African-American Youth

Paper Summary:

This paper presents research that looks into African American youth. It hypothesizes that many African-American children drop out of school, join gangs and end up in prison primarily because they grow up in poverty. It suggests that this trend breeds resentment and generates hostility towards society. The paper analyzes the literature and draws conclusions on this topic.

From the Paper:

"This research question is important, and we should care about it because drop out, gang membership, and crime rates among young African-Americans can be reduced if effective measures are taken. Garbarino (2000) notes that adolescents need to have someone to look up to and emulate. If their role model is positive and demonstrates a strong moral code through their actions and not just their words, the adolescent will most likely emulate these positive traits because they have seen first hand how they should behave."
"In contrast, when their role models are drug dealers, gang members, or violent adults, they most likely will exhibit the same behavior. According to Schwartz (2003) this demonstrates why high drop out rates, gangs, drug abuse, and crime in many African-American neighborhoods are such chronic and intractable problems, for there tend to be far more negative role models than positive role models. This role model imbalance perpetuates dropping out of school, drug abuse, and crime in each succeeding generation, in a vicious cycle that is very difficult to break."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cullen, Francis. (2002). Criminological Theory: Past to Present. New York: Roxbury Park.
• Garbarino, James. (2000). Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them. New York: Random House.
• Samenow, Stanton. (1984). Inside the Criminal Mind. New York: Times Books.
• Schwartz, Martin. (2003). Controversies in Critical Criminology. New York: Anderson.
• Walker, Samuel. (2000). Sense and Nonsense about Crime and Drugs. New York: Wadsworth Publishing.

More papers on African-American Youth:

• Essay # 70473 : "African American Youth Violence"
• Argumentative Essay # 93119 : "African-American Youth and Crime"
• Research Paper # 146975 : "HIV and STDs: The African-American Epidemics?"

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