Three teenage boys were arrested in a small town in Maine, and charged with beat
ID: 3500349 • Letter: T
Question
Three teenage boys were arrested in a small town in Maine, and charged with beating a homeless man to death with a baseball bat in an underground parking garage. A surveillance camera captured the beating, and the three boys were identified by residents who watched the video clip on local TV news. When asked by reporters to explain this kind of senseless killing, professor Humbolt said: "Well, it is not senseless. Crime is a social event, not just an isolated instance of individual activity. And in much youth crime we see patterns of co-offending. Criminal behavior is often attributable to social failings rather than to individual choice. Consider, for a moment, the backgrounds of these young men. Were they subjected to physical abuse while there were growing up? Was violence what they learned at the hands of older siblings or parents? Were they, in this instance, involved in some adolescent rite of passage, maybe even in initiation into a gang? Did they feel forced to behave this way because of peer pressure? Was it something they saw on television or in video games that they might have played and then decided to reenact?" (Schmalleger, 2017, p. 42).Explanation / Answer
Hunbolt explaination is correct as he points to one of the pressing issue. But , he has discussed only one aspect i.e. social. There are varios physiological ,genetic reasons too for such behavior. Individual and society both are responsible for such behavior as individual physiological conditions provides potential for such senseless act while society orovidespthe trigger to this potential.
Labelling theory can explain.
It suggests that if person is labelled by other as a criminialor deviant , it will have positive correlation with person developing a criminal orientation. If teenage boys would have been labelled by society in negative ways it may have triggered their crime potential.
Social learning theory
It suggest one learn behavior, positive or negative , from society . It includes observation of others behavior. Bobo doll experiment have concluded that there is more violence and aggression in those who observe such behavior on TV or in life.
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