Crime and Globalization

Who are those most easily influenced into committing crime, and why?
Crime is generally committing an act that offends certain very strong collective sentiments, as said by Emile Durkheim. It normally involves inflicting some form of hurt or damage to others, for whatever cause justified. Crime has no boundaries. It can occur anywhere, anytime, to anybody.
Generally, researches have shown that one is influenced into committing a crime due to his environment. It may be due to the country’s history and culture, it may be due to the social, political or economic conditions that forces one into crime. Most concluded that the most significant factor that forces one into crime would be inequality in economy status. But of course, it may or may not be coupled with the reasons I mentioned above. However, my main concern is that who and which groups of people who are the most likely to turn to crime to bring out their unhappiness, given that all humans should have the same general collective sentiments about crime (so why should some turn to crime and some do not?).
One of the groups which people normally acknowledge would be the lower income group living in the urban and developed countries. Like mentioned in the lecture, and other studies, this group of people are mostly from the rural parts or developing world. They do not belong to the urban, developed country. Thus, they lack the education level and resources to compete with the citizens of the country. Coupled with the discrimination and lack of basic living rights and necessities, they feel frustrated and hopeless; hence they turn to crime- to survive or voice their resentment.
I do agree that due to the economic circumstances, one may be end up committing crime. But in my own opinion, the most susceptible who ended up joining organized crime or even just committing crime, would the youths and the men facing the conditions as mentioned above.
Some feel that the transition from youths to adulthood would be the period when the youths enter the labor market, taking up the civic and political responsibilities. However, youths may experience a lost in identity when they cannot find employment due to the increased competition in a globalised labor market. Biologically, they feel that they are full grown adults. However, mentally, due to the constraints of the economy, they do not necessary feel that they have reached adulthood. Yet, they bear the financial burden of bringing income home to the family (since they are assumed to be adults already). When youths find that they are unable to fulfill the expectations of others, they may feel guilty, frustrated and stressed. They also lacked the experience to deal with the situation they are in. Worse, they are being stereotyped as being more adaptable to changing circumstances and are able to embrace the benefits of globalization. In this case, it would be difficult to find any state policies or family aid to help them overcome their problems. Also, in the case of Rosario, Argentina, the people faced the extra problems of politicization of institutions (even the judiciary and key bureaucratic appointments), and police violence. The state cannot keep up with the structural changes, causing drastic unemployment with the middle class being poorer until they had to live in slums. The continuous harassment n violence executed by the police adds more annoyance to the people. Without any solutions, they may find joining gangs, committing crimes appealing. Gangs give them a form of identity. Killings, organizing deadly activities to show their protests against the environment made them feel valued. Looting, robbery, going into the drug trade gives them a source of income. Therefore, due to the lack of experience of the youths, it is far easier to influence them to see that crime is the best option to their problems. And this creates a problem as the age of youths committing crimes are decreasing over the years. It means more and more youths are being mislead to the path of destruction, and that the forces of these organized criminality is increased. By then, will we be able to eradicate the problem?
Men, in my opinion, would be another group that would be very susceptible to criminality too. Usually, males are expected to obtain jobs and provide economic support to families and are the “brave” ones. (Clinnard and Abbott, 1973). Men have these social norms of masculinity instilled in them since generations ago. They are also biologically built to have a more difficult time to come to terms with failure, due to their innate pride and ego. Hence, once they find that they cannot provide or care for the family, they termed themselves as “losers” and feel ashamed to face their family. They would need to find their worth again. Then, again, the idea of gangs and crime would be appealing like the case of the youths. Worse, men felt that violence is part of the meaning of manhood. It makes them the “real” man. Furthermore, if one is living in South Africa, where violence is part of their history, the use of violence would be even more justified to the men to achieve their cause. Crime is already a tricky social problem to society. Crime coupled with violence is more deadly, and the damage done to society is even more disastrous. Moreover, if it is an organized transnational crime, with massive arms fire, there would be dire consequences. Hence, men, together with the unfavorable environment they are in, can also take on the path to self-annihilation, and pose threats to the world.
In conclusion, even though the economy, political, cultural and social conditions can shape a criminal, the most susceptible groups of people falling to the category would be the youths and men.





Sources:
Youth criminality and urban social conflict in the city of Rosario, Argentina. Maria Celina Del Felice. 2006. http://www.aspr.ac.at/epu/research/DelFelice.pdf
Crime in South Africa: A country and cities profile. Martin Schönteich & Antoinette Louw, Crime and Justice Programme, Institute for Security Studies. 2001. http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/Papers/49/Paper49.html