Abstract
Anxiety and crime are closely related. This is because a criminal will tend to act in a way that he or she expresses fear. At the same time, the police are able to single out a criminal from a crowd through the facial or body expression he or she portrays. Anxiety can be explained as a situation or state of mind that expresses fear and affects the thinking ability of a person. Crime on its part is illegal dealings that may pose danger to the community, individuals or the state. Thus, measures to combat crime are essential. This research paper will deal with the effects of crime and anxiety in context of young people living in America.
Anxiety and Crime
Introduction
Anxiety is a state of fear. An individual is restless because he feels that something bad will happen to him. Anxiety is closely associated with crime and activities that may bring fear into the lives of people. Moreover, anxiousness makes a person feel guilty of something that they have or have not committed. This is because fear takes up the feeling and emotional party of the human body. Therefore, listening and offering support to such person will lead to increased confidence for such individuals. An anxious person is shy to associate and socialize with the rest of the community members. At this point, an individual will need help to ensure that he does not go into unmanageable limits. On the other hand, crime refers to activities connected to illegal events that attract the attention of the security agent. In many cases, youth are more likely to be killed by the police during criminal raids. This means that their involvement in crime and illegal ordeal is higher than the rest of the social groups in the society. At this point, there is dire need to have program put into place to ensure that the young people are committed to income generating activities. Moreover, the schooling system in the country needs to teach skills to students. In addition, crime results to unprecedented events such as loss of properties, lives and peace. This paper concentrates on the causes of anxiety and crime amongst the youths in the United States.
Background to the Study
Anxiety amount the youth in the United States is very high. It is the same case with crime among young individuals. The biggest percentage of youths engaged in the above activities comes from the African American families (Miller, 2012). Thus, a number of factors contribute to the situation. These factors include: unemployment, poverty and racial discrimination (Hope & Sparks, 2012). Unemployment forces the youths to engage in crime. Poverty on the other hand makes young girls indulge into prostitution so as to make ends meet. The youth forms the largest labor force in the world and positive utilization of this group brings in positive economic outcomes (Robinson & Gadd, 2015). Some parents will also marry off their young daughters to fight poverty through payment of dowry. These are extreme measures that force the youths into anxiety and crime.
Importance of the Study
This study is important because it offers an opportunity to evaluate the causes of crime and anxiety among the youth. Therefore, formidable measures and suggestions will be outlined. These measures may help to come up with structured program that will reduce the effects of these incidences. At the same time, security in the country will be enhanced through reduction of crime activities (Britto, 2013). Businesses are more likely to thrive in a climate where crime activities fall on the lower edge. This is because business activities can go on till late night, an action that promotes the economic status of the country (Deflem, 2010). The information and data collected can be used by the state in planning for the population. Therefore, the study will contribute significantly to community development and positive growth of the economy.
Statement of the Problem
The increase in crime and anxiety among youth is reaching alarming rates. This calls for government intervention to reduce the number of youth who participate in crime. Thus, the paper deals with crime and anxiety among youth in the United States. Specifically, the effects of these events on the lives of victims is outlined and discussed at length.
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Body
Literature Review
A study conducted by Jennifer Macomber from urban institute shows that youths are vulnerable during the transition from childhood to adulthood. In addition, young people undergo through mental health problems when life becomes challenging during transition. During this study, anxiety was measured using MHI-5 scale, where the most vulnerable activities were accorded a cumulative of five while the least vulnerable activities took one. Individuals who engaged in ill-behaviors were categorized in the first group hence vulnerable (Miller, 2012).The group engaged in sexual activities, smoking of marijuana and fighting. These activities are more likely to land a person into jail. Therefore, the population of young people in jail is swelling due to the increased number of youths in the use of illegal drugs and participation in crime. In addition, the number of school drop outs among the young population is high in the country. This is because they indulge in illegal activities at a very early stage (Hope & Sparks, 2012). In addition, adults from poor background get involved in drug trafficking and use more than the middle-class and high-class families. In addition, 7% of women below the age of eighteen years old had a child. This was common for poor families and 2%ofstudents or youths coming from middle class families.
In addition, racial profiling in America forces people from certain racial backgrounds to engage in crime more than others. The black people in the state are known to be gangsters and criminals. Thus, they dominate in most of the prisons in the country. At the same time, the rate of incarceration among the black population is more than any other race. However, these conditions are attributed to high unemployment levels experienced by the Blacks (Robinson & Gadd, 2015). From the 18th century, the Blacks are racially segregated in the country from accessing employment, government services and political seats. However, a few people were able to access these essential services. One of the greatest achievements that the black people feel to have attained includes the election of Barrack Obama into office of the president (Britto, 2013). They felt that they had equal chances of being elected into office as other racial groups. Profiling has gone a long way in segregating schools where some schools are dominated by the whites while others by the colored population. For those schools that admit the colored population, the financing and facilitation by the government falls below the average. This is contrary to government support for white dominated schools. Therefore, the black population lives in fear from police attack as they are considered criminals (Deflem, 2010).This affects the youths in a great way because they are portrayed as criminals and lazy people. Therefore, they fall victims to criminal cases that happen in the community.
According to turner, some youths are lured into bad habits by peer pressure. This insinuates that the friends that the young people make in schools and in community determine their behaviors and attitude towards life. Most of the young people convicted of crime confer of being influenced by peers to commit illegal activities. Therefore, peer pressure has seen many youth go into prison. After undergoing through the jail term, the youth often get incarcerated because of people they live with (Scherer & Skancke, 2009).The police accuse the young people with crime and related activities. The police are made to believe that the youths find it easy to commit community crime due to the high number of incarceration. Thus, hand picking a young person for crime committed is an easy job for the police who keep record of evil doers (Schirach & F, 2012). This is not supposed to be the case with professional administration officers who are supposed to carry out investigation before they arrest a person. Contrary, due to the high number of cases involving young people especially the black youths, the police make assumption and in most cases, they end up arresting the right person (Turner, 2010).By going through the historical background of such individual, police discover that the arrested person has in one occasion been involved in illegal activities. For example, drug dealers use the young people to transport the consignment. If they are caught by the police, they end up serving a jail terms that was undeserving because they were acting on behalf of the drug balloons.
Moreover, the use of social media and technological platforms has led to emergence of new crimes such as cybercrime. These crimes create an illusion in the minds of the youths that they can become rich within a fortnight. Thus, they would do anything at their exposure to ensure that they amass wealth for themselves within the shortest time possible. Thus, most youths make decisions based on the influence of social media. At the same time, they expose their privacy on social media leading to identity theft. At the point where their identity is under threat, a people become anxious as they are unaware of the outcome of such incidences (United States & Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2009). For example, some young individuals have been killed by people they met over the internet and Face book. Making decision based on the information gained from these sites is dangerous and one should be careful when implementing advice rendered (Vanin, 2009). These are just some of the factors that cause an increase in crime and fear in adults. Government should also engage the youths in public education in regards to the use of technology. At the same time, the youths must be taken through the negative effect of crime.
Hypothesis
Discrimination has been portrayed as the main cause of anxiety and crime among the African youths in America. At the same time, factors that lead to discrimination will be outlined in this paper. Racial profiling has also ailed cohesion and integration amongst communities (Vanin, 2009). This is because of the negative stereotyping that is prevalent in the community. This research will focus on the effects of racial profiling and discrimination to the behavioral attributes of the young population.
Independent Variable
This category of variable cannot be changed and is not determined by change in the dependent variable. In this case, racial profiling and discrimination forms the independent variables. Government has a responsibility to facilitate the youths through provision of job opportunities and equal treatment in schools.
Dependent Variable
Behavioral attributes (anxiety and crime) amongst the youth depend on the racial profiling and discrimination against the youths in the population. Therefore, the dependent variables include anxiety and crime.
Research Question
The research is determined to answer the following questions:
- What causes anxiety and crime amongst the youths?
- How can government curb anxiety and crime in United States?
- What role do parents have over their children indulgence into crime and anxious ordeal?
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Conclusion
Study Limitations
This study was limited in time and resources. For time, the period set to conduct multiple activities was short hence led to the use of internet sources as primary document for the research. This is contrary to what is expected for a project of this nature. In regards to the resources, I did not have enough financial resources to move about as a collect data by interviewing the target audiences (Schirach & F, 2012). This meant that some questionnaire would be filled by people within my reach an action that would affect the credibility and general use of the research study. However, I was able to overcome these challenges and carried out the research at my own discretion.
Policy Implications
The application of credibility policy was undermined in the sense that some information was expensive to extract from the right audience. This is because of the distance and dislocation between the researcher and the audience. On the other hand, the collection and recoding of data followed the set rules. This meant that I introduced the target audience to my research and they gave consent to be able to proceed (Scherer & Skancke, 2009).At the same time, the participants were selected in a random manner and they were taken through the research program before actively contributing to its development. In addition, the name and identification data were left out during the interview to discourage leakages.
Future Research
There is still a lot of information and study to be conducted regarding personal beliefs and cultural effects on crime and anxiety. This is because the cultural diversity in the country contributes to the interaction between races. Thus, my research study acts as a stepping stone for future research.
Recommendation
My recommendations to the American government are outlined below:
- Government should introduce programs that will ensure that the youths are busy and do not have free time to engage in ill-activities. At the same time, the youths will be productive and contribute to the development of the country. It is clear that idle minds think about unnecessary things that may lead to the commitment of crime. In addition, the program should focus on motivating the young people to work hard and pursue their goals (Turner, 2010).
- The social networking should be used for the right reasons. First, government should limit crime through these platforms. This is because they are the major source of conflict in the community. Second, the state should monitor unusual behavior and actions online. This is because they lead to devastating outcomes that catch the state unaware.
- Community mobilization is essential to sensitize the youth against crime. This will see the number of youths in jails go down. Additionally, the community will benefit through reduction in crime and improvement in the business world. Businesses will be opened till late at night, an action that will improve the financial and social welfare of families (United States & Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, 2009).
- Create equal opportunities for communities in regards to jobs, educational and social sectors. This is because discrimination denies qualified personnel’s from being employed or assuming office based on their color and skin complexion. Having fought for a long time against discrimination, the nation has a chance of rewriting the history (Vanin, 2009).
Therefore, communities should take care of their children as they transition from childhood to adulthood. The state is an equal player in changing the behavioral attributes of the youths.
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References
Britto, S. (2013). ‘Diffuse anxiety’: the role of economic insecurity in predicting fear of crime. Journal of Crime and Justice, 36(1), 18-34. doi:10.1080/0735648x.2011.631399
Deflem, M. (2010). Popular culture, crime and social control. Bingley: Emerald.
Hope, T., & Sparks, R. (2012). Crime Risk and Insecurity. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
Miller, L. (2012). Criminal psychology: Nature, nurture, culture : a textbook and practical reference guide for students and working professionals in the fields of law enforcement, criminal justice, mental health, and forensic psychology. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Robinson, R. A., & Gadd, D. (2015). Annihilation anxiety and crime. Theoretical Criminology, 20(2), 185-204. doi:10.1177/1362480615594872
Scherer, L. S., & Skancke, J. (2009). Crime. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press/Gale Cengage Learning.
Schirach, & F. (2012). Crime. London: Vintage.
Turner, L. (2010). Inventing fear of crime: Criminology and the politics of anxiety. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 12(2), 133-135. doi:10.1057/cpcs.2010.2
United States, & Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. (2009). Federal Justice Statistics Program: Defendants in Federal Criminal Cases — Terminated, 2005 [United States]. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor.
Vanin, J. R. (2009). Overview of Anxiety and the Anxiety Disorders. Anxiety Disorders, 21(3), 1-18. doi:10.1007/978-1-59745-263-2_1