Criminal Justice Social Disorganization
Instructions: Please write a response IN YOUR OWN WORDS to the following question. Make sure to answer all parts of the question. Your response should be based on the attached material. Your response should be 2-3 pages in length, double spaced (times new roman, 12pt font, 1 inch margins). Please do not just use the writings and the citations to formulate the paper. The paper needs to be drafted in your own words using citations to support your point. NOTE: not citing the reading or crediting the authors (or lectures) for their ideas in your paper is considered plagiarism!! Please contact me if you have any questions. Paper is Due 2/14/12:00PM EST
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY
It seems like every city has a “bad part of town” that has high crime and other related problems. Based on the reading and material covered in the presentations for this module, how would Shaw and McKay explain the “bad part of town?”
1. Summarize how Shaw and McKay would account for the high crime neighborhoods that seem to exist in almost every city.
2. Shaw and McKay developed their theory nearly 100 years ago. Do their arguments still apply today? What do the high crime neighborhoods look like now (versus early 1900s Chicago neighborhoods) and does this present any problems for their explanations of crime?
3. How has this theory changed since Shaw and McKay first presented their original ideas, and have these new developments helped fill in the gaps left by Shaw and McKay to explain high crime communities today?
