DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

LUCKNOW
2017-18

SOCIOLOGY

TITLE OF PROJECT

WHAT TRIGGERS POVERTY STRICKEN CHILDREN TO CHOOSE

AN UNETHICAL PATH

SUBMITTED BY SUBMITTED TO

VIRAT SINGH DR SANJAY SINGH

1ST SEMESTER BA.LL.B(HONS) PROF. SOCIOLOGY

180101165 RMLNLU
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Sanjay Singh Sir for giving me such an

interesting topic to work on, and for her valuable support, guidance and advice which helped

in completing this project. This project has helped me understand certain aspects of the

subject and broadened my knowledge in the field of Sociology. I would also like to thank the

library staff for working long hours to facilitate us with required material which goes a long

way quenching our thirst for education. I would also like to thank my seniors for guiding me

through tough times they themselves have been through, and lastly I would like to thank my

family for their support and my friends for keeping alive the spirit of competition in me.

-Virat Singh
 INTRODUCTION

The World Bank Organization describes poverty in this way:

“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able
to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read.
Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.

Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been
described in many ways.  Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So
poverty is a call to action -- for the poor and the wealthy alike -- a call to change the
world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education
and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their
communities.”
 What is Poverty?

In general terms Poverty is a name given to the characteristic of the economic situation of the
individual or social group in which they cannot satisfy a certain range of the minimum
requirements needed for life saving ability. Poverty is a relative concept and depends on the
overall standard of living in this society.

Relation between Poverty stricken children and unethical path

According to experts, not getting decent wages for their work, young people gradually lose
desire of walking on an ethical path, they are full of fear for tomorrow, not sure that
tomorrow they will not be fired because of another financial crisis. In addition, low wages
and lack of jobs, experts say, are pushing young people to commit crimes in order to get rich
quickly. It is, therefore, among criminals, increases the number of adolescents, aged 18 to 25
years.

Poor people commit more crime. and as matter of fact poverty drives people to desperation,
and when people are desperate, they're willing to do pretty much anything. This is true
regardless of whether or not a person is decent hearted, well educated person.

As a consequence of the fact that poverty causes crime, criminally distorted psychology
of society, values, personality as a direct cause of crime are expressed by more than just
greed, aggression, irresponsibility and neglect of criminal law prohibitions. It has several
forms: greed, greed, the cause component of the Organized Crime and Entrepreneurship,
greed, parasitism, generating professional and recidivism, greed, irresponsibility, have a
"drunken" crime, situational robbery and looting teens, when crimes are committed to meet
the immediate material needs, greed, poverty, which is based on physical survival. At a gain
now there is 80% of the totality of the causes of crime at this time. The main source of crime
in any society is the aggravation of his social contradictions. It is also defined as meaningful
and quantifiable features of the formation are within a specific time parameter. It is known
that the technologically advanced capitalist countries do not have the same crimes.
 Why "Poverty Causes Crime"?(A psychological Interpretation)

If we look into the issue with the psychological preception we can a clear vision upon the
"Cause and Effect" relationship between poverty and Unethical Path (i,e. Crime) Frustration
in underprivileged children as they get hindrance in achieving what they want and as a result
to which they fight . But morally the fight to achieve things is considered out of righteous
way.

The stigmatization emanating from being underprivileged in some societies forces

individuals to engage in wrongdoing. Largely, white-collar crimes offer huge cash that can
elevate the social standards of an individual. Otherwise, the individual with no qualification
will have to work for pennies that will keep him a meager for life. Also, poverty affects the
psychological capability of a person. The social labeling of certain poor groups as crime
centered then, a criminal in such an ethnic gathering implies a moral value. Stereotyping of
destitute people as criminals, in essence, makes them identify with such accusation thus,
committing crimes for recognition purposes. In relative terms, poverty describes the
deprivation of people’s standard means of living. Several interrelated issues like economic,
education, social, demographic and political influences one’s access to basic amenities.
Crime is the unlawful acts or deeds as defined by the legal system or society, for example,
theft, violence, terrorism, drug abuse, robbery and murder. Tough economic times have
drawn individuals to engage in various activities just to get cash to meet the basic necessities.
Poverty is just but one of the factors that lead to misconduct. In spite of a large number of
people having high educational levels, the unemployment rate is quite high leaving the
graduates jobless.

" What really happens to the influx of the desperate graduates in a jobless market?"

Karl Marx stated that delinquency was an inevitable consequence of the economic class
struggle. No one enjoys being poor thus, each human being struggles to join the upper class
in society. To be alive one needs to eat and drink and without these basics, the individual has
no option but to engage in crime if that’s the viable option at that time. Furthermore, the
strain theory stipulates that the poverty-environment upon which individuals reside forces
them to strive for power and wealth. In most cases, the well-off have favorable conditions to
remain wealthy while the suppressed poor have limited avenues making them turn to crime as
the best solutions.

Delinquent by Reason of Poverty

Unlike other employment opportunities, committing a crime requires no certification or

schooling level. Delinquency is greatly attributed to the poor people due to the strive to
survive. In regard to the poor, engaging in any activity that promises a turnover is worth their
life. Usually, the vicious cycle of poverty and crime among the destitute continues through.
For instance, the Black Americans are identifiable to America’s crimes and they form the
largest percentage of the poor in the country. This identity has led to many justice systems
and officials victimizing them against the Whites.

With the publication of Michelle Alexander’s provocative book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass
Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," our attention has been drawn to the troubling
reality that the majority of young African-American men living in our cities are either
incarcerated or on probation or parole. As a result of the ill-conceived “War on Drugs,” our
communities of color have been decimated, and a vast population has been left unemployable
and disenfranchised. Professor Alexander powerfully demonstrates that America’s racial
caste system did not end with the outlawing of state-sanctioned segregation but merely
reconstituted itself. With the demise of Jim Crow, the criminal justice system now functions
as our society’s system of racial control.

Yet, there is an important piece of this picture that has been overlooked. Years before they
turn 18, millions of children are caught up in India. juvenile justice system, a principal feeder
into the criminal courts. Recent research has revealed that as a result of both institutional and
structural causes, the standard of proof in delinquency court is determined in large part by the
socioeconomic class of the accused, rather than the nature of the forum. As a result, the
state’s burden of proof is lowered for indigent children and heightened for affluent ones.
Therefore, in all but the most serious of cases, children from low-income homes do not have
to be as “guilty” as those from families of means in order to enter and remain in the system,
widening the net of court intervention for the poor.

Conclusion

Once the label of “juvenile delinquent” is formally imposed, it is readily accepted by both the
child and the community; the child is then defined and perceived by others through the lens
of this label.

With an apt conclusion there is Several promising strategies have been developed for
addressing the overrepresentation of low-income children in delinquency court. Few juvenile
 court systems collect data on the income levels of children and their families as they are
processed through the system. Yet, reliable data is critical for accurate analysis of the
problem and for development of solutions to reduce income disparities. Modeled on efforts to
reduce the overrepresentation of minorities in juvenile court, states could gather income data
at critical processing points in the system, such as arrest, intake, appointment of counsel,
adjudication, and disposition. An advisory body could then determine where income
disparities exist, identify instances of unnecessary juvenile justice system involvement, and
monitor implementation of reforms to address the issue.

A further strategy for confronting and reversing needs-based delinquency is for law
enforcement agencies and public schools to take steps to avoid indiscriminately directing
low-income minor offenders into the juvenile justice system. Between 1985 and 2008, the
number of adjudicated cases that resulted in court-ordered probation increased by 67 percent,
while those that were resolved through informal means decreased 13 percent. This trend
toward more formal processing of delinquency cases flies in the face of evidence that
diversion programs can be extraordinarily effective. At a time when states are dramatically
reducing the budgets of juvenile justice agencies, fewer court referrals would also help offset
cuts.

Unemployment = Poverty = Crime