Analysis of the Opening Section of the Television Documentary Children of Crime

The PBS Frontline Documentary, “The Untouchables” produced by Martin Smith details how those responsible for the 2008 financial crisis, caused by the failing of multiple mortgage backed securities that were fraudulently cobbled together with very lax oversight, were never criminally indicted for their actions. Part of the explanation from the Justice Department was that they were afraid that aggressively pursuing the presidents and vice-presidents of the banks involved in the fraudulent mortgage backed securities would make the banking industry even more unstable. This was something that they were very reluctant to risk, since so many banks were already beginning to close. In the documentary,

The Slave narrative documentary; Unchained Memories, released in 2003, brought to light many things that had not before been seen, or even thought of by many people. Even before the film was released, the telling of the stories inside changed many ideas regarding slavery. The history of slavery in the United States of America has always been commonly known, but not many people have, at this point in time, had to really think of what that meant, what slavery truly was to the millions of Africans, and African-Americans who experienced it. The film and the stories themselves changed many people’s views on slavery, by enlightening them.

1. One of my favorite movies of all time is “The Kids Are Alright”. It centers on a lesbian couple, Nic and Jules, and their two children, Laser and Joni. Laser and Joni are biologically half brother and sister, sharing the same sperm donor father. Laser is only fifteen, but interested in getting to know his biological father. He convinces his older sister to look him up, knowing he would have to be eighteen to do it himself. The movie follows the repercussions of the discovery of their biological dad, and also examines Nic and Jules’ relationship, and Laser’s development of independence, self, and identity.

After watching The Lost Children Behind Bars I saw a portion of how the Arizona juvenile system functions once they are incarcerated. Of these children the video said that ninety-six percent of the children there had issues with drugs and alcohol abuse. As well they also stated that many of the parents also suffered from similar issues. This led me to believe that these children were a product of their uprising, and that their issues stemmed from their parents, and the lack of a model to lead by example. As well, many of the people who ended up in the juvenile detention system seemed to have been abused physically or mentally at home. This could've also been a contributing factor that forced these kids to turn to crime.

The documentary, Child of Rage (HBO & Monet, 1990), is sad and disturbing. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2013), the child meets much of the criteria for conduct disorder. The child was shown to frequently bully, threaten, intimidate, use pins on people and animals with the intention to harm, was physically cruel to people and animals, stole and hid knives, sexually molested her little brother and stated she wanted to kill her parents and brother which are many of criterion A set forth in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual – 5 (APA, 2013). She did not seem to be remorseful or feel guilty at the beginning of the HBO & Monet (1990) documentary but did express remorse as evidenced crying at the end. While she was talking with the interviewer she seemed to exhibit a lack of empathy and did not show emotion and would most likely have a specifier of childhood onset with limited prosocial emotions and is severe (APA, 2013). I felt it was remarkable the therapy she received did so much for her and literally saved her life.

In the movie, “The Road from Crime”, Greg was a great example of how Merton 's Anomie and Agnew 's General Strain theory led them through a criminal lifestyle. The environment that Greg lived as a child was a prime example of the Agnew’s General Strain theory. He came from a society where crimes are viewed as a norm in his community. There are different types of circumstance that lead people and groups inside a community to participate in deviant behavior, such as harsh disciplines, child abuse, negative school experience, residence in economically deprived neighborhoods and more. However, Greg was a resident of an economically deprived neighborhood, which had an influence on his criminal background. According to Merton’s Anomie theory, offenders lead a criminal lifestyle because they are not able to accomplish their desire goal. Everyone does not have the same opportunities to become successful. Greg came from a society where people were looked down upon and did not have the opportunity to become successful in life due to their race. Greg was from a community where everyone in his society had an impact on one and other. For instance, he had a friend name Terry who inspired him to be the man he is today. As a kid, Greg looked up to Terry and tried to follow his footsteps. Terry and Greg were neighbors and that is one reason Terry was a role model to Greg. Greg admired Terry because he played basketball and was a “ladies man”. During, Terry and Greg childhood drugs were

Scout, Jem, and Dill become fascinated with their mysterious neighbor Boo Radley and have an escalating series of encounters with him. Meanwhile, Atticus is assigned to defend a black man, Tom Robinson against the spurious rape charges Bob Ewell has brought against him. Watching the trial, Scout, and especially Jem, cannot understand how a jury could possibly convict Tom Robinson based on the Ewells’ clearly fabricated story. What if it were in 2016 how would the different events that happened be different in the 21st century. Would there be different laws or different social standards?

For many binge Netflix watchers, the end of 2015 brought a story to screen that has been unknown to most until now through the ten part documentary series Making a Murderer. In over nine plus hours, the docuseries pieces together Steven Avery's story, an innocent man who was imprisoned for 18 years for a crime he didn’t do and just two years after being released and in the middle of a civil lawsuit against the Wisconsin, Manitowoc sheriff's department, Avery was convicted of murder. The crime and his suspected innocence, as well as another family member who was roped into the drama, is the meat of the series, yet it brings forth something much more than a cold-case story. It uncovers the hidden faults of the justice system, and mostly, how

Confused we looked at the picture. It was too blurry so we couldn’t make out what it was. We could just tell it was a person in all black, at the door of the bank that got robbed this morning. The person was looking up at where the picture was taken, so it must’ve been a security camera.

Child Rage is a short documentary that portrays the life of Beth whom suffered from severe behavioral problems as a result of being sexually abused as a child by her biological father. A minister and his wife decided to adopt two children, Beth and her brother. Some of the first signs that the adoptive parents noticed in Beth were that she displayed outburst of violent rage for no apparent reason. Some of her violent acts included tearing her room apart, killing of baby birds and sexually attacking her younger brother. When the mother caught Beth sexually abusing her brother she initially didn’t know what to do. Although, it was odd and bazar behavior the only initial interference that took place is that they would lock Beth in her room during

Before I begin to answer all the questions involved in this discussion, I must note that if

The movie I evaluated was Menace to Society. The movie is about a young black man name Cain, growing up in the ghetto and is trying to get out. This movie takes in Watts, South Central California, in 1992. His mother was a drug addict and his father was a drug dealer, slash murder. His parents passed away when he was young, his mother died from drugs and his father was murdered. Cain would go then to live with his grandparents. He graduated high school then enrolled into the California streets. He hung with gangsters and drug dealers. He sold drugs, committed crimes, shot people, and he eventually got shot. Cain fell in love with a woman in the hood named Ronni. Ronni is trying to move out of the ghetto so her son could grow up in a better environment. She eventually convinces Cain to move to Atlanta, away from the negative environment in Cali. At the end of the movie their packing to leave, as some gangsters from Cain’s past drove by and shot up the house, killing Cain in the front yard. He never got a chance to move out of the hood before it killed him.

What I've noticed about the documentary is that the migrant workers tend to be influenced by both the outside world and their families. They feel conflicted. Do they want better for themselves or do they want to stay trapped because being 'trapped' is almost a safety blanket for them? They notice that people look down on them in society. For instance, not many in the United States speak Spanish fluently so they feel out casted just by language barrier alone. They may feel as if this is a world that doesn't want them, they only want to see them struggle beause they arent like the others. The older girl in the film, Perla is always stating she wants a degree to become a lawyer, because she wants to help people like herself. However, she states

Why does America lock so many people up? The United States has about five percent of the world’s population and has an incarceration rate of 714 per 100,000 residents. In large part, the incarceration rate is the result of the “war on drugs” and long mandatory minimum sentences. In Thinking About Crime, the author explores the reasons for the high incarceration rates of the United States. Michael Tonry contends that the logical reasons, i.e., increases in crime or changes in crime rates, is wrong. Crime and imprisonment comparisons in the United States with similar countries reveals that increases in crime or changes in crime rates are not valid. Overall crime rates in the 1990s, were not higher than those of western countries, however,

For this piece, I chose the form of an opinion article to be presented in newspaper article format. My title “I Hate Children” was created to grab attention. As I demonstrated in my article, the words ‘I hate children” seem to offend quite a number of people and I chose to use that controversial sentence in my title solely for shock value and to draw attention to the article. I wanted my piece to be for a newspaper, instead of a magazine that women would more commonly read, because I felt that I would get a controversial response from men since many don’t consider have children something that a woman wouldn’t want to do. While it is more socially acceptable for men to not want to get married and have kids, women often don’t get this option