Social, economic and political factors of crime

Social, economic and political factors of crime For many, there is the belief that the existence of punishment is linked to the problem of crime, and that the extent of crime is the key factor in determining the level of punishment. But some of the most important sociologists (and penologists) such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Michel Foucault argue that crime is relatively trivial, and that the form and degree of punishment in society must be understood through its relationship with other greater social, economic and political factors. Karl Marx was a 19th century sociologist and economist whom were interested in the role punishment held in class-based social and economic regulation. He criticized the failure of penal theory to consider the social factors, especially economic inequality and poverty, which underlay criminal activity. Using this framework, others such as Georg Rusche and Otto Kirchheimer, in Punishment and Social Structure (1939), looked at the formation of different forms of punishment in the context of the labor markets fluctuating needs, from the Middle Ages through to contemporary society. For example, imprisonment serves as both a practical source of inexpensive labor for the state and, during periods of high unemployment, as a method of incapacitating dangerous offenders from doing public harm. These Marxist ideals influenced historical changes in penology in Western Europe beginning in the Middle Ages into the Mercantilist Era. During the early middle ages, there was a bot (betterment) paid by the criminal to the offended party which gave rise to the idea of compensation and a wite was a fine paid to the King. These fines were forms of tiered punishments that varied depending on ones socioeconomic class. For upper-class/freed citizens, punishment was given in compensation fines, but for lower-class/slaves punishment was much more brutal in the form of corporal death. These practices carried into the late middle ages and into the Mercantilist Era (1400-1700s). As middle-age feudalism declined, capitalism (as focused on by Marx) and international trade rose and expanded to new heights. These economic changes influenced the creation of new, wealth merchant class and the vagabond poor. Vagabonds were displaced workers from the former agricultural-run society of feudalism, who were now non-productive in a commercially dominant Western culture. This led to the widespread belief that work was to be associated with morality (17, BL). The poor, criminal vagabond social class we re exploited and sentenced as laborers. Karl Marx asserted that punishment could be used to force people to work as here in the case where vagabonds worked in galleys as reliable workforce, served in workhouses in Great Britain to help change and reform their character, and transportation where criminals were sent away for manual labor to help meet the needs of growing American and European colonization. Durkheim The Father of Sociology published several works during his time, however, none has had more impact than his book, The Division of Labor in Society written in 1893. Here he rejected the idea that punishment must break away from either vengeance or the emotional satisfaction it gives. Durkheim believed that the social function of punishment was to give effect to the moral and emotional outrage of a society whose norms have been violated by the criminal act. A criminal act is therefore identified as that which affects the communitys collective conscience; criminality serves as a way to explain the moral limitations of the social group. Punishment is the reciprocal effect of a collective moral outrage, creating and sustaining a type of solidarity crucial to the existence of a functional society. From these ideas arises Durkheims theory of social solidarity, as shown in his work The Two Laws of Penal Evolution, (1902) whereby he states that despite changing penal methods overtime , the underlying mechanisms and functions of punishment remain constant. Social solidairty insisted that rather than focusing on either the crime (or the criminal), one should observe the after-affect of crime on victims and the community as a whole. Offenders must be held accountable to these victims, and part of their penalty may involve direct restitution. The goal is begin a process of restoring the trust and solidarity that is broken by criminal activity by focusing on the social relationships that have been harmed as a result of crime. Durkheims scientific study of penology led to the conclusion that the severity of punishment was diminishing, and that solidarity could be broken into two categories: mechanical and organic solidarity. He called mechanical solidarity the solidarity of sameness which organic solidarity was made up of differences. The idea behind this is that organisms are made up of parts that serve different functions but manage to work together. In relation to society, Durkheim stated society was based on the division of labor, and is reliant on the communitys mutual dependency on one another. Although before the time of Durkheim, these same theoretical ideas can be seen in Colonial and Federalist America. This period included the early settling of colonists in areas such as Massachusetts and Virginia (17th and late 18th centuries), where society was dominated by the institutions of church, family and most importantly community. While religion played an important role in determining punishment, punishment was more so based on the social reaction to crime. Crime was religiously reflected as sin and as a moral matter of right versus wrong. Methods of punishment included fines (to victims most commonly), whippings, mutilation, shaming and banishment. Discipline and punishment held a significant role in social solidarity by publicly demonstrating rules, and expressing moral outrage over wrongful acts in a collective manner. These principles can also be applied to provide insight in the American Temperance Movement of the 1830s. As democratization increased as the nation expand ed economically and socially, religion still held a high importance that reflected in how crime was seen. Crime was viewed a moral disease, and more specifically alcoholism was becoming a national epidemic. The American Society for the Promotion of Temperance declared that, all temperate people should remain so and that the others should kill themselves off (50 BL). Alcoholism was collectively viewed as having a linkage to crime that caused labor to decrease which consequently affected American economic prosperities. These abolition and temperance movements of the 1800s were representative of social and moral reform going on within American culture. Michel Foucault was a 20th century French sociologist who argued that punishment is a threat to society, and that discipline is power-knowledge mechanism for domination. Foucault is well-renowned for his 1977 book entitled, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, where he questioned how penology has changed in the way criminals are punished (in France) and introduces disciplinary punishment as the dominating practice in the modern world. He identified a qualitative shift in punishment from 1750 and 1820 in Europe and the U.S, pointing out three major changes: (1) punishment changed from body to soul/psyche, (2) from vengeance to transformation and (3) from punishment to corrections. In the second part of his book, Foucault marks the prison as the template for the technology of modern discipline. Disciplinary punishment gives professionals (psychologists, program facilitators, parole officers, etc.) power over the prisoner, most notably in that the prisoners length of stay dep ends on the professionals judgment. Foucault goes on to argue that Disciplinary punishment leads to self-policing by the populace as opposed to brutal displays of authority from the earlier eras. He utilized supervision, assessments, timetables and detailed attention to efficiency as tools for his studies of penology. Such ideas influenced the technology used in prisons such as Jeremy Benthams Panopitcon. The Panopticon, usually located in the center of a prison floor consisted of a single guard who could watch over many prisoners while remaining hidden. Ancient prisons have been replaced by clear and visible ones, but Foucault cautions that visibility is a trap. It is through this visibility, Foucault claims, that modern society exercises its controlling systems of power and knowledge. Increasing visibility leads to power located on an individualized level as shown by the possibility for judicial institutions to monitor individuals throughout their lives. Foucault suggests that a carceral continuum or a carceral archipelago runs through modern society, from the maximum security prison, through secure accommodation, probation, social workers, police, and so on into our daily working and home lives. All are joined together by the supervision (surveillance, application of social/moral norms of acceptable behavior) of some humans by others. Although the methods in which these sociological theorists approached penology, their ideas helped influence and change the way in which we [as society] view crime and the correlation it holds with punishment. These dominant theories shaped the evolution of American and European penal history which reflected the social, cultural and moral reforms of their times in relation to crime and the administration of punishment. Essay Two Punishment in Ancient European society was brutal and based primarily on private vengeance. Retaliation was violent and often community participation was encouraged. These tribal communities settled their conflicts through blood feuds held in public areas. These feuds, however, did not follow every crime. By 700 A.D. people mediated their offenses through fines. These were called bots (meaning betterment) and were paid to the offended party, while wites referred to fines paid to the King. These fines were highly discriminatory based on social-class structure. Penology practices then began to evolve as attempts were made to match the severity of offenses with the severity of the punishment itself such as in the Roman Justinian Code of 529 A.D. Punishment served as a way to uncover the truth behind crimes, sometimes through compurgation where witnesses were presented on behalf of the accused through trials by ordeal. Punishment was administered through torture if found guilty. The Early Middle Ages (700-1000) was defined as a power struggle between the church and society. The church was so powerful at the time that it had its own system of justice governed by the bishops and clergy. During this time, the church introduced the benefit of the clergy that gave protection from prosecution for church members and leniency to other related groups. Punishment was issued in the form of confinement rather than corporal punishment because the church believed that, such punishment would inevitably lead to the offenders despair, which impeded the ability to repent (15, BL). Only secular courts had the right to executions or any blood shed. Mutilation was popular to match the sanction with the crime (e.g. liars tongues cut out). Banishment and fines were still present. The Late Middle Ages (1100-1300s) signified a time of change in European history as the Church (sacred) power began to decline in daily social life, and with this, began the rise of the secular State pow er. Despite this decline, the church continued to use even more torturous, brutal punishment especially during the period of the Inquisition (13th-15th centuries) to weed out heretics. The end of the medieval period is marked within the social and economic changes brought on by the Mercantilist Era from 1400s-1700s. This era represented a decline of feudalism amongst society hierarchy, and gave birth to the rise of capitalism. Capitalism spread as globalization and commercial activity and trade increased. Power passed into the hands of the wealthy, known as the merchant class. This dissolution of feudalism and a once, agriculturally dominated society brought forward a number of displaced, non-productive people who were very poor called the vagabond poor. These people were focalized in crime and punishment, which gave rise to the understanding the conditions of this social class by learning how they became to be vagabonds. This questioning reflected the importance of work, for work was associated with morality. These vagabonds thus threatened society as a result they were exploited to working within the galley, workhouses and transportation. Transportation especiall y served as a means for states to solve crime problems by sending criminals away to the new colonies for indentured labor. There are several historical trends that can be identified from Ancient society to the end of the Medieval ages. First, there was a decline in direct participation by the community and by victims in primitive European societies. Secondly, there was a direct shift from private vengeance to church power during the Early Middle Ages. The Middle-Ages was a time where general deterrence was essential to preventing crime by instilling fear within the people after witnessing brutal, torturous penal practices. The Late Middle Ages through the Mercantilist Era was characterized by the growing popularity of state and secular justice over the church, and the rise of crime and punishment focused on labor. By the end of the 1700s, secular authorities controlled social classes by transporting criminals and vagabonds overseas to colonies, or by holding them in galleys and workhouses where they were incapacitated to extensive labor. Changing gears from Europe to Colonial America (1600-1790), the new nation was dominated by three primary social institutions which included church, family and community. Crime was viewed as sin and punishments mostly served religious ends, directly or indirectly in nature to reflect the laws and morals of the time. Colonial American society was centered on religion, where there was the mentality of, God wants people to behave a certain way, and it is the peoples job to set morality and justice. Punishment was administered for many common offenses and resulted in fines, shaming, whippings and sometimes exile. Executions were made public in order to have an educational purpose where community was intended to learn, however, intentional cruelty behind corporal punishment decline. The rise of the new nation could not have evolved without the presence of European Enlightenment Ideas in the American colonies. The prominence of human reason served as a tool to battle ignorance, superstition and tyranny targeted mainly in religious and hereditary aristocracy. Crime and punishment evolved to becoming a philosophy of understanding the offender. This gave birth to the first modes of classical criminology that assumed all people were rational beings that must be equated with a balance between crime and punishment. Ideas such as these enlightened moderation of punishment to focus on rationality and more importantly, efficiency. Punishment was concealed behind bars in prisons where criminals were to be held separate from society as a means of incapacitation. Early prisons and other penal institutions, such as the penitentiaries increased incarceration in America. Together the Colonial Ages and American Federalist period (1790-1830) marked a time of social reform where there was the suppression of the emotional purposes of punishments and execution to a newfound emphasis on their instrumental purpose instead. Criminals were to be understood rationally taking into account human reason, and crimes were to be administered fairly with a balance between offense and sanction. Punishment was morally defined. Punishment and reform in 19th century America (1830-1880s) prospered with the shift from prison-to-penitentiary. Societal influences included: alcoholism, gangs, and immigration. The Temperance and Abolitionist movement deemed alcohol use as moral failings/disease in society. Punishment revolutionized out of Enlightenment ideals that focused on democratization where society was governed by the people. Crime was spreading and was soon viewed as moral and social pathology. It was believed that crime could be combated with the help of penitentiaries. The goals of these institutions were to reform criminals through routine, surveillance and discipline. Blomberg and Lucken best define crime as: criminal activity was attributed to human interactions with a morally depraved environment (61). This penal ideology spread into Progressive America where crime and punishment were studied with science to understand criminality through biological, psychological and sociological reforms. From the Pr ogressive Movement into 20th century America, there flourished the proliferation of penal services (parole, probation, indeterminate sentencing, prison specialization min., med., max.). This ideology focused on social and moral reform as well by introducing reformatories (not vengeance), specializing and professionalization in prisons and a growing focus on juvenile and female offenders. Academic and medical questioning ruled criminology, the understanding of offenders and how to treat prisoners which lasted until the 1960s. The 1970s is best defined as a time of American Liberalism. Within society there were cultural changes taking placing as social activism and protest amongst all groups civil rights, women, prisoners, etc. Growing emphasis was put on prisoners issues and rights and through this we [society] made attempts to understand the internal and external relations of offenders with society. Decentralization emerged with the idea of Less is Better where importance was aimed at the criminal justice system through reforms such as net-widening that identified people who were at high risks to commit crimes, and deinstitutionalization of juveniles (not behavior that determines crime, age status instead). The 20th century was a change to rehabilitative and specific deterrence amongst criminals. From the 1980s to the present, crime increased as political and social turmoil grew in America. The war on crime that evolved with the staggering drug use of the 80s was counteracted with the conservative backlash by the government that installed harsher prison sentences focused on retribution, deterrence and incapacitation (three-strikes rule, mandatory minimums, etc). Increasingly so, social inequality is the underlying factor of high imprisonment rates amongst the poor and minorities. Privatization of prisons and companies led to a culture of greed that resulted in growing crime rates. This soon led to the collapse of the rehabilitative ideal into the era of get tough punishment and law and order punishment that was termed Neo-Conservative criminology. Essay Three Jails and prisons were among the first public structures built in colonial America. Besides serving as a place for emigrants, jails were an essential part of the system of bondage that existed in America. At a time where the dominating institutions consisted of the church, community and family, any crime committed was viewed as sin. Criminal activity was reflecting religiously onto the community as a whole. Executions were carried out for ordinary crimes other than murder, under local rather that state authority, and were made public. Punishments focused on retribution rather than understanding the crime, or the criminal. There began a shift from the 18th century to 1789 after the ideas of the Enlightenment reached the western world. The belief in human reason and rationality governed all aspects of life, especially penology. As a new nation emerged, penal practices changed to view criminals as rational beings, and an increased notion that there should be a balance between crime and punishment so it can be efficient. In regards to capital punishment, people felt it did not equate with the democratic ideals founded within our nation and it was in fact ineffective as a deterrent. From this point until the 1900s into the Progressive Era, crime changed and adapted according to the cultural changes that corresponded. Americas growing population boom, immigration increase, industrialization and urbanization were all factors in growing incarceration rates. Over time, prisons trended towards becoming more pervasive, more secure, and more permanent. In contemporary America there is a growing sense that the cost of fighting of crime, incarceration and rehabilitative services is spiraling out of control. There are more criminals, more courts, more prisoners and more anger as society focuses on the criminal as the cause for the economic collapse and downturn. The most recent historical factors that have led to todays conditions begin in the 1960s the age of disconnect where many significant changes to societal norms started. These included the civil rights movement, freedom of the individual, increased used of illegal substances, changing attitudes to sex and sex education, and in general, a focus on a more liberal and less-controlled societal model. During this period America experienced a debilitating military conflict (Vietnam), a break-down of the family unit as defined in separation statistics, and a core change in the role of women in society. At this time there was substantial focus upon prisoner rights, focus upon rehabilitative rather than punitive punishment ideals and a number of inside-prison demonstrations and even rioting against the methods of incarceration being used. Americas death penalty collapsed after the Furman v. Georgia decision where it was nullified and made unconstitutional. By the end of the 60s and 70s this era of liberalism was being pointed to as the cause of other significant societal problems crime being one of the most prominent. The 1980s witnessed a major shift back towards a more conservative America. The war on crime changed from one focusing on rehabilitative and (what caused) criminal activity to one that called for substantially-increased reliance on incarceration and an almost sole focus upon stopping the activities of criminals. Through a combination of sentencing guidelines (mandatory minimums, truth-in sentencing, three strikes) the aim was clear. By incarceration, clearly, the activities of the individual criminal were curtailed through incapacitation. There was little, if any concern, on rehabilitation and many argue upon humane treatment. Against this trend American society experienced large swings towards materialism, a lifestyle of financial improvement without concern for the morality of society as a whole (Boesky). These changes led America to become entrenched in a culture of greed where inequality between social and economic classes rose enormously, and so began the widespread politicization of criminal justice as crime was brought to political form. Beginning with the Reagan administration, the political goals, reflecting societys attitudes were quite evident. There were to be more incarcerations for more criminals for more offenses with greater sentences and less focus on parole provisions and rehabilitative treatments. These Get Tough penal philosophies exploded after the war on drugs invaded America as more people (many minorities) were being arrested and placed in prisons for much harsher sentences. Because of the increased prison population numbers, there was the need to specialize prisons based on the type of crime/the incarceration period imposed. This included a tiering, or separation of prisons into three divisions: minimum, medium and maximum facilities. The societal shift continued through the Bush (senior) administration and into the 1990s, where theories of penology are characterized by culture of control (BL). Control, in this context means: reinforcing more rigid guidelines for sentencing, more inflexible guidelin es towards rehabilitative treatments, and in general, a harsher, punitive mindset towards criminals. The changing economic climate has now introduced a move towards privatization. Privatization is a desire to outsource the management of prisons and criminals away from the state. Because the goals of private enterprise are profit-based, this suggests a shift to penology model with even less of a concern upon prisoners rights, rehabilitative treatments and any actions outside strict profit-based incarceration. Essay Four From colonial times to contemporary society, American penal history has undergone significant changes. Various penal innovations have been presented, some of which have had major impact on penology as a whole. Many of the thoughts and beliefs from Europes Age of Enlightenment carried onto the new-world, which helped birth the flourishing democratic ideals founded in the United States. The Enlightenment (18th century to 1789) was characterized by the belief in human reason and rationality. In regards to judicial reform, the goals of this era were to form a better world by using human reason to combat the negativities of ignorance, susperstition and tyranny that governed old monarchial practices. It also sought to target religious and hereditary aristocracy to create a more socially and economically equal society. The Enlightenment gave American penal policy and practices the push it needed to moderate punishment on the basis of rationality and efficiency. As a result most notably criminals were viewed as rational beings; punishment was to be efficient and logical, discipline changed from being public to conceal all factors which led to the early emergency of the prison and growing incarcer ation. The presence of enlightenment ideas in America influenced sociologists of the early 20th century such as Max Weber and Norbert Elias. Both sociologists studied the science of punishment by observing penal and other worldly changes from 19th century onwards leading towards rationality. Elias in particular held the notion that Western societies have become more civilized. This notion followed the trends of punishment, which he believed were reflected in the changing sensibilities in the civilizing evolution of Western culture. Despite there being a tension between moral imperative and bureaucratic management of the more highly privatized modern world, discipline was starting to be rationalized in a scientific, logical manner for means of justifying penal practices. Such social and moral reforms influenced the rise of one of the most prominent penal innovations the American penitentiaries of the 1800s. During such times crime was seen as a moral and social pathology. In the 1820s, two variants, the Pennsylvania System and the Auburn System competed for the role of best in the handling of the incarcerated population in America. The silent method of the Pennsylvania System required absolute silence, complete lock down in a solitary environment and produced mental problems at a rapid rate. It was espoused by the religious zeals such as the Quakers who felt that prisoners would be rehabilitated by that system. The belief was that silence and isolation helped criminals reflect on their crime alone. The Auburn System was seen as more cost effective because it required labor which offset the cost of prison housing. Auburn introduced uniforms, the lockstep and harsh punishment for minor infractions. The idea in the Auburn system was that silence, working together and discipline could yield reform in criminals. These two great penitentiaries were based on the ideas enveloped within each giv en region in America. In the North, rehabilitative ideals aimed to change/transform individuals, while the South adopted a convict lease system built on the slavery model that influenced penal reform to exploit labor to satisfy economic and political means. In truth, neither penitentiary created a model prisoner or one that entirely rehabilitated. The debate continues today between those that argue in long sentences and those that want reform. The importance in such an innovation was that it reflected the beliefs and ideals of democratization and moral reform of the 19th century. It exemplified the prisoner as a rational being that could and must be studied to explain criminality, diagnose and treat and then correct the criminal through rehabilitation. The second penal innovation grew out of former rehabilitative penal practices into the Progressive American Era (1880s-1930s) that theorized crime through biological, psychological and sociological factors for better understanding. These beliefs introduced positivist criminology, which asserted faith in the scientific study of criminals and crime through classification. In relation to penal ideology, it created reformatories, indeterminate sentencing, parole and probation. Punishment was less punitive and searched for the causes, treatment and corrections of criminals, especially juveniles. This movement led to the Juvenile Court Reform Movement. The Juvenile Court Movement lasted for nearly sixty years, beginning in 1900. Juveniles were seen as lost children who required guidance and whose crimes were subject to indeterminate sentencing to show leniency on the behalf of courts in hopes that treatment could help transform the characters of such offenders. This movement revolved around the rehabilitative ideal centralized in society as this time that claimed human behavior was a product of antecedent causes which could be identified, classified in accordance to specific scientific treatment, which could then be treated therapeutically. The importance behind the juvenile court movement is that it launched the specialization of penal practices. For example, the term prison guard expired and advanced to corrections officer. The term corrections emerged as professionalization and bureaucratization was introduced (as seen in Weber). Next, the treatment of offenders was individualized and penal services were broadened to accompany f or the various causes of criminal behavior, and was more accessible than ever before. Prison specialization led to the classification and division of these institutions into minimum, medium and maximum facilities governed by corrections officers with the aid of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, vocational counselors, etc. Although the innovations of the juvenile reform movement and the progressive era were promising, by the late-20th century, America was headed towards decentralization. Criminologists and penologists created labeling theories that took focus away from the offender and onto the criminal justice system as an entity. Net-widening occurred in penal reforms that formed programs that identified people who were considered at high-risk to commit crimes. There began an academic focus on social control that influenced the contemporary penal model characterized by Get Tough punishment. Policy makers have implemented multiple-strategies approach to combat crime including: retribution, incapacitation (search for habitual offender), deterrence (escalation of penalties), restoration and rehabilitation (214). Present-day America has evolved to become a culture of control and greed (211, BL). Truth-in-Sentencing standards and Three-Strikes Laws were some of the few penal methods introduced in the 1980s to curb crime rates and put habitual offenders away for longer periods of time. Truth-in-sentencing refers to policies and legislation that aim to abolish or curb parole, so that convicts serve the period that they have been sentenced to. Three-Strikes law statutes enacted by state governments in the UHYPERLINK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_StatesS require the state courts to hand down a mandatory and extended period of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. Restorative justice has also been implemented recently that puts criminals up against the state, holding the criminal accountable through highly retributive means. These various methods comb

Interstate Hydraulic Manufacturing Co. Essay

Interstate Hydraulic Manufacturing Co. is an established, family-owned manufacturer of hydraulic devices used in automobile suspensions and forklift trucks. From the factory in Muncie, Indiana, products are shipped to customers worldwide. All data processing is performed by a minicomputer, which handles payroll, billing, accounts receivable, inventory, and cost accounting. Workers clock on and off the job using time clocks, and they report job progress by filling out a forms packet that accompanies each job lot. Data from the time cards and forms packets is keyed into the computer by data entry operators in the manufacturing division, who use terminals. Ben Lambert is in charge of customer service, handling complaints, conducting plant tours, and providing information to the plant manager on product performance. One day Lambert is sitting at his desk, handling the backlog of correspondence he has accumulated. He picks up his office recorder and dictates the following letter: Ms. Ellie Nostrom Purchasing Director McCullin Enterprises Thank you very much for being so understanding last week when you called to inquire about your order. As I explained, we have a large number of jobs in process at any one time, and many more waiting in line. It is simply impossible to locate where one is without spending considerable time looking through our records. I’m sure you can understand. I later learned that your order was held up due to lack of materials. We have been having difficulty obtaining the nylon bushing that attaches the actuating arm to the housing. We have had only one supplier that could meet our high quality standards, and we have recently learned that its factory has been on strike for almost half a year. We finally located another supplier in California and placed an order with it. But when the bushings arrived, the receiving report was misfiled, and we didn’l know that they were here. The receiving report, which is normally sent to our accounting department, was sent to purchasing by mistake. After your call, I talked with the supervisor of receiving, and he said he remembered seeing the shipment. We finally located it in inventory and have issued a production order. The job is presently in process and should be completed either by the end of next week or early the following week. Again, thank you for calling attention to your order. Our customers are our most valuable asset, and we appreciate your business. You have our pledge that we will continue to be responsive to your needs and supply you with the same high level of service that has been our trademark. Please do not hesitate to call on me at any time.

The Effects of Mentoring at-Risk Youth

THE EFFECTS OF MENTORING AT-RISK YOUTH Abstract: Mentoring has arguments both for and against its effectiveness in relation to at-risk youth. These programs have been known to help in areas of self-esteem, attitudes toward drugs and alcohol, grades, attendance and disciplinary problems in school. Although, the scope of at-risk youth can be quite narrow, if administered correctly it can be inclusive of all teens with emotional and behavioral problems. These programs should not be considered a quick fix to such a large problem, but it can be used as a means to an end.Mentoring programs for youth and teens considered to be at-risk have begun to grow throughout the country. Not all programs agree on a generalized approach, but it is fair to say the concept is the same when dealing with this group of youth. The term mentor is basically described as a trusted counselor or teacher. The term at-risk, for purposes of this study, relates to youth from single parent households, who exhibit emot ional and behavioral problems. The overall consensus is to pair a responsible and caring adult with a troubled adolescent youth.The ultimate goal is for a relationship to form and to build a bond of trust with an adult who can in turn, help them deal with the troubles that often arrive in life. Unfortunately, many adolescents are never given the opportunity to build relationships with caring adults. Nearly a quarter of all American children will live in single-parent homes, and half of the current generation of children will live in a single-parent household during some point in their childhood (Dryfoos, 1998).There are a host of factors that contribute to this situation such as changing economic, social and cultural conditions have increased the vulnerability of negative life outcomes for adolescents’ (Dryfoos, 1998). Natural mentors are described as close family members such as father, mother, uncles, aunts, brother’s, sister’s and/or grandparents. In order to address the problems that have come to light as a result of the diminished availability of natural mentors, volunteer mentoring programs ave multiplied in recent years (Freedam, 1993; Rhodes, in press). Just as natural mentoring, volunteer mentoring involves building a relationship between the youth and adults, as to off support in meeting the youth’s academic, social, career, and/or personal goals (Dubois, et al. , in press). It is estimated that as many as five million American youth are involved in some type of mentor program being it in school or community based.They range from such programs as the renowned Big Brothers/Big Sisters to other less structured programs. Without such programs to assist these youth, once they are adults, they are more likely candidates for divorce, high unemployment; physical and mental problems, drug and alcohol abuse, and quite often become involved in more criminal activity (Patterson, Debaryshe, & Ramsey, 1989). If left unchecked, these pr oblems could prove costly both to society and the individual.Whereas the approximate average cost of a well organized and operated mentoring program is estimated at around $1,000, taking into account a per child per year projection, it could eliminate or at least marginalize the need for future social services (Grossman & Gary, 1997). Youth without the proper social support framework or low levels of social support, has a tendency to be withdrawn, and show a lack of concern about their future. They are negligent, and more likely to harm others than were youth who had the privilege of being exposed to a proper social support system (Kashani, Reid, & Rosinberg, 1989).Although only a vice mentoring could provide some social support and could improve the way these youth function in society. Some theorize that youth develop deviant behavior because they lacked the opportunity to interact and or relate with positive role models within their community (Hawkins & Weis, 1985). Mentors can at times be that beacon of hope or the voice of reason which would allow these youth to see and appreciate appropriate social behavior and could in turn curve their delinquent behavior.Most mentoring programs are forced to rely on the kindness of the community for support and this usually comes in the form of volunteers and donations (Keating, Tomishima, & Foster, 2002). Even though the effectiveness of mentoring programs are often brought into question, the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America organization has a proven track record of successful unions between caring adults and at-risk youth. This organization conducted a study of at-risk youth over the course of approximately one year to show the effects of a positive mentor to mentee relationship.The results revealed they were less likely to become involved in the following activities: 46% illegal drugs, 27% start drinking, 52% skip a day of school, and 37% to skip a class. The mentees were more trusting of parents, and not as prone to lie to them, they also felt more support from their friends. High intensity programs can be effective, especially those with more one-on-one interaction in the form of frequent meetings throughout the month, meeting between 2-4 hours at each visit along with frequent phone contact (Tiernay and Grossman, 1995) (Keating, Tomishima, & Foster, 2002).In this age of technology there is a host of opportunities available for the tech savvy to capitalize on when it comes to mentoring. E-mentoring is the next step in mentoring programs. A program has been in existence for the past 11 years, created by a group of researchers from Drexel University called the â€Å"I Could Be† program, in order to study the effects of online mentoring. So far the results have been mostly positive. Online mentoring can be both an effective and viable option when compared to the traditional face-to-face method.Given the current nature of working conditions, organizations may seek to implement e-mentori ng programs due to their ability to be both cost-effective and time saving compared to the traditional approach. The study showed that students who were comfortable using computers tended to get the most out of the program. Students with the lowest level of confidence at the beginning of the program saw the biggest gains. One of the major drawbacks is that, you’re not face-to-face. The major advantage is the ease of access to more than one mentor.Concerns regarding the overall security of children may have helped to slow the growth of this type of program. Unfortunately high dropout rates and poor academic performance have seemingly became synonymous with the experience of African American male youth. Upon visiting just about any public school in the Country you are bound to find African American male youth almost aimlessly wondering the halls, as if they have been alienated from the educational process and left to their own devices to discover the American dream for them.The ir presence is scarcely seen in the gifted and advanced academic classes, while at the same time they are highly represented in remedial classes. When it comes to suspension and expulsion they dominate the list in comparison to their White male counter-parts (Bailey, 1996; Center for the Study of Social Policy, 1990; â€Å"Federal Report,† 1999; Ford, Grantham, and Bailey, 1999; Lee, 1992; Skiba, Michael, Nardo, and Preston, 2000; Trescott, 1990). They are often observed hanging out on street corners or in the malls, where they are viewed with both fear and contemptment.They often give up on the education process entirely because they feel as if the things learned there do not apply to them and they seek elsewhere for success. The educational system is often viewed as a way to place a label upon them and to stifle the potential for them to grow as individuals (Narine, 1992) (Bailey & Paisley, 2004). Reports have stated that approximately 1 out of every 4 male African American s have to report for court ordered supervision and that there are more African American men controlled by the court than there are enrolled in college (Bass & Coleman, 1997; Green & Wright, 1992; Mauer, 1990).Although only 15% of African American youth are represented in the juvenile population, they constitute approximately 43% of juveniles in public facilities and 34% in private custody (Bailey, 1999, FBI, 1996; Sickmund et al. , 1997). There is an apparently clear overrepresentation of African American male youth in juvenile facilities. This in turn makes for a negative self-image as well as creating an inherit distrust and disrespect of authority (Lee & Bailey, 1997) (Bailey & Paisley, 2004). Minority and poor populations are grossly underserved within the educational system.As a result these students are less likely to be assigned to classes that would prepare them for college and they are quite often being taught by teachers working out of their field (The Education Trust, 199 8). Unfortunately, the majority of most minority and poor populations have the least amount of qualified teachers. The fact is most of these kids will not escape the confines of such experiences and thus will not seek higher education because of feeling an inability to perform in the college arena (Bailey & Paisley, 2004).African Americans populate a mere 17% of the total school system, yet they account for 32% of suspensions and 30% of all expulsions (Skiba et al. , 2000). When it comes to graduating from college African American males have a devastating 1 in 12 chance and when it comes to high school dropout rates they have a 1 in 4 chance (Trescott, 1990). For those who realize the need for higher education and choose to pursue college and university enrollment in the United States, they will find what it means to be a true minority because African American males only account for 3. % of the college population (U. S. Bureau of the Census, 1998) (Bailey & Paisley, 2004). Mentoring is viewed by some as an intervention for at-risk youth who need assistance and preparation for adult life as well as being a conduit of sorts to curb dropout rates, delinquency, unemployment and a host of other ill’s associated with troubled youth (Mech, Pryde, & Rycraft, 1995) (Blechman, 1992). The effects of mentors and mentor programs in general vary greatly and according to how the study is conducted it allows for objective to be set in order to quantify the study.Some studies suggest that mentors have no beneficial impact on the mentee, while they do note some changes occurred but some of the changes were outside the scope of the study (Royse, David, 1998). The first thing we should mention is that the study conducted by Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America was conducted over a 15 month period. It is believed that more relevant changes might have taken place had the study been conducted over a 24 or 30 month period. Longer matches between mentor’s and menteeâ€⠄¢s were believed to be more productive by parents than shorter ones.It is important to note while mentoring does have positives effects, it is not and should not be considered the quick fix to our at-risk youth, problems (Frecknall & Lurks, 1992) (Royse & David, 1998). The second thing to consider is although most mentors kept accurate logs concerning time spent with mentee’s, some did not. This in turn made it difficult to accurately account or report the times of volunteers since these logs were incomplete. With that being said, it made accounting for actual time of contact between mentor’s and mentee’s difficult, to say the least.If the mentor is not consistent when meeting the mentee, the overall objective could be hindered significantly (Roaf, Tierney, & Hunte, 1994). It is vital to keep records in regard to the relationship between the mentor and mentee. This can be difficult because mentee’s are sometimes concerned about their image among peers so they are reluctant to explain the presence of a mentor. Even though some results say mentoring is ineffective, the fact remains that the lives of at-risk youth are substantially affected by a caring adult (Garmezy, 1985; Rutter, 1987; Werner & Smith, 1992; O’Sullivan, 1991).This should be evidence enough as to the need for even more mentoring projects to be formed, refined, and applied to those in need of such services. These programs may not always have immediate tangible results. They have proven to be not harmful while at the same time, having potential to catapult mentee’s into their destiny (Royse & David, 1998). In conclusion, I’ve often heard it said that children are the future and we should teach them well and let them lead the way. Although they are the future, yet and still, America is letting a minority segment fall by the way.One thing is sure, if people are not given hope and allowed to see themselves as viable members of society; they will abando n all morals and rules that govern the land. Although mentoring can be a key element in getting at-risk youth back on track, it should not be the only source to help these youth. This must be done with all due diligence in order to insure the future survival of all Americans. If something is not put in place soon, America will have alienated an entire generation.This will have created a third world society within the borders of the land of the free and the home of the brave. References: Bailey, D. F. , Paisley, P. O. (2004). Journal of Counseling and Development v. 82 no. 1 p. 10-17 http://www. icouldbe. org/csewi/public/pg_evaluation. asp http://www. infed. org/learningmentors/youth_mentoring_in_perspective. htm Keating, L. M. , Tomishima, M. A. , Foster, S. (2002). Adolescence v. 37 p. 717-34 Royse, D. (1998). Adolescence v. 33 no 129 p. 145-58

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