Social structure theories suggest people's places in the socioeconomic structure influence their chances of becoming a criminal. Poor people are more likely to commit crimes because they are unable to achieve monetary or social success in any other way. The social structure theory was brought about by theorists who have studied the lives of criminals and where they came from starting in the beginning of that criminals life. As the criminals lives were studied, it became apparent that there was a link to how the juveniles became criminals in this life. The most seen criminality comes from individuals who fail to graduate high school. However, a high school graduate is more likely to commit a crime or participate in criminal activity.
In addition, if an individual fails to graduate, it is usually because the lack of family support is not there as it is needed. The family support helps tremendously, but when family becomes broken the child suffers. When the child suffers from the broken family, that child will look for the support from another source. The support that a child, majority of the time, finds is not a good kind of support. There are groups, such as big brothers and big sisters club, which can help a child in a good way, but unfortunately that child ends up looking for the support in gangs, which leads to the criminal life of that child.
In the video that I have viewed, Pelican Bay State Prison: War Zone, there was a great deal of information in it that supported crime evolving from a social structure theory. The prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison set a goal to get into this prison because it is more like a reward than a punishment. These gang leaders still run the gangs, although they are in prison and are fearless. These gang leaders come from the only family that they have ever known and would give their lives for the gang. Most gang leader prisoners are educated in the streets and have not received a formal education.
