Social Disorganization Theory And Mass Incarceration

Frank Schmalleger explains the theory of social disorganization as one that depicts both social change as well as conflict, and lack of any agreement as the origin of its cause for both criminal behavior as well as nonconformity to society and closed associated with the ecological school of criminology (Schmalleger, 2012, p. 152). The philosophy behind the organization and structure of a society and how that contributes to criminal behavior within society is by stressing poverty, economic conditions, lack of education, lack of skills, are not sought-after in the work place, and divergent cultural values. Criminal behavior is the result of the person’s assignment of location within the structure of society.

In 1865 Congress passed the thirteenth Amendment stating” Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall

In history class, we’ve learned that the 13th amendment had set out to abolish slavery. The 13th amendment is usually something that is regarded as a major feat for the progress of human and civil rights within the United States. Unfortunately, this depiction of “overcoming” slavery and in turn racism, isn’t necessarily a reality. Rather, as the film 13th displays, the 13th amendment has loopholes that mostly affect minority groups (primarily Black and Hispanic people), which have allowed for mass incarceration and what could easily be considered as modern day slavery to slip through the cracks.

The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.The 14th Amendment provides the citizenship, due process and equal protection clauses. The 13th amendment was adopted on December 6, 1865. It was preceded by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, which freed all slaves from the Confederate states during the Civil War. Most of these states were in the South below the Mason-Dixon line.The 14th Amendment was adopted on July 9, 1868, and it is the longest of all the Reconstruction Amendments, having five separate sections. The amendment also covers citizen's' right to hold public office, suffrage, compensation for emancipation and debts of war.

The 13th Amendment was later ratified on December 6, 1865. Prior to its ratification, slavery remained legal only in Delaware and Kentucky, everywhere else had been freed by state or the Emancipation Proclamation.

Social disorganization theory was established by Shaw and Mckay (1942) in their famous work “Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas”. The main argument of the social disorganization theory is that, the place where people live will influence the individual’s behavior, and this may lead them to crimes. More precisely, certain characteristics of the neighborhood/community will strengthen or weaken the informal social control within the community, and this has mediating effect on crimes.

Therefore, on January 1st, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was passed, which said that "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free”(National Archives). Even though this was a large step for America during the war, it was only a war measure and “might have no constitutional validity once the war was over”(History). There were many proposals for amendments based on the Emancipation Proclamation, but as the war ended, no formal requests had been made. The 13th amendment was introduced into congress on March 14th, 1864, but there was much opposition to the amendment in the senate, especially from the border states. Eventually the amendment was passed in 1865. It was called “the grandest event of the century” by many and gave hope to many previous slaves, but what many could not foresee is that even though this goal had been achieved, the 13th amendment allowed many other problems to open up that had to be

During the time of reconstruction, the 13th amendment abolished slavery. It was one of the influential amendments passed in the constitution. It officially abolished and prohibited slavery and forced an ending to slavery all over the South. The Southern states that

Slavery is alive in the United States of America; it’s just morphed to fit itself into modern times. Every time I see the text of the 13th Amendment, I wonder if that little caveat was intentional or just really naïve.

The thirteenth amendment was the first to abolish slavery, or so people say. The thirteenth amendment reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” the constitution. This amendment could easily fool people into believing that all was right within the world. However, soon after this amendment was added to the constitution unjust laws started to pop up within the states, “When slavery was legally abolished. A new set of laws called Black Codes emerged to criminalize legal activity for African Americans. Through the enforcement of these laws, acts such as

This amendment specifically outlaws the institution of slavery and involuntary servitude. This means that the Emancipation Proclamation was formally made law by United States government. The South was made to accept the new reforms to the constitution in order to be allowed back into the Union, so therefore they had to accept the fact that they could no longer depend on the use of slaves to advance economic growth in the South. Not only did this amendment not allow slavery but it also made

America is experiencing a social phenomenon commonly referred to as mass incarceration, in which the rate of incarceration has increased by, “...has grown by 700 percent.(Goffman)” in the last 40 years. Mass incarceration is difficult to digest in totality due to its immense nature, nuance and variety of answers with the essence of ‘could be right’. In order to decipher the complex puzzle of mass incarceration, we must establish borders to manifest clarifying order in the overwhelming clutter of data. Theory will assist in demonstrating how the general and specific facts of issues, in this case mass incarceration, relate by essentially declaring the philosophical frame of the interpretation. In order to gain a nuanced understanding of America’s mass incarceration, three relatively distinct theories will be applied: conflict theory, structural functionalism and symbolic interactionism. These theories are categorized by two approaches of sociological investigation- macrosociological, which emphasizes the analysis of social systems and populations on a large scale, and micro sociological, which emphasizes the impact individuals have on social structure.

So far, both theories are able to explain the crime inequality observed insides neighbourhoods; however, when it comes to explaining the difference in crime rates between neighbourhoods with similarly low levels of poverty, social disorganization theory is not able to fully explain why such difference may occur, as it places a greater focus on the internal dynamics of the neighbourhoods than on the external contingencies (Peterson & Krivo, 2010, p. 92). Based on Table 4.5 of Divergent Social Worlds: Neighborhood Crime and the Racial-Spatial DivideI, minority low-poverty areas have roughly two and a half times more violence than their white counterparts (Peterson & Krivo, 2010, p. 88). Social disorganization theory insists that residential instability (percent of those who owns and percent of those who rent) , population heterogeneity (internal differences, including ethno-racial differences), poverty (percent of those who live in poverty), income, deteriorating neighbourhood, and population loss (percent of those who leave due to deterioration) are mechanisms that leads to the absence of informal social control and increases social disorganization, causing the loss of control over youths who then hang out at spontaneous playgrounds and form gangs with delinquent traditions that get passed down through cultural transmission. If such was the case, then one would expect neighbourhoods with similar and comparable local conditions to have similar average rates of crimes. However,

Social disorganization theory explains the ecological difference in levels of crime, simply based on cultural and structural factors that influence the social order in a given community. Social disorganization is triggered by poverty, social stability, ethnic heterogeneity, and a few key elements. Although Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay (1942), were known for social disorganization theory, in 1947 Edwin Sutherland introduced the notion of a ecological differences in crime that is the result of differential social organization. Despite similar arguments on social organization, Shaw and Mckay argued that the cultural integration explained the ecological variation in crime rates as a result of the negative impact on the community. Also elaborating on structural socioeconomic factors shaping informal control like poverty, heterogeneity, and residential mobility. Later Robert Sampson and Byron Groves (1989), refined the work of Shaw and Mckay by highlighting on the importance of social ties and new measures of social disorganization.

Ratified in 1865, the thirteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution formalized this result in U.S. law, abolishing slavery throughout the country and every territory subject to its jurisdiction.