The Implications Of Hip Hop Music And Social Equity On Recidivism (Dissertation Sample)

The Implications of Hip Hop & Social Equity on Recidivism Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Table of Contents  TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc496237283"
Background  PAGEREF _Toc496237283 \h
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Summary of Significance  PAGEREF _Toc496237284 \h
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Literature Review  PAGEREF _Toc496237285 \h
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Music and Crime  PAGEREF _Toc496237286 \h
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Social Justice  PAGEREF _Toc496237287 \h
7  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc496237288"
Recidivism  PAGEREF _Toc496237288 \h
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Methodology  PAGEREF _Toc496237289 \h
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Characteristics of Quantitative and Qualitative Research  PAGEREF _Toc496237290 \h
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Study Population  PAGEREF _Toc496237291 \h
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Limitations for the Methodology  PAGEREF _Toc496237292 \h
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Conclusion  PAGEREF _Toc496237293 \h
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References  PAGEREF _Toc496237294 \h
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Research Time Table  PAGEREF _Toc496237295 \h
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Dissertation Proposal Outline  PAGEREF _Toc496237296 \h
15 Background In most societies around the world, issues pertaining to crime remain unsolved. The American society is most broadcasted with regard to crime rates and actual crimes. Researchers have made significant steps in trying this increase to several forces. The most notable factor investigated is the role that music has on crime. Specifically, Hip Hop music has been the most studied genre of music. There has not been definitive proof that this music leads to criminal tendencies which are why musicians in this genre of music continue to produce explicitly violent music audios and videos. As well, social injustice has been a significant factor as far as rising crime rates is concerned. When members of the society feel impoverished by the rich or feel indignant in the way resources are shared within the society, then crime rates have been established to rise as per Cummings (2010). Therefore, these two factors are involved in the propagating crimes in most communities even though the exact cause and its magnitude are yet to be definitively established. Since most studies have focused on the role that social justice and violent music play in criminal tendencies in the local communities, this study will look at something different but related. Recidivism refers to the tendency of a former federal criminal to re-offend once they are free. In other words, it is a concept that encapsulates acts of rearrests, reincarceration, and reconviction. In this context, re-arrest refers to a situation where a new crime has been proven to have been committed by some with someone under probation or has served their term in full. Any other cases do not count. Reconviction refers to a situation where an individual is arrested in a subsequent conviction. It is important to note that revocations and violations do not count as reconvictions as far as recidivism is concerned. This is because in these cases there were no official prosecutions (Baker & Homan, 2007). Reincarceration refers to a person with priors whose conviction or revocation led to imprisonment as punishment. These are people who have gone through this process at least once before and it resulted in punishment being meted out. In the United States, over the last eight years, there has been an increase in re-offenders to 49.3%. Of these individuals, 31.7% were reconvicted while 24.6% were reincarcerated. The median arrest in these cases was 21 months at the time they were freed. Evidently, the U.S. faces a severe threat to security and stability in the society mostly owing to the fact that recidivism continues to increase. As these rates continue to rise, there is a threat that the nation will find itself in a predicament where crime rates become uncontrollable. This is because as measures are put in place to prevent crime, recidivism cancels out all these efforts leading to loss of taxpayers’ money. Further, as people are released and taken back to jail, the labor situation in the U.S. worsens leading to more demand for foreign workers (Hunt & Dumville, 2016). All these repercussions have serious implications for the security, stability, and social justice at all levels of the country’s management. By looking into the influence of violent Hip Hop music and the responses elicited from people when social justice is denied, this paper hopes to find a solution roadmap that can be followed to ensure that recidivism is eliminated. Concerning music, the paper will look into the recurring themes of resistance and deviance and operate under the hypothesis that it drives listeners into the environment of an offender to civil discourse. Social justice will be discussed under the hypothesis that societies that lack any form of social justice or situations where social justice has to be fought for, the likelihood of recidivism is beyond probable (Durose, Cooper & Snyder, 2014). Thus, the paper will depend on secondary data collected on the topic in providing an answer to these hypotheses. Summary of Significance It is an even more serious issue mainly because the high rates of recidivism imply that all measures done to prevent crime initially are reduced to zero. In the United States, this matter has not received a lot of attention from researchers creating a literature gap. The need to fill this gap is threefold. It will benefit the government in planning ahead and formulating important policies. For the longest time, there has been more focus on preventing crime as a whole than there has been in dealing with recidivism. Thus, through the findings of this paper, the governments in various states in the U.S. will finally see the impact that recidivism has on their efforts to counter crime. With the data, they will be a better position than before to make informed decisions regarding crime management. The data will also offer flexibility and a wider scope for them to act. For instance, instead of banning Hip Hop music altogether, governments can identify the specific aspects of the genre that led people to recidivism (Tiedt & Sabol, 2015). This can only be done if the policymakers have adequate information regarding the state of affair between the two variables. It will also help academicians in adding information on this topic to raise the level of academic awareness on matters related to recidivism. It is the lack of proper research in this specific area that has enabled the vice to thrive in most parts of the world. Without the information obtained through different research projects, it is virtually impossible for policymakers to institute regulations that can work. For instance, the government in the U.S. has tried to impose strict rules on the videos and audio of songs but has only been successful in eliminating the use of certain words that are primarily obscene from a sexual point of view and not from a criminal perspective. It is therefore, the role of academicians to gather the needed data and formulate conclusive inferences to aid the process. Therefore, this paper will put the field of academicians on the right footing to get the needed data. Thirdly, the societies affected by the vice will benefit in that they will get the facts they need to act on it. When individuals come from prison and join the society, such individuals are treated differently than the time before they were arrested. In some communities, they are treated like villains. This feeling gives no room for them to complete their transformation to being law-abiding citizens. As a result, most of the former offenders find it easier to return to crime than continue being judged by those people in their lives. It is important to provide information and awareness to the general public regarding how to handle situations where former convicts are released (Cooper, Durose & Snyder, 2014). If the society is welcoming and offers such individuals opportunities to better themselves, their transformation stands a better chance of succeeding. The study will be critical to the three levels mentioned above. Nonetheless, the study will offer a chance for the researcher to give back to the society. Since the best chance of dealing with the menace is through policymaking and enforcement, the rest of the society can do their part in various ways. For the researcher, this can be achieved through conducting this survey to provide the needed data to make decisions. Members of the society can do their part by being aware that their actions and response to former convicts determine whether or not they will engage in recidivism. It is crucial for them to make sure that the community is still a home for the convicts even after they leave prison so that re-offenders reduce (Spohn & Holleran, 2002). When all the stakeholders do their part as described above, then the problems caused by recidivism will be alleviated, and with time, they will be eliminated entirely. Literature Review Music and Crime The most considerable offset that music has on the imprisonment system in the U.S. and around the world is that it encourages crime. Initially, prisons were established to lock away individuals who committed crimes and dissuade them from ever repeating such an action. Today, Hip Hop has glorified the act of being locked up and coming back to hunt the “snitches.” In some other cases, the act of going to prison is seen as a minimum qualification of becoming a “gangster” in the streets. In other words, serving time in jail earns individuals some form of respect in the streets of their they come from instead of being treated with some form of stigma in other societies. A study by Conr...