The Issue of Socioeconomic Status and Its Relation To Crime, Essay Example

Presently, the issue of socioeconomic status and its relation to crime rates has become urgent. Though there is no unambiguous definition of their interdependence, the stereotype of an average American criminal is often associated with a male, belonging to any minority (informal, racial), and possessing  low socioeconomic status. Scientists appeal to statistics to justify the named stereotype. Numerous sociological researches have proven that the criminal system of the USA arrests, charges, convicts, sentences to prison members of low SES more frequently than people with medium and high-level SES. Furthermore, the poor mostly commit crimes for which they are convicted; they commit crimes primarily aimed against the person and property; the delinquency rates are high in the impoverished areas. In turn, the criminal system responds to the situation appropriately. Police officers usually pay exceptional attention to the poor members of society while detecting potential criminals. They equate low SES with a risk factor for law infraction.

The most wide-spread crimes committed by the poor are thefts. This statement points at the key concepts of the strain theory. Frustration on the ground of inequality between desired and existing does not necessary result in law breaking. Still, the dissatisfaction with conditions of living is firstly the attribute of low SES members’ life.

On the other hand, people with low SES possess fewer opportunities in the judicial system, in comparison with middle and high-level SES members. Thus, the scientists reproach judicial system of the country for being prejudiced. One of the proofs is the absence of strict penalties for white-collar crimes, like fraud or tax evasion, despite the huge damage these crimes cause to the country’s economy.

Evidently, identification of the low SES with potential criminalism borders on the concept of stigma. Poverty also relates to deviance, even if the poor do not violate any conventional norms or rules. The low SES, acquired or ascribed, sometimes obtain negative societal label. They are often condemned because of the named status but not because of norm violations. From the standpoint of concrete actions, they differ from behavioral or belief deviance.