Reference no: EM133840106

Assignment:

How to put this assignment into a poem

Overview: Lafayette and Pharoah Rivers (real names Lafayette and Pharoah Walton) are ages 10 and 7, respectively, when they meet journalist Alex Kotlowitz, who embarks on a multi-year qualitative study chronicling the lives of these two young boys growing up in one of Chicago's high-rise housing projects. Kotlowitz also brings in the history of the public housing projects and reports the negative changes therein, mostly based on lack of resources to upkeep the housing units, leading to dangerous and unhealthy conditions, and the take over by rival gangs dealing drugs. Kotlowitz also focuses on LaJoe Rivers' (mother) personal disappointment with her life and marriage, and hopes, dreams and disappointments of her children; however, the main focus remains with Lafayette and Pharoah.

The book ends before we know that Pharoah lived with Kotlowtiz during middle and high school, graduating high school. Lafayette and Pharoah each served prison sentences for drug dealing. Pharoah was prosecuted in Western Wisconsin federal court for his involvement in delivering 100 grams of heroin in Madison in 2010. In 2012, he received a 45-month prison sentence with three years supervised release to follow. Upon release from federal prison, Pharoah's supervision was transferred from Western Wisconsin to Central Illinois. Kotlowiz remained an avid supporter.

Assignment: At the beginning of the semester you read a short paper addressing social problems perspective and social responsibility perspective. Social problems perspective states crime is caused by social problems like poverty, discrimination, family violence, and the breakdown of traditional social institutions. Whereas social responsibility perspective states that individuals are responsible for their own behavior. People choose crime over law abiding behavior.

In this assignment, I am looking to see if your view on these two perspectives have changed over the semester. You need to address how your perspective of choice influenced the boys' life course (Terri Moffitt's Dual-Pathway Developmental Theory) and their reactions to turning points (Sampson and Laub's Age-Graded Theory).

The assignment must include:

(1) How the brothers changed over the four year period (1985 to 1989); how did their outlook on life change over these four years? What elements of Moffitt's theory apply (or not)?

(2) Two-three significant turning points that you believe had an impact on these changes?

(3) Select either social problems or social responsibility perspectives, and show how the perspective you chose may have predicted the boys were destined to be drawn into the neighborhood criminal culture despite LaJoe's hopes and dreams and encouragement for her sons to have better lives? Did your beliefs on either social problems or social responsibility change over the course of the semester?