The Social Economic Causes of Arrest in Chicago - Assignment Example

The Social economic causes of arrest in Chicago Chicago is one of the s forming the United s of America. Like any other country in the world, Chicago’s citizens experience a social demarcation with respect to economic status. The essay establishes some evidence of police arrest on people falling in a certain rank in the Chicago society. The social, economic status is the rank that a society gives to an individual concerning the economic power that an individual have. There are several ranks of persons in the society that stipulates someone’s level of honour and respect in the society. People in the society who earns huge incomes are ranked high in the society than those who earn a little income. The society is divided into three categories of the social, economic status. These categories determine the function of an individual in the society. The three ranks are the upper social status, the middle social status and the lower social status. The most prestigious social status is the upper social status while the least prestigious is the lower social status. The most notable characteristic that differentiate the two extremes is the number of people in the category and their level of income (American Psychological Association). The upper social status consist of a small group of wealthy individuals. They own a lot of firms and control a large portion of the economy. The lower social status consist of the majority of people in the society whose income is small. Most of them are poor and control little portion of the economy. They mostly offer labour to the firms that are owned by the upper social status group. Due to the high level of poverty, this group attracts no respect from the other social status. Every person who belongs to this status, usually, desires to leave it and join a higher status. The middle social, economic status belong to the working class. The working class is a group of individuals who offer a skilled labour to the firms belonging to the upper social status group. The salary they earn helps them to live a better and desirable lifestyle compared to those in the lower social status. There are three factors that influence an individual rank in the society. The three factors are income, education and occupation. Income is the most influencing factor. People who earn a lot of income in a society can afford every aspect of the need to their family. They can access to the best medical care and other social and medical services (Marmot). Due to their high level of income, they can take their children to the best schools and live in areas with the best environment. On the other hand, people earning a lower income do not have the economic power to access to various social needs. The level of education determines the social rank that an individual will be placed. People who have had an access to higher levels of education can access jobs relating to their education that pays well. They can pay for their social needs from the income they earn and live a better life. Those with little or no education finds it hard to access to the most prestigious and well-paying jobs. They, therefore, are unable to settle in good houses. Their purchasing power is limited to the little salary they earn. The lack of education that gives skills to work in technical grounds forces them to work in hard and risk jobs that endanger their lives. They, therefore, remain in the lower social class level. Occupation is another determinant of a person social level. Occupation is the work that a person does to earn an income. People working in the prestigious works in a society, usually, earns a lot of income thus improving their social, economic status. Examples of these prestigious jobs in the society are such jobs like the ones involving leadership. Social leaders include the politicians and the Chief Executive Officers of various companies. They have a lot of influence in the society, and they make a lot of commands to their subjects. Chicago is one of the states that form the United States of America. The state is highly known due to its high crime rates. A crime committed in the state include robbery, drug trafficking and prostitution. These are the leading crimes that causes a lot of arrests in Chicago. Crime is an act that is unlawful in the community. When an individual commits a crime, he, or she is secluded in a prison where he or she is expected to change the behaviour. Crime is seen as a deviant act that provokes the set norms in the society. There are various causes of crime. The most common cause of crime is as a way of satisfying human needs (Boushey and Weller). A person who takes a gun and goes to rob a bank may be doing so because he or she want to provide for his or her family. One of the major crime committed in Chicago is robbery (Meisner). The crime accounts for about 20% of the crimes committed in the state. Statistics shows that this rate of crime is high due to various factors. In this state, there is a lot of unemployment. Majority of the people cannot afford a meal a day for their families. More so, it has become difficult for the citizens to afford good houses due to the high cost of housing. In the same state, there are tycoons who are wealthy and uses their wealth in protecting themselves and from the poor statesmen. They control majority of the firms, companies and banks. Since majority of the people are unemployed, they seek another route to satisfy their needs through crimes. Bank robbery is very intense in Chicago where organised gangs groups up and strategies on the method of committing this kind of crime. The police who are the law keepers in the state, usually, do their work of arresting individuals who are involved in the criminal activity. In every single day, a group of robbers is arrested and sometimes killed in a fierce gang shots. The reason they are murdered is because most of the gangs are equipped with deadly weapons such as guns. Therefore, the police can only engage them in the gunshots, and most of the law keepers got hurt or killed in the situation. Most of the cases associated with robbery are those that leads to the murder of the victim. In other words, most of the robbery cases involves the use of violence. A study conducted in 2005 indicated that 25% of the gangs are armed with guns. Moreover, whenever they break to rob, they, usually, hurt the victim and sometimes resulting to death (Chicago Police Department). Robbery with violence is common in this state, and the state administration is working day in day out to ensure that people and especially those in business are safe from this gangs. The gangs also stabs the victim to death and 11% of the robbery related death are on account of stubs. Another effect of the action of the gang robbers is that they, usually, harass the victims sexually. Whenever a robbery is reported, there is a claim that the gang engages in sexual harassment such as rape to the victim. Their action is a very bad one for they undermine the esteem of an individual in the society. They also cause the spread of diseases that are sexually transmitted to the victims. Both male and female victims claim to be sexually harassed by the gangs. Their act of harassing the victims causes impurity and undermines their dignity in the society. Robbery with violence is thus a harmful act of crime that the citizens of California are looking forward to being dealt with ones and for all. The police officers are keen to ensure that any person who involves himself or herself with this act of crime is put behind the bars according to the law. Robbery with violence is not the only crime that is committed in California. The second most crime that are the reason for the arrest of the majority of people is drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is the production and sale of the unlawful drugs. Such drugs are harmful and causes addiction and alters the way in which the user thinks (Moser). Drug trafficking is common in many parts of the world. These drugs are dangerous for they are a means of connecting to various crimes committed around the globe. Drug trafficking is unlawful in majority of the countries around the globe and therefore any person who is producing or delivering the drugs must be put into jail. Examples of such drugs are the marijuana or bang and cocaine. Among many others. It has been established that these kind of drugs are used by individuals who want to commit some crimes such as robbery and prostitution. They, therefore, contribute to a large percentage to the crimes in the society. Illegal drugs are addicting in nature. Thus, when people is introduced into this kind of drugs, they become addicted and will never afford to live without them unless they undergo a very serious counselling (The Huffington Post). Therefore, the drug traffickers will ever have a permanent market for this drugs around the globe. On the other hand, the drug users who have become addicted to a particular drug will be doing every effort to have the drug in possession for the use. Since most of them may not have the money required to buy the drugs they need, they result to crimes such as stealing or even robbing to the people (Meisner). Therefore, this commodity and the act of transferring the drugs to the market is not only a crime but a cause to other crimes. Research have established that majority of diseases, usually, accompanies drug addict. Diseases such as the cardiovascular diseases and other heart related diseases are largely caused by the use of the illegal drugs. Most of the drug users, usually, develop this disease especially when they are thirsty or in need of them. Some, usually, hallucinate as a symbol that they require them to be alive. Majority of death relating from this drugs comes prematurely as young users of the drug fall into the victim. To sustain themselves, drug users have opted to be in the drugs for a long time. They have forgotten their social responsibility for they have to be in the drug. They do not go to work and therefore they are responsible for the low economic growth in any country. In Chicago, drug abuse and drug trafficking is a crime. Majority of the drug users or traffickers who have been spotted by the policemen have found themselves in prison. Apart from drug trafficking, street prostitution is another crime that have led to the police taking action in jailing the operators of this crime. Street prostitute is the prostitutes who sell their bodies in the streets of California. Most of the states in the United States of America and many parts of the world considers street prostitute as a crime. Prostitution is the act of requesting for money in the exchange with the sexual benefit (Clark). Those who sell their bodies does so for money. Prostitution is a social vice as it harms the society in various ways. Most of the prostitutes do not any contraceptives such as condoms to while the intercourse to prevent the spread of the sexually transmitted diseases such as the HIV and AIDS. Therefore, if a prostitute is entitled to any of the STIs may transmit it to their clients. The client may be a married person, and he may transmit the disease to the family.Police have opted to put into jail any prostitute who is seen in the street selling their bodies to prevent this chain of transmission,. Although police have devoted themselves to curb this crime, it has been difficult for them to deal away with it. The fact that most of the police officers are men, they are often got into a trap where they got enticed by the prostitutes. The prostitutes look for their way back into the streets by offering their bodies to the police as a sacrifice to their release. Therefore, most of the people who commits this crime, usually, proceed to commit it in the eyes of the police. There are other crimes that lead to the majority of the people into the jail. Fraud is a good example of the crimes. People are looking for the cheaper means to get rich. They, therefore, engage themselves is fraudulent activities such as money laundry to make wealth. The main issue with the people is to look for a shortcut that they can use to make money. These nature of the crime and many others that lead to arrest in Chicago are largely related to the social, economic status. Majority of the people committing these crimes are the people belonging to the lower rank in terms of the economic status in the society. The reason the commit this crime is for them to earn a living that would ensure that their families are well fed (Shapiro). Therefore, there is a loophole in the society that drives such people to commit a crime. If the people were well educated and knowledgeable, the less they would engage themselves in this crimes. The crime that is committed is in one way, or the other related to the problem of one’s economic status. When we consider the high rate of robbery in the society, we will find out that robbery is committed by people whose social, economic status is low. They commit the crime because of several reasons. One of the reason is that they do not have an income that would enable them to feed their families and themselves and provide their other needs. They thus commit this crime as a way of fulfilling their obligation in the society. The second cause of the crime is majority of the criminals who have been put behind the bars have little or no education. The lack of education is most likely to be caused by poverty. There is a likelihood that their parents were poor and could not afford to take their children to school. Those who afforded to be in school were not able to proceed and finish their first degree. The lack of higher education prompted them to be jobless. They thus commit this kind of crime as a way of earning some income. Drug abuse is another crime that is committed due to the economic imbalance in the society. In Chicago, there is a high rate of drug trafficking and drug use. According to the Huffington Post-dated 25th September, 2014, 20 people had been charged on a drug trafficking case. The group was linked to the Mexican drug trafficking case. Mexico is probably the country with the largest drug trafficking cartels in the world (The Huffington Post). The drug users are connected to other crimes such as prostitution and robbery. The drug users, usually, commit this kind of crime as a way removing the reality of life in their mind. When planning to commit a crime, the drug users, usually, use the drug. These drugs act as a motivator to them so that they can commit a crime without fear. Drug traffickers, on the other hand, carries out this harmful activity as a way of earning an income. They, usually, do so because of the lack of alternative job in their hand. Drugs are very expensive because of their addictive nature and the illegality that they carry. Thus, whenever the drug reaches the destination, their prices are high, and traffickers would make a lot of money. The main cause of drug trafficking is the economic status of individuals in the society. The illegal business is, usually, carried out by the members of the society whose economic status is low in the society (Hart). On the other hand, the drug users are also the members of the lower level in terms of the economic rank in the society. It, therefore, follows that this is an activity that involves the members of the lower social, economic status in the society. Prostitution is a social vice that has its roots from the poor in the society. Poverty mostly causes the high rate of prostitution in Chicago. A report by the Chicago Sun-times on Thursday 19th September 2014 indicates that seven women of the age between 22 years and 39 years were arrested by police (Chicago Suntimes). Their arrest came after they advertised their services on the internet. The arrest was done in Naperville and were now charged on this crime. It will be usual for young women in the poor backyard to look for a means to feed their families via committing this crime. Young women from the rich backyard would rarely commit this crime for they have good jobs with good income. Their good job is, usually, because they had a better education that trained them into a profession that gave them the skills to work in various companies and organisations for a good pay. In the poor backyard, the girls and young women rarely finish their first degree. They, therefore, lack the power to earn a good job. They, usually, end up in streets where they carry out prostitution. The race of an individual has also been associated with the occurrence of a crime. Majority of the crimes committed in Chicago are committed by the people of the black origin. In fact, 77.4% of criminals are black (Lareau). There are several reasons they are associated crime. The black society in the region is associated with poverty. They rarely finish their first degree which makes them too difficult to get hired in the local companies. They, therefore, engages themselves in illegal activities such as drug trafficking and drug abuse, robbery with violence and rape and in prostitution. Their main purpose of engaging in these activities is to look for a daily bread. Work Cited American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association, Task Force on Socioeconomic Status. Report of the APA Task Force on Socioeconomic Status. Report of the APA Task Force on Socioeconomic Status. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association, 2007. Boushey, Heather and Christian Weller. " Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic Divide in America and its Poisonous Consequences." What the Numbers Tell Us (2005): 27-40. Chicago Police Department. 2005 Murder Analysis. Crime report. Illinoise: Research and Analysis Section, 2005. Chicago Suntimes. 7 arrested in Naperville prostitution sting. 19 09 2014. 25 09 2014. . Clark, Eve. First Language Acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Hart, Beety. Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Lareau, Annette. Unequal Childhoods: Race, Class, and Family Life. Illinoise: University of California Press, 2003. Marmot, Michael. The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity. New York: Owl Books, 2004. Meisner, Jason. Gang leader held responsible in 08 slayings of officer, companion. 18 09 2014. 24 09 2014. . Moser, Whet. "Chicago Tribune Media Group." 14 08 2012. Gawker Glosses Chicago’s Murder Problem. 25 09 2014. Shapiro, Thomas. The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. The Huffington Post. Chicago Drug Trafficking. 25 09 2014. 25 09 2014. . Read More