Introduction
Crime refers to the human tendencies that a specific government has ruled out as unacceptable, and punishable by law. This may not entirely satisfy the definition, but to say there is a universally accepted definition of the crime would be lying. The socially unacceptable tendencies we may want to refer to as evil or criminal, are morally acceptable in other societies; therefore, the legal obligations of the individuals, set by the inherent government, define what is taken as law. Breaking the law is what is deemed an offense. The perpetrators of such activities are said to have committed a crime in this sense (Watts 120).
Causes of a Crime rate increase
Over the centuries, crime has been seen to increase with the rise of civilizations and modernity. It is neither affected by political occurrences nor by the economic crisis. The first half of the 20th century saw the crime rate increase moderately in a few areas; mostly in burglaries and muggings, but less in murders and drunkenness. The stipulation of tighter laws and a change in leisure habits caused a reduction in the latter. New social tendencies have seen marriage breakups and changes in lifestyles of the western world affect many families, and the children involved in them (Watts 131). It is becoming widely accepted that most children that rise from single parenthood are much more likely to end up in juvenile cases, and later become dependent on welfare or crime in later years, than children brought up in intact families
In fact, the rate of crime increase in a society is directly related to the number of cases where a father leaves his family. A contrasting case is the lowering figures in societies with a high degree of religious activity; most families that establish a sense of religious obligation in their children experience a good degree of responsibility in their children’s habits. It is also observed that in high-crime neighborhoods with a substantial amount of religious practice, up to 10 percent of children from dysfunctional families are able to avoid crime (McCord 209). The lack of guidance and attention at the family level and marriage life has a big impact on society. The children brought up this way, seek what they lack from society feeling the need to satisfy their desires selfishly. They lose their connection to the community, and the community around them disintegrates into an insecure neighborhood riddled with violent crime and chaos. In a test to identify the reasons for apparent crime increase in dysfunctional families, father figures who exhibited alcoholic tendencies resulted in affecting their sons’ lives negatively. The sons were found to be at high risks of developing the alcoholic tendencies themselves as a follow up to their fathers’ habits. Some got into juvenile courts and delinquent institutes (McCord 221).
Family ties and their impact on crime rate
Certain stages in human development necessitate the complete supervision of the parent; during the development of a child’s mind, the absence of affection, as well as love and dedication from both mother and father figures, frustrate a child’s ability to belong. His needs are stunted, and his capacity for empathy is left lacking. He needs to feel the working relationships that develop from pre-determined agreements, with a sense of community to which he can relate.
When a growing child is denied the natural attachment to his mother that comes with love and a sense of personal security, he develops a heightened level of aggression filling his mind with chaotic anger (O’Brien 70). He gets actively involved in negative and violent fashions. Due to the regular habits of abusive parents, they vent their hostility toward the child that exhibits more resistance or difficulty. This degree of hostility and emotional abuse results in a future delinquent.
Child sexual abuse would also result in enormous amounts of unsettled anger and negativity in children who have experienced it during their early stages. About 4 percent of children under the age of 16 had reported cases of sexual assault being perpetrated by a parent or relative in the UK. This reveals the truth that the family could also be a source of criminal victimization (O’Brien 76).
Conclusion
There are several variable reasons why there is an increase in crime and family in the 20th century, most of which go back to the developmental stages of child delinquents. The parent figure plays a great role in shaping the character of the young mind. If there lacks the connection between the child and the parents, the result is a morally devoid juvenile who later develops aggression towards his peers and forms a group with which he can relate to, or feel like he belongs. The group formed this way later develops into his gang of delinquents who hang around idly in public places eager to lay their hands on substances they can abuse, or valuable items they can steal. The system regards them as idle youths, and devices a plan to keep them off the streets by punishing them. This further segregate them as idle youth with delinquent and antisocial behavior, making them feel excluded from the mainstream of society. A general working idea would be to establish the root cause of lack of interest in any activity and try to place them in socially creative activities like sports. The peak age at which they exhibit criminal activity is observed at around fifteen to eighteen, and after this, they can be seen to establish relations that wield attributes that can help them avoid crime at a later stage as they grow (O’Brien 180).
Works cited
McCord, Joan and Geoffrey Sayre-McCord. Crime and family: selected essays of Joan McCord. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2007. Print. Web.
O’Brien, Martin and Majid Yar. Criminology: the key concepts. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2008. Print. Web.
Watts, Rob., Judith Bessant and Richard Hil. International Criminology: A Critical Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print. Web.