Deviance is a negative reaction in a particular group that has generated a behavior, trait or belief that departs from a norm. There is three different perspectives of deviance, which are the biological perspective, psychological perspective and the sociological perspective. The sociological perspective discovers deviance at the act. While the biological and psychological perspective discovers deviance in the person. There are several different theories, but the one that has caught my interest was the differential association theory. The differential association theory developed by Edwin Sutherland was that we learn to be deviant through our associations with deviant peers. The most vulnerable people for peer pressure are teenagers. Teenager fall into peer pressure for several reasons, and one of the main reasons is to be able to fit in. Most kids who do end commiting crimes, and follow negatives habits is due to having those bad influence at a young age. If they grew up in a neighborhood where a lot of crime is committed, drugs, and dealing occurs on a daily basis then it more than likely that they will follow that path. Most teenagers will say that’s what they grew up seeing, and never had that positive influence which has caused them to do what they are doing and be who they are.
This video is about Green Hill High School which is a medium to maximum security fenced facility that provides male offenders education and vocational training. This particular video of gateway is about JJ who is currently on his third year of taking a college class at GHS. When JJ was 16, he was sentenced to 20 years of prison. JJ discusses how he wanted to be like those people that got respect in the streets. He also talks about that how he grew up to idolize. When JJ was still a baby his father was involved in the gang life, and his mother was consuming drugs, as well as in out of jail. He was raised by his aunt, and grandparents but then he eventually moved with his father due to losing his grandparents. One day home from school he found his father dead, and he moved with his mother who was just released out of prison. Eventually his mother was sent back to prison, and he got kicked out of school. All he knew was the streets within a 6 months period he eventually got locked up as well. JJ states “ As a kid I was told that you would end up dead or in prison, I feel like they jinx’s me.” JJ is just one of many stories about teenagers who end up in the system due to not having those good influence around.
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