Crime and Delinquency in Urban Communities (Essay Sample)

CRIME AND DELINQUENCY IN URBAN COMMUNITIES
Name
Institution
Introduction
Urban insecurity intimidates the quality of life, economic and social stability, human rights and sustainable development in cities around the world. The lack of long-term solutions to governance, social and economic issues and the failure to promote comprehensive policies targeting the most susceptible groups is at the root of insistent increase in crime and urban violence. The prospects of sustainable improvement are severely limited, without a deliberate effort to address this condition. Rapid urban development has seriously outperformed the ability of most cities to offer adequate basic services for their citizens. However, each year, cities attract new immigrants who, together with the cumulative native population, increase the number of shantytowns and squatter settlements, worsen the problems of urban security and safety, and hamper attempts to deliver essential services and expand basic infrastructure.
According to Tilley (2013), about 60 % of all urban residents in undeveloped countries have been victims of crime. Consequently, understanding the changing aspects of rapid urbanisation remains a main concern in dealing with metropolitan insecurity. Most of programs and studies dealing with adolescent delinquency focus on matters involving youth and crime. However, juveniles are also victims of delinquent and criminal acts. The unceasing threat of victimization has a severe influence on the socialization of young men and their internalization of the values and norms of the larger society. According to information on crimes recorded by the police, the victims do not report over 80 % of all violent occasions.
Evidence about the victims permits conclusions to be drawn about the criminals. Outcomes of self-report studies show that an overpowering majority of those who participate in ferocity against young people are almost the same gender and age as their victims; in most cases, the criminals are males acting in groups. Youths at the ages of 16 and 19 years are on the receiving end of violence, with about 91 in every 1,000 in this group ending up to be victims of some form of crime. Reviews have indicated that men are more probably than women to become victims. For instance, in the United States, almost 105 in every 1,000 men become offense victims, compared with about 80 per 1,000 women. Therefore, it is clear that men are 2.5 times most likely to be victims of intensified assault. Adult people are less frequently affected; as stated, crimes are committed by representatives of the same age groups to which the victims belong. Young individuals who are at threat of becoming delinquent frequently live in difficult situations. Children who for many reasons including poverty, the growing HIV/AIDS scourge, parental alcoholism, overcrowding, breakdown of the family, abusive conditions in the home, or the death of parents during armed battles are unaccompanied or orphans and lack of means of subsistence, housing and other basic requirements are at greatest risk of falling into adolescent delinquency.
Cause of Urban Crime
According Foster, Giles-Corti, &Knuiman (2010), security is defined as centres on assets and communities being free from violence, crime and related fear.Groups particularly vulnerable to crime include physically challenged persons, children and women as well as the poor and aged. Across all racial, age, income groups and ethnic, girls and women are particularly vulnerable to many forms of violence and crime. Youngsters, ''both boys and girls, '' are also mainly vulnerable and consequently require protection measures in diverse types of environments. Adolescents are the age group most engaged in the offense as perpetrators and mainly affected as victims, mainly of interpersonal crime and violent, with violence in various countries topping the list of causes of demise for the 15 - 24 years age group. The world's poor countries are the worst affected by violence and urban crime, irrespective of their geographical locations (Mazerolle, Wickes, & McBroom, 2010).
According to Sampson (2011), the following are major factors, which contribute to increase in urban crime.
* Negative and low rates of economic growth
* Persistence of high levels of social inequality
* Lack of role models
* Culture of violence, reinforced by organized crime, the police and the private security services
* Rapid growth of metropolitan areas
* and large cities
* Low level of effectiveness of the institutions in the criminal justice system and police
* Growing presence, strengthening of organized crime
* High level of unemployment
* Weakness or absence of basic urban infrastructure, community organizations and basic social services in the poorest neighbourhoods, in the periphery of metropolitan areas and large cities
* Peer influence
The causes of crime are many but may be placed in 3 main categories: institutional, social and situational. Social causes include social exclusion and marginalization, crisis in local traditions lack of socialisation in the family and schooling, lack of social control, and lack of integration into society. Institutional causes include weak criminal justice systems, law enforcement, and deliberate government strategies to marginalize certain sections of society. Situational causes of crime are directly related to the urban environment. They include lack of urban services, failure to master the urbanisation process, degradation of urban neighbourhoods, lack of the conception of security in urban policies and planning as well as proliferation and overcrowding of squatter settlements and zoning abuses (Wortley, &Mazerolle, 2013).
Research indicates that children who receive suitable parental supervision are not much expected to engage in illegal activities. Dysfunctional family backgrounds characterized by inadequate parental control, premature autonomy, conflict and weak internal linkages and integration are closely related with juvenile delinquency. Children in poor families that have few chances for legitimate occupation and face a higher threat of social exclusion are more overrepresented among criminals (Sutton, Cherney, & White, 2013). The plight of migrants and ethnic minorities, including refugees and displaced persons in certain regions of the world, is particularly distressing. The nations in transition are facing certain challenges in this respect, with the associated turmoil and insecurity contributing to an upsurge in the numbers of juveniles and children neglected by their parents and suffering violence and abuse at home.
Geographical study indicates that countries with more urbanized people have higher listed crime rates compared to those with strong rural communities and lifestyles. This might be attributable to the differences in social cohesion and social control. Rural groupings depend on community and family control as a means to deal with antisocial behavior and show evidently lower crime rates. Urban developed societies tend to resort to formal judicial and legal measures, an impersonal approach that seems to be related to higher crime rates. Institutional and cultural differences are such that responses to the same crime may differ extensively from one nation to another (Tilley, 2013).
The ongoing procedure of urbanization in undeveloped countries is contributing to adolescent involvement in illegal behavior. The features of the urban environment foster the growth of new forms of social behavior deriving from the weakening of primary social relations, increasing dependence on the media at the tendency towards anonymity and the expense of informal communication. The higher degree of heterogeneity, population density, generates these patterns and numbers of persons found in urban contexts.
Crime Committed by Adolescents
Some adolescents commit violent crimes, and some researchers believe this is frequently caused by juvenile neglect or abuse. These gangs of angry young person's often carry weapons, such as firearms. In some circumstances, teenagers commit murder; even in residential areas, some teens carry guns to school. Young adults occasionally get into physical fights, and this is considered assault. In additional robbery and burglary are also common in young adults.
The Consequences of Crime
Crime affects daily life of city citizens, the quality of community space, and economic prospects. Crime usually diverts large amounts of scarce resources from social development and scares away investors. The consequences of crime are alike and include an overall feeling of insecurity that results in the abandonment of neighbourhoods and avoidance of some quarters, growth of "architecture of fear” exhibited as proliferation of gated communities, high structure fences and building of fortresses as residences. In additional, there has been the increase in the number of private security organizations and use of guards (Wortley, &Mazerolle, 2013).
Preventive Measures
Violence against children threatens their fundamental human rights. It is consequently imperative to convince institutions, and individuals to commit money, expertise, time and other resources required to address this worldwide problem. A number of United Nations mechanisms reflect a preference for social instead of judicial approaches in controlling juvenile delinquency. It is extensively believed that early-stage involvement represents the best measure to preventing juvenile delinquency. Prevention requires group, organizational and individual, efforts aimed at protecting adolescents from breaking the law. Several countries use different approaches to discourage criminal behavior and delinquent. Some focus on disciplinary prevention intended to scare potential criminals by ensuring they understand the likelihood of severe...