This culminates in the creation of a culture that is so distinct and unique from all other peoples and groups in the community. Other scholars in this field of research present the idea and concept of “dangerization” where some areas and communities in an urban area are classified as dangerous and these communities are marginalized and given close supervision and monitoring to prevent them from becoming a problem to the richer areas of the society (Wacquant, 1995). This causes the criminal justice system to be skewed in a way and manner that these areas will be given closer attention and people from the community will be systematically dealt with. However, in most cases, the society fails to address the inherent social issues that come with the creation of a cycle that continuously repeats itself by causing a proliferation of criminals and violent persons who continue to make the city look unsafe. LAW AND ORDER Nancy Scheper-Hughes conducted significant studies about poorer and lawless cities in South America and other poor parts of the world. The studies indicated that there are fundamental issues with the urban centres of nations in which the poor congregate and this is built on a foundation of very weak legal traditions and cultures (Scheper-Hughes, 1992). The study identifies that in poorer suburbs of cities and other urban centres, it seems most people and the wider society has no rules. This gives room for the presentation of rules that exist in the negative. To this end, everything is interpreted in the negative sense rather than the positive. In other words, people will evaluate their conduct on the basis of why they should do one thing instead of the other. A typical case is the situation of following traffic rules. Where there is no social order, people in poorer areas of cities will question why they have to obey the traffic rules when it is inconvenient to them. This is simply because the people are not raised in a way and manner in which they see the bigger implications of doing what is legally and culturally right. Hence, social consensus is poor and fragile. In urban centres, there is also a common problem of the rich being insensitive to the poor and this means that the rich exploit the poor and the poor tend to take the law into their own hands to survive (Scheper-Hughes, 1992). This means the legal system fails to reach the depth of some of these poorer neighbourhoods and there is the lack of human rights and the operation of fundamental legal principles in these urban centres. Another theory put forward to explain violence and illegalities in urban centres in the developing world is based on the fact that some nations never restore law and order after wars and other armed uprisings and violent circumstances (Rodgers, 2006). Rodgers identifies that during military uprisings, there is a general lack of state sovereignty and this gives way for “social sovereignty”. In these cases, groups and other armed entities grow and take over from the government. These situations are often never resolved after the war is over. Some urban areas and urban communities tend to grow with some areas that never really comes under the control of the state and the government after peace is restored. Textbook examples of these nations include Nicaragua, Lebanon and Somalia. In some countries like Lebanon where the nation thrives on a fragile ceasefire, there are some areas in urban controlled by some armed groups like Hezbollah who run these areas. Such groups set their own laws and they run the communities as they please. This gives way for violence and illegalities to be perpetrated in urban areas of communities that are not actually brought under the control of the central or sovereign authority of the state. Due to the isolation of poorer sections of the society, these persons become more and more prone to committing crime and this is mainly as a result of the social and economic pressures faced by such persons (Goldstein, 2003). In such cases, the natural tendency for the government is to demarcate these poorer areas as special areas that need closer attention. This leads to a crackdown on crime in these areas and there is a high rate of arrests and prosecution which creates a chain reaction and a cycle of offending and reoffending in these unique areas of the community and the nation. POVERTY & ECONOMIC ISSUES Poor and vulnerable communities are such that people are put in a situation where they are opened to criminal enterprises. The study of Bourgeois indicated that African-American and Puerto Rican communities become a place for the sale and distribution of drugs and other illegal substances (Bourgois, 1995). This implies that poor people in poor neighbourhoods with high cases of unemployment provides an avenue for a lot of the residents to be used by drug lords to sell illegal substances to richer neighbourhoods. In the developing world though, national urban planning alternatives involves the eviction and movement and resettlement of poorer people in sections of the city (Bayat, 1997). This theory indicates that governmental policies, some of which are extremely naive in nature cause urban centres and communities to be modified and changed with little sensitivity to the poor. This leads to a situation where the poor are moved to certain sections of the nation where their plight is worsened and they get involved in various illegal and violent activities in order to survive. These problems are mainly social in nature and they are moved by the harsh and tough economic conditions of the community or society that the poor live. Most young people from poor backgrounds tend to join gangs as a means of survival and livelihood. This causes them to form various groups that form fighting gangs and groups to deal with other gangs in the competition for territory and control (Davies, 1998). This mainly has to do with the fact that many poor sections of cities in modern nations have a system that neglect the social and educational needs of the poor. These urban poor therefore fail to go through the social system of primary education through to secondary school and then to tertiary or vocational institutions to build a career (Davies, 1998). Rather, the youth get shunned by their poor parents and they join gangs as a means of gaining some kind of economic livelihood. Therefore, from there, they fail to learn any skills or build their competencies. In effect, they grow up to become adults without any meaningful skills and abilities that can earn them decent salaries. These persons also give birth to children who grow up and become gang members. In effect, a vicious cycle of poverty is perpetrated in these poor areas and people become poor and they tend to turn to illegality for survival and growth. Poorer sections of cities like Paris have a history that goes back to the ancient social classifications and systems before the French Revolution (Burton, 2001). These poorer suburbs might have a reputation for violence in some historical matters and plots and such cultures and associations keep these areas violent. This is because the perpetrators and residents of these areas build a culture of violence and disorder and due to that, such areas grow to be poorer since people do not want to associate with these suburbs and communities. These areas are often associated with political violence and the ability for mobilisations to be carried out to destabilise social order. MIGRANTS Every nation has a dominant culture and a socio-cultural system that marks its processes and systems. For example, in Anglo-Saxon communities and societies, the concept of habeas corpus and human rights are fundamental parts of the social and cultural system and this has a reflection in the legal system. However, for people from places and communities where these rules and principles do not exist, their migration to parts of a city and concentration in certain suburbs of a city gives room for the growth of urban illegality and violence. Inner city migrants from dangerous nations like Puerto Rico tend to have violent ways of dealing with issues and this is a reflection of what they do in their home country (Philippe, 1996). This is because with people who are from backgrounds that is steeped in national cultures and systems in which law and order were not treated as important aspects of the society, they tend to import their views to urban centres and this culminates in violent and illegal behaviour. In Philippe’s study, it was identified that the Puerto Rican society is mainly patriarchal and their attitudes towards women and other vulnerable sections of the society continues to thrive even if they live in the United States. Due to this, there is social and economic marginalisation which gives way for the creation of populations that are exploited and integrated into various forms of violence and illegalities. Another angle through which the problem of migration is viewed is in the spirit of poverty induced migration from poorer nations and poorer parts of a given city. Scholars who support this school of thought identify that in most instances, poor people have the need to move as a means of surviving or getting a better life (Chatterjee, 2004). And this includes the skilled and unskilled. Whereas the skilled migrant has a better chance of integrating, carrying out legal jobs and leading a more streamlined life, the unskilled are disadvantaged and they end up taking up jobs that are undesirable. However, the problem of these persons becoming more and more induced into crime and illegality is high. This is because such persons have a lower reputation to protect and they are generally discriminated against by the social and economic system. Thus, such migrants end up becoming induced into violence and illegality to survive. This causes urban areas to become a large maze of communities that host some very disadvantaged persons. The study of Burton (2001) indicates that most cities have marginalized areas and there are faultline. These have old roots and in most other instances, there are some poor areas nearer to the central-business district of communities and according to the Von Thunian principle, these poorer areas grow as a transitional zone for poorer workers in the inner city to get accommodation. Thus, migration amongst poorer people seems to support the adding up of numbers to these poorer suburbs and other notorious suburbs of cities. This causes an agglomeration of negative and problematic people with criminal tendencies and violent attitudes in specific parts of cities and communities. Cities are also generally known for having some areas and sections that are melting points for different peoples from different backgrounds. In this case, there are usually some kinds of unifying identity and system and this keeps the different people together and in most modern times, these include sporting clubs and similar organizations that support mass mobilization and congregation of people (Giulianotti & Armstrong, 2002). CONCLUSION There are numerous causes of contemporary violence and illegality of urban areas in the world today. However, the central cause of these issues relate to social inequality and economic marginalisation amongst the poor urban dwellers. This causes a system of dissatisfaction amongst people and this causes a trend that promotes and supports crime and violence as a means of livelihood and survival. The case of migration of people comes with an inherent challenge. Migration includes the rich as well as the poor. The poor and unskilled end up in neighbourhoods and areas that are mainly known for crime and violence because these areas have high population densities and there is a general trend and tendency for these areas to have a lot of similar unskilled persons who might also have criminal records or might be restricted from earning an honest living in different aspects of their lives. Also, there is a vicious cycle of poverty that exists in poorer sections of urban centres. This is because most people in these poor areas are unskilled and due to the fact that urbanisation amongst the poor class typically causes the traditional family structure to break down, most young people are not given the opportunity to go through the different cycles of education and training that will enable them to get the right skills. They therefore end up in gangs at a very young age and this subsists and the youth get involved in crime and violence and the process continues and is perpetrated by the next generation. This creates a cycle which when allowed to persist leads to a system that supports violence and disorder. As a reaction to these poorer and violent areas with high incidence of crime, most criminal justice systems around the world present the concept of “dangerization” in which these areas are marked as dangerous areas. They are given close attention and patrol and more and more people are convicted from these areas. With the spate of conviction, more of these people fall into a cycle of offending and this continues and these persons move from ordinary crimes to more sophisticated crimes. This makes the cities around the world dangerous zones due to the poor responses of the criminal justice system. Dangerous zones and dangerous areas often have historical backgrounds that are steeped in wars and other forms of historical marginalisation. This is because some communities always become lawless even long after an armed insurrection or war situation is quelled. This is because in most cases, the government never gets to assert its power and authority over these areas. Therefore, there is the creation of some kind of social order which culminates in the creation of a de facto social system that allows gangs and other forms of authorities to emerge here. This causes crime and violence to be perpetrated in specific sections and segments of societies. Bibliography Bayat, A. (1997). Street Politics. New York: Columbia University Press. Bourgois, P. (1995). In search of respect: selling crack in El barrio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Burton, R. D. (2001). Blood in the City: Violence and Revelation in Paris, 1789-1945. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Chatterjee, P. (2004). Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World. . New York: Columbia University Press. Davies, A. (1998). Youth gangs, masculinity and violence in late Victorian Manchester and Salford. . Journal of Social History , 349-369. Dunk, T. (1991). Its a Working Mans Town: male working class culture. Toronto: McGill University. Giulianotti, R., & Armstrong, G. (2002). Avenues of Contestation. Football Hooligans Running and Ruling Urban Spaces. Social Anthropology , 211–238. Goldstein, D. (2003). Laughter out of Place: Race, Class, Violence and Sexuality in a Brazilian Shantytown. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hansen, T. B. (2001). Wages of violence : naming and identity in postcolonial Bombay. . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Philippe, B. (1996). In Search of Masculinity: Violence, Presect and Sexuality Amongst Puerto Rican Crack Dealers in East Harlem. British Journal of Criminology , 412-439. Rodgers, D. (2006). The State as a Gang: Conceptualizing the Governmentality of Violence in Contemporary Nicaragua . Critique of Anthropology , 315-330. Sanchez-Jankowski, M. (1991). Islands in the street: gangs in urban American society. Berkeley: University of California Press. Scheper-Hughes, N. (1992). Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil. San Diego, CA: University of California Press. Sen, A. (2007). Shiv Sena Women: Violence and Communalism in a Bombay Slum. London: C. Hurst and Co. Wacquant, L. J. (1995). Dangerous places: violence and isolation in Chicago’s black belt and the Parisian red belt. In W. J. Wilson, Urban Poverty and Family Life in Chicago’s Inner City (pp. 32-49). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More