Poverty

Poverty

Article 1: Patricia E. (2003). “Critical Justice Consciousness: Social Injustice and the Criminal Justice System”, Contemporary Justice Review, Vol. 6(4), pp. 341-346.

Introductory Statement

Patricia E. Erickson is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Criminal Justice Program at Canisius College. Patricia's article “Critical Justice Consciousness: Social Injustice and the Criminal Justice System” presents a detailed discussion regarding a risk factor in the society, i.e. poverty. Patricia, in this article describes what social justice means to her, drawing on her experience as an attorney as well as on her academic experience. In addition, she has examined the connections she sees amid the operation of social justice system and social justice.

Article Summary

In the mentioned article, Patricia has described that her consciousness regarding justice is as such it critically evaluates the association amongst law and race, power, wealth, status, conflicting interests, and values. Patricia presents that her consciousness entails a critical stance towards the historical, cultural, and social reality. It inquires different types of subordination which develop inequalities amongst various groups established in the society. Patricia presents that her consciousness focuses on the dedication for social change for the purpose of ending oppression and poverty. Thus, Patricia establishes that for her, justice refers to social justice and social justice necessitates making conscious decisions regarding the disbursement of burdens and benefits in the society. This according to her would facilitate the society in providing all the people living therein with things that are essential for a respectable and honorable life, for instance education, medical care, shelter, and food (Moore, et.al, 2009).

Patricia in her article presents that, in the field of criminology, a reliable finding is related to the positive association amid crime and social inequality. This implies that the great majority of such people, who are charged with some specific sorts of criminal conduct, is poor. Nevertheless, poverty itself is not an effective or an influential indicator of criminal conduct (McGraw, 2001). This implies that it is not necessary that every poor person commits crime. It is instead stated by the criminologists that poverty together with other variable factors illustrates criminal conduct. Carrying out a research regarding these other variables has led to various theories of criminal behavior as Patricia establishes. These theories include; the differential association theory, the social disorganization theory, the lower class culture theory, the differential opportunity theory, and the subculture of violence theory (Curtis & Alexander, 2010).

Lastly, Patricia takes a stand in the article that when we talk about the topic of criminal justice, we usually raise a question regarding the acts for which a person must be punished and particularly if a specific individual or act must deserves to be punished. For this reason, retribution is marked as the main concern in the area of criminal justice. Criminal justice, nevertheless, additionally concerns with procedural fairness, meaning that; it must proceed with the steps followed by the government officials while inspecting, analyzing, and accusing those people who are accused to have committed criminal conducts (Patricia, ...