UNDERSTANDING BURGLARY AS A RESULT OF POVERTY

    One should prepare to read an empirical analysis of one of the most serious crimes that occur in today's society.  Most crimes usually occur as a result of growing up in detrimental and blameworthy environments.  Lack of good role models have the tendency to steer young, easily influenced children and adolescents to a life of crime.  People with no religious background are more likely to commit cruel and atrocious offenses due to the fact that they have not had spiritual morals and values instilled in them.  This paper focuses on burglary as symbolic of all crimes.

LITERATURE REVIEW

    In order to get a full understanding of burglary. I have outlined poverty along with burglary. The reader will find out how the two relates to one another and get into the mindset of these types of people. Statistics will be provided to give a better comprehension of the relationship between the two. Learn of the deterrents so one could protect themselves and their homes from being burglarized.

    There are many causes of burglary. "The first example is jealousy of another's property. Second, lust for personal goods. This shows how greedy people in today's society are. Third, would be the competitive striving for material possessions" (Brown, Esbensen, and Geis, 493). Fourth, could be unemployment, or underemployment. Drug addictions seem to be a major problem in which people break in and enter another person's home. Living in poverty is the cause that we are going to focus on.
Poverty is the state of someone lacking a socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Homelessness is an example of people who are living in poverty. Everyone who is poverty-stricken is not bad people. Many are born into poverty. Some of the people just have not found their break for success. A few were living lavishly but somewhere in their lifetime lost their wealth.

    Poor people are generally labeled. "Surveillance of the poor is moral since society judges rather than merely observing or studying the situations and the people that make up everyday life" (Gans, 11). Society judges actions. As soon as the actions increase in number, society stereotypes character. For example, "the term underclass was coned by Gunner Myrdal, a Swedish economist, who used it in a small book for the general American public, Challenge to Affluence, published in 1963" (Gans 27). "Myrdal's fullest definition of underclass is an unprivileged class of unemployed, unemployables and underemployed people who are more and more hopelessly set apart from the nation at large and do not share in its life, its ambitions and its achievements" (Gans 28)
Society places a burdensome emphasis on the ownership of material items. "Those unable or unwilling to obtain these tokens of self-value-money and goods-in a legitimate manner may be impelled to resort to criminal behavior to acquire them" (Brown, Esbensen, and Geis, 493). The want for goods are unlimited and incapable of being satisfied.

    Burglars have certain levels of experience. There are amateurs who enter into a situation not knowing what to expect. Inexperienced burglars will trespass noisily. The professionals, highly skilled burglars, tend to make a preliminary survey, casing and reconnoitering the dwelling prior to making their entrance. It would be wise for burglars to find out who is in the dwelling, when are they leaving, how many people are there, and how many floors and rooms it consists of. The main thing on burglars' minds is their escape route. Burglars want to obtain possessions of value such as jewelry, money, televisions, radios, and anything that could be carried away without drawing attention to them.

    Many burglars are fearful intruders. They fear confronting individuals whom may be in the house with weapons during the invasion. Others may fear being seen by nosey neighbors or even worse, the police! Burglars tend to fear doing things that they may not want to do like assault or murder someone in the process of the burglary. Most just want to gain another's possessions without hurting them. Burglars rarely enter a domicile where they know someone is occupying the residence. There are many strategies burglars use to determine if someone is in the place in which he wants to break in and enter. "Signs that burglars look for may be a mass heap of accumulated newspapers and mail (Brown, Esbensen, and Geis, 502). This usually means that the occupants of the home have been gone for a few days or weeks, etc. Burglars have been known to find ways to get tenants out of their dwelling place in order to commit a successful burglary. Knocking on the door or calling is another means of determining of there is occupancy.
There are deterrents, which sometimes forces burglars to stray away from certain places. The strongest deterrent is occupancy. The next strongest deterrent would be the likelihood of being observed, caught and identified by eyewitnesses. These deterrents discourage many, but not all, from the theft through fear of the consequences, which may be spending time in prison, jail, or probation.

    There are many statistics on burglary in the United States. "More than about 2.5 million burglaries are reported each year. About 1.25 burglaries are not reported because the items may be worth little value or there is no chance of retrieving the stolen property. Eight per cent of American households are burglarized per year. The highest rates of burglaries are committed in the southern states. The lowest rates are in the northeastern states. One out of seven burglaries are brought to the attention of the authorities. Adult are involved in eighty per cent of burglaries. One out of every five people under the age of eighteen is arrested for burglary. Whites and Hispanics account for seventy per cent of the arrests for burglary. Ninety per cent of the people apprehended are males" (Brown, Esbensen, and Geis, 505).

    By this point in the essay, one should be familiar with burglary, and the mental state of a burglar. The statistics are subject to change at any time. The deterrents should be used accordingly. Let neighbors know that you are going out of town; therefore, they can keep a lookout on your home. This is to inform people so they will not become victims.

RESEARCH METHODS

    Burglary is common in all fifty states.  However, it seems to occur more often in some states more than others.  Briefly analyzing the concept of burglary, the reader will learn the given statistics of burglaries in rich states versus poor states.  Burglaries may occur more in the poor southern states more as desperation to steal in order to survive.  Burglaries may also occur in the richer states because of the opportunities to obtain more valuable possessions. 

The randomly selected statistics will show the number of burglaries in 1999 and 2000 per state.  The poor states that will be focused on are: Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, West Virginia, and Oklahoma.  On the other hand, one will learn the burglary rates of the rich states like Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, California, New York and Wisconsin.  Next, we will compare and contrast the poor states with the rich states. 

The reader will be aware of the burglaries of minors and adults that took place in 1999 in five specific poor states listed.  There were about two thousand six hundred seventeen burglary crimes reported in the state of Alabama.  Approximately 681 people arrested were under the age of 18.  In Arkansas, there were nine hundred ten burglaries committed by juveniles.  Three thousand three hundred eighty-four were committed all together.  Louisiana, another poor state, 2,182 minors were caught and tried for burglary.  However, there were 6,545 burglaries committed.  Mississippi has had 2,160 burglaries reported to the authorities.  Of those 2,160 burglaries, six hundred thirty-seven were minors.  West Virginia has had five hundred thirty-six burglaries.  Children under the age of eighteen accounted for one hundred thirty-eight of the burglaries.  The numbers of burglaries were exceptionally high in the poor states. 

Now, we will examine the number of burglaries within the “rich states”.  The states chosen were: California, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, and New York and Wisconsin.  Within these states, we will observe the number of burglaries from minors in addition to the totality of burglaries within 1999.  California has a 49,307 count of burglaries.  Minors were responsible for almost 17, 096 of these break-ins.  Connecticut had 2,724 burglaries; however, juveniles committed 789 burglaries.  The third state that was randomly chosen is Florida.  27,716 breaking and entering crimes were committed in 1999.  Unexpectedly, minors contributed to 10, 256 of the burglaries.  Fourthly, Michigan has had 5,796 burglaries accounted for.  Minors committed 1,535 burglaries in Michigan. New York seems to have had 6,009 burglaries total.  Minors were responsible for 2,161 of the 6,009 burglaries. 

In 2000, the same poor states that were listed previously also kept a record of their burglary counts. Alabama has reported 2,458 burglaries.  Juvenile were caught 554 of those times.  In Arkansas, minors performed 780 of the 2,720 burglaries.  In Louisiana, there were 5,265 burglaries committed.  Minors were responsible for 1,684.  Minors in Mississippi carried out 650 of the 2,197 burglaries reported.  Juveniles in West Virginia were responsible for 171 out of the possible 547 break-ins reported.  There have been more thefts; however, there are more that have not been reported. 

    In 2000, the “rich states” had also kept statistics on the number of burglaries reported.  California’s minors were responsible for 15,938 of the 46,951 burglaries.  Connecticut had a total of 2,720 burglaries notified to the police.  615 of the people were minors.  Florida had a total of 26,050 people tried in court from burglary.  Almost a thousand of these criminals were juveniles.  Michigan has had 3,690 people on trial.  1,479 were still criminals under the age of 18.  New York has had 2,045 juvenile trials out of the 5,827 burglaries. 

DISCUSSION

    Burglary is the felony of breaking into a house, office, etc., of another with the intent to rob and steal.  A thief tries to seize anything that is of value.  Burglars tend to confiscate items of great expense that usually draws little or no attention to them while leaving.

    One who may be destitute without morals and values is the most likely type of person to resort to burglarize a dwelling place.  Destitution is the state of lacking food, clothing, shelter and being without sustenance.  A person who lacks the needs of survival will probably do what is necessary, even if it means stealing from another.

It is a proven fact that young children and adolescents are very impressionable.  Children usually imitate their parents or someone who plays a major role in their lives.  There have been experiments done testing this hypothesis.  Children mock the ones who they consider to be role models whether they are good or bad influences. 

Just as mentioned before, there are stumbling blocks for people with the mindset that burglarizing homes is the best way to advance up the economical ladder.  One deterrent would be the sounds of an alarm system.  Typically, people will not enter a place where they know the police, security, or law enforcement is located.  Another deterrent would be the presence of an informant.  Burglars tend to be deceitfully, sneaky prowlers who look for the easiest opportunities to gain wealth.

    “Not all people who perceive wage inequality as unfair resort to crime.  Some become entrepreneurs, others get involved in political action, and still others direct the feelings of anger and frustration toward themselves.  The type of crime traditionally associated with economic inequality is property crime, but this may be simply an "opportunity" explanation (since when poor people live side by side with rich people, there's more opportunity).  In recent years, however, the "deep anger" explanation has become more popular, and many criminologists now associate economic inequality with violent crime”(Dr. O’Connor’s notes).  The point that the reader should have understood by now is that not all people who are unemployed or underemployed turn towards property crimes to gain success.  There are people who cherish their freedom.

REFERENCES

Gans, Herbert J. The War against the poor: the underclass and antipoverty policy. Harper Collins Publishers Inc.

Ehrlich, Eugene, Flexner, Stuart B., and Carruth, Gorton. Oxford American Dictionary. Oxford University Press. New York. 1980

Maguire, Kathleen and Pastore, Ann L.  Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. 2000.  United States department of Justice Bureau, Bureau of Statistics.  Washington, DC:USGPO.2001

Stein, Jess and Flexner, Stuart B. Random House Webster's College Thesaurus. Random House. New York. 1997

Reich, Robert B. The New Inequality. Beacon Press. Boston. 1999

Newman, Katherine S. No Shame in My game: the working poor in the inner city. Alfred A. Knope Inc. New York. 1999

United States Department of Justice.  Crime in the United States.  2000.  Federal Bureau of Investigation.200

Wilson, William Julius. The Truly Disadvantaged: the inner city, the underclass, and public policy. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago. 1987

Part one comments: I think the title (Causes & Effects) is too broad.  I think the opening sentence is a bit too engaging for the reader since it almost commands them to read the following.  It sounds like you're focusing on violence, cruel, and atrocious crimes, but the Intro could use an example or two so the reader knows what this focus is.  It would help to mention a specific crime by name, something atrocious, like terrorism, mass murder, or ransom kidnapping where the victim is killed after collecting the ransom.  It would also help if you identified a specific concept, cause, or idea from the field of theoretical criminology.  It sounds like you're working toward a social control theory when you mention religious background.  At other times, it sounds like you're working toward a social learning theory when you mention role models.  Try not to write a broad paper covering the whole of causes and effects in criminology.  Try to find a specific cause and a specific effect that you're interested in writing about.

Part two comments: A much better paper (title is redone), and a focus on burglary is good. Your literature review is good, and it's perfectly appropriate to add references at this point.  I'm still a little concerned about your tendency to write in a command tone of voice (to the reader). For example, I think too many sentences start with action verbs (to the reader), such as "Learn about" or "Let the neighbors..."  It kind of sounds like you're ordering the reader to "Prepare to be dazzled" or something.  I admire strong language, however, but maybe it can be toned down some to improve your writing.

Keep going. On. 04/19/02, I added your Research Methods section, and it looks OK.
Added your Summary on 05/02/02