We are living in the world full of deviance. Everybody does deviant behavior with no exception. But some people do indecent behaviors that are against the law, in other words, they are harmful or disadvantaging other people. These behaviors fall into crime category. In “Theories of Crime and “Code Of The Streets” by Elija Anderson and “Conformity, Deviance, and Crime” by Giddens, they discuss about theories of Crime and what makes people do crime. There are four sociological theories of crime, that is, Followed by interactionist theories that imply that the society condition renders people to fall into criminals category. The theories are: functionalist theories, interactionist theories, conflict theory, control theory. People often divide themselves into “decent” and “street” categories. Decent people are the one that live their live heathily, accepting lives’ fact without doing any crime whereas street people are incapable of accepting themselves and thus become criminals. Many children grow up in lack-of-concerned type of family, they got little guidance when they are young that cause them to behave in different path and do crime when they grow up and fall into street people category. This is mentioned in the “Functionalist theories” which say that “functionalist theories see crime and deviance resulting from structural tensions and a lack of moral regulation within society”(Giddens 158) When children got lack of moral educations in their young age, they will not be prudent enough to solve their problem in non-deviant way. When the society in which they grow up put them in pressures of economical status or restrict them from accomplishing their dreams, they will not be able to accept their lives and thus do crime to fulfill their needs. “Lack of opportunity for success in the terms of the wider society is the main differentiating factor between those who engage in criminal behavior and those who do not”(Giddens 160). People often become jealous with others who have more than them and this jealousy cause them to destroy others’ possession or to achieve their success using a shortcut that is to do crime. The street people often maintain their respect by not wanting people to have more than them. They do this by stealing as Elijah mentions that “one way of campaigning for status is by taking the possessions of others” (53). In opposition to the decent family which “tend to be strict in their child-rearing practices, encouraging children to respect authority and walk a straight moral line”(Elijah 51). Parents that guide their children in a straight line make their children solve problem in wiser way rather than using violence and do crimes. The society in which we grow up affect our behaviors. When children grew up in indecent society, they will tend to follow the indecent behavior of people in their society. This lead them to do crime more than those who grow up in decent family as mention in “Interactionist Theories”. The theories say that “criminal behavior is learned within primary groups, particularly peer groups” (Giddens 160). When the people do crimes in which the children grow up, they are prone to do crime as well. How the society see things will affect the perspective of these children. Elijah mentions that physical appearance is one of the “code of street”, the rule in which street people follow to maintain their pride and respect. People have their own style of clothing but mostly they follow others as Elijah mentions that physical appearance “is shaped by what he thinks others are thinking of him in relation to his peers (53). Man often overrepresented as very strong than woman. All of these thinking come from the society in which a child grew up. When the society mold them wrongly, they will stick to their childhood thought until they grow up. Sometimes people act unfairly to each other because of financial, background, race, gender differences. The discriminations that people experience force them to do crimes. The theory behind this behavior is called “Conflict Theory”. “Individuals actively choose to engage in deviant behavior in response to the inequalities of the capitalist system” (Giddens 161). The decent family often have prejudice towards the street family which cause them to suffer from discriminations as Elijah mentions “These decent people are trying hard to be part of the mainstream culture, but the racism, real and perceived, that they encounter helps to legitimate the oppositional culture” (56). People feel the unfairness and they are losing the priviledge in many things because of their social status and thus they commit crime. Criminals often do crimes whenever they see the opportunity of doing this is mention in “Control Theory”. “Delinquents are often individuals whose low levels of self-control are a result of inadequate socialization at home or at school” (Giddens 162). When parents give less control to their children, they have more freedom in conducting deviant behaviors. As small kids are like blank papers, when they do mistakes and nobody correct them and restrict them from doing, they will keep doing it. Crimes are very common in our daily lives because of lack of control from the government and society as mentions by Elijah that “The code of the streets is actually a cultural adaptation to a profound lack of faith in the police and the judicial system” (50). The control from the government is not enough that there are a lot of wide hole for the criminals to maneuver in and commit crimes. In the theory of “Broken Windows”, “Studies have shown that proactive policing directed at maintaing public order can have a positive effect on reducing more serious crimes such as robbery” (Giddens 163). If we give more attention to the society and put more securities in places, the rate of crime will decrease as they have less chance in doing the crimes. Elijah writes a lot of “Interactionist Theories” in the readings. She gives a lot of examples of how society mold people up to become criminals. How the society see us will make us see others in the same way so we behave in the way that the society accept us. If the society thinks that man is more powerful than woman then the people will overrepresent man. How important people think about respect will make them behave in different ways to maintain their pride. How people think about appearance will form a new style, which the people in the society followed. I personally think that “Interactionist Theories” are explaining crimes the best. We do things by following others when we were young. If others do things improperly, we will act indecently. How people see things will make us see things in that way. Children do things initially by learning and following others. So how the society behaves will affect how we behave.
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