Relationship Between Poverty and Anti-Social Behaviour Essay

Explore the alliance between poverty and unsociable behavior. What policies grow been introduced to tackle unsociable deportment?In this essay I go place highlight the psychological effects that poverty is likely to buzz off on a person backup in the western innovation and the possible behavioral consequences of this. I will discuss the problems that go on with infantren and young slew macrocosm given prison house sentences and I will suggest one viable change that may help to rear equality. Poverty in itself is not a straight cause of antisocial behaviour that the two are actu every last(predicate)y much intertwined in our modern day individualistic society. tender hierarchy and elevated dissimilitude amplify worries over self-worth across society. Most of us wish to have accepted, appreciated and valued for who we are but a society that causes heavy(a) amounts of tribe feel as though they are perceived as inferior and considered as less(prenominal) worthy , less valuable, less intelligent and a drain on the give in not only causes unnecessary ail suffering and wasted potential, but also acquires the costs of the antisocial responses to the structures that abase them.Research shows a clear link between on-going poverty and prejudicious developmental consequences. Mental health issues, behavioural problems, downcast self-esteem, depression, forgetful grades, anti-social behaviour and delinquency are all, unsurprisingly, in our society, far to a greater extent prevalent among poor people. (mc Leod and shanahan 1996) The effect that poverty has on a persons superstar of self and identity is colossal. The intense stress of being poor, the stigma connected to being poor, the marginalization from greater society and the massive limitations in opportunity are extremely likely to result in undesirable psychological come oncomes. unretentive children quite often experience feelings such as embarrassment or shame (which have been d escribed as the social emotions) and lam to see themselves in a negative light as a result of negative societal views. (weinger 1998) School plays a huge distinguish in the development of a child and is generally considered to be a place where hard work and good grades are the things that matter and a place where ones socioeconomic status is largely irrelevant when it comes to achieving these things but this is deplorably not so and in fact school plays a cardinal part in the stigmatisation of the poor.The majority of teachers have grown up in middle class familys and as a direct result of this they are extremely prone toholding class ground biases towards the low income students. Research has shown that teachers tend to have much lower expectations of low income pupils, viewing them in a less positive light, punishing them in a harsher and more humiliating manner than they would their more affluent peers, reward them less for achievements and delivering them less opportunitie s. (Brantlinger 1991) The psychological development of a child is very much affected by this kind of treatment and it is likely that a child will create their identity based on opposite peoples negative opinions, perceiving themselves to be flawed and labelling themselves as all the things theyve been called, for example bad, stupid, tremendous etc which in itself is highly likely to result in Internalizing (eg depression, anxiety, self-loathing) or externalising (eg shouting, fighting, stealing) behaviours (Erikson 1980).Poor children in general experience noisier, more crowded living conditions, more family instability, chaos, violence and inconsistent punishment which is very often more to be intimate with than their young resources will allow and again, is likely to result in internalizing or externalising behaviours. Poor children have lower alloter aspirations and lower educational aspirations which highlights their sensation of the lack of opportunities available to them , unfortunately a very accurate sentience because although people function as independent actors, the possibilities they face, and the decisions they make are unavoidably constrained by the positions they occupy in the social order (Massey p. 397). presumptuousness all of the above mentioned, it is not difficult to under plinth some of the elements that tin towards the existing relationship between anti-social behaviour and poverty. The question then is how should it be dealt with?As we can see, the factors underlying anti-social behaviour are a compound interaction of psychological, social and economic problems/policies which have borne down much harder on our countrys poorer communities so with that in mind, it seems fairly important not to over simplify the problem with regards to implemented policy, political debates and media coverage. In 2002, Joseph Scholes, elder sixteen, hung himself in prison. He had allegedly been repeatedly and severely sexually mistreat since the age of six and as he got older he began self-harming and displaying ambitious behaviour. He made a serious suicide attempt when he was fifteen by taking an overdose and jumping out of a window and his behaviour later become too difficultfor his bring to manage which led her to make the decision to put him in to the care of the local authority where she hoped he would get the specialist help that he now clearly admited. Shortly after this he was put in to a childrens home and week later he went out one evening, drinking with a group of young people from the home.They encountered some other group of young people and took their mobile phones and their money. Joseph was charged with robbery contempt playing only a peripheral role, displaying no threatening behaviour or violence and it being out of character. His self-harming worsened with the approaching judicial system appearance. The Crown Court Judge who passed Josephs sentence had been given reports from a psychiatrist, soc ial workers and the youth offending team which all made his exposure quite clear and as a result of this the Judge was intransigent that he wanted the warnings of his sexual abuse and self-harming approximately expressly wasted to the attention of the authorities. Taking in to account Josephs vulnerability, he should have been positioned in a secure childrens home but he was instead placed in HMYOI Stoke Heath Prison where he told the staff on numerous occasions in his initially always observed cell that he would relegate his own life if they go him to a normal location within the prison but in spite of this, he was moved in to a cell where he was no longer under twenty-four hour observation and he subsequently killed himself alone in his cell, nine days in to his sentence.The government glum down the call for a public inquiry that followed Josephs death because simply it was unlikely to bring to light any additional factors not already uncovered in previous investigations . Josephs story does not stand in isolation. One hundred and eighty eight young people and an additional nine children died in prison in the ten historic period that followed Josephs death. (Prison ReformTtrust) The fact that there are children in prison in the first place could be viewed as symptomatic of failings by organisations twain inside and outside of the criminal evaluator system to go roughly addressing these childrens complicated and often numerous demand. A report carried out on the deaths of children and young people in prison between 2003 and 2010 revealed that they unremarkably suffered from a catalogue of mental health issues, were a collection of the most disadvantaged people in society with alcohol and drug problems with galore(postnominal) of them having experienced recent bereavement.They had had significant past involvement with community agencies but despite theirvulnerability, they had not been diverted out of the criminal justice system at an early sta ge and had ended up remanded or sentenced to prison (inquest) To put it simply, they need help. Not locking up. Caring for children in punishable custody, especially young offender institutions, is an almost impossible task. Many child prisoners live with a spectre of fear and an enduring feeling of being unsafe. This, in turn, is thought to heighten the risk of damage and/or death. (Goldson 2005) It is a highly flawed system that we currently have in place and there are some excellent organisations and charities increasing awareness, alter research and constantly working towards putting an end to allowing children and young people to be put in jail and making the road to prison a longer one but I wonder how some(prenominal) more children will be failed miserably in the care of the state or have their lives completely destroyed by an inappropriate sentence or kill themselves in prison before our government take action on this.If inequality lies at the root of antisocial behaviour then the solution would for sure be to begin taking steps towards producing greater levels of equality? In societies where there is a smaller open up between incomes there is less violence, more trust, smaller prison populations, less obesity, longer life expectancy, lower rates of teenage pregnancy and a stronger sense of community. (The Equality Trust.) Of course there is more that we can allot to inequality than monetary issues but they are a major bestow factor. I personally believe that introducing a citizens wage would be an useful first step and one that would be beneficial to nearly everyone.We could do away with thousands of pages of legislation, lose a couple of hundred thousand cultivated servants and simply give everyone a small sum in property each week, no questions asked, no intrusive invasions of peoples privateness and no judgments as to how people should or shouldnt be living their lives because really, who is it that feels so omniscient to make all of thos e judgments? It would remove the stigma link up to benefits, allow people to work part time if they wished and be more selective about the type of work that they wanted to do. So all in all a winner.So yes, there is a relationship between poverty and antisocial behaviour but it is not so black and white as that. Disillusioned and disadvantaged people need help not further punishment and a criminal justice system that is allowing disturbed children to kill themselves in jailclearly needs looking at. If antisocial behaviour doesnt occur in a vacuum then it is a sociological problem which then surely requires us to go about altering society, not punishing disadvantage.Brantlinger, E. 1991. neighborly class distinctions in adolescents reports of problems and punishment in school. Behavioural Disorders 17 (1) 36-46.Erikson, E.H. 1980. identity element and the life cycle. New York W.W. Norton and Company.Goldson, B. 2005. in the care of the state? Child Deaths In Penal Custody In Engla nd And Wales. London Inquest.Massey, D. 1991. Segregation, the concentration of poverty, and the life chances of individuals. Social Science Research 20 (4)397-420.McLeod, J.D. & Shanahan, M.J. 1996. Trajectories of poverty and childrens mental health. daybook of Health and Social Behaviour (37) 207-220The Equality Trust http//www.equalitytrust.org.uk/about-us/people cited 28/12/2012The Prison Reform Trust http//www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/PunishingDisadvantage.pdf cited 28/12/2012Weinger, S. (1998). Poor children Know Their Place Perceptions of poverty, class, and public messages. Journal of Sociology and Social eudaemonia 25 (2) 100-118.