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In the book, Monster, Kody Scott is only 11 years old when he is initiated into a gang. He looks up to gang members and desired to be one. He described gangs as being, “… my destiny and the only thing in this life that has ever held my attention for any serious length of time”(p 5). For many juveniles this is the case. They have never felt truly part of something until they became part of a gang. They have a “family” who praises them when the commit crimes even when they are caught which is something that motivates youth to be a part of. He feels that is better to die being a gang member than to live and not be one. In fact the more suffering you go through for the name of the gang the more respect you are given. “Li’l Crazy de, for instance, has been shot thirteen separate times and is still committed to the ‘hood…he is loved by few, hated by many, but respected by all.”(P 105) He survives being shot six times and multiple stays in juvenile hall but continues to fight for his gang even if it means walking out on his family and his children. There were many gangs close by and just a block or two over you were in another gang’s territory. Being part of the gang meant being part of a tradition. Many gangs recruit new members in order to pass on the delinquent behaviors and traditions, this is known as cultural transmission. Anything from what colors were worn to gang signs were part of the tradition of the Crips that are passed down with every new member. Every new member is initiated by committing a crime. They will eventually gain a gang name. Kody got his name “monster” from beating a man so much that he disfigured him and ended up in a coma. From that point on each gang member spent their time working his or her way through the stages of reputation.
Social bonds are things that tie a person to the institutions and processes of society that include attachment, commitment, belief, and involvement. For Kody there was a lack of social bond in the form of attachment commitment, & involvement. He did not feel very attached or committed to his family. He dropped out of school at an early age and no longer had the involvement in school activities. Hirschi argues that when a youth has a broken bond they will freely violate the law. Since Kody was lacking in these three areas being part of a gang provided for those areas where he was missing. He found attachment, commitment and involvement by being part of the Crips.
One of the theories that I applied throughout reading this book was the Differential Association Theory. This theory, introduced by Sutherland, suggests that people learn attitudes and behaviors from learning through communication. These behaviors and attitudes are learned through interactions with close personal groups, such as peers. Juveniles will learn motive and techniques from legal codes as either favorable or unfavorable. Juveniles will weigh the consequences of committing a crime with the benefits and if the benefits outweigh the consequences then they will become delinquent. For many, the benefit of having people praise you outweighs the consequences of getting caught by authorities. This is what motivates many juveniles to join gangs. Gangs provide a sense of “family” and a purpose for many youth who just don’t find that elsewhere. This gang “family” is where juveniles learn the ways of being a gangbanger. Gang leaders become youth role models and present a goal worth obtaining. In a gang the benefit of making your way up the leadership ladder is worth any amount of time in juvenile hall. The excitement and adrenaline rush make committing crimes so addictive to youth especially when gang members are praising their work.
Another theory that is supported by this book is the Social Disorganization Theory. Shaw & McKay introduced this theory while doing research on the Concentric Zones in Chicago. The theory, which is a learning theory, is based on the belief that delinquency is a product of the existing social forces in certain areas of a city. Social disorganization is a result of social problems, ethnic or racial conflict, residential instability, and a lack of conventional social opportunities. They found that inter-city areas were the places with the higher immigration population, more renter than home owners, higher unemployment, higher poverty, higher crime and concluded this was due because there was a breakdown of social control in that area. These problems result in the breakdown of social institutions and organizations. A lack of social control makes recruitment into gangs a higher risk for juveniles. For Kody, who lived in an inter-city area, was no longer in school and thought of being in a gang as a social norm. “Being in a gang in South Central…is the equivalent of growing up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and going to college: everyone does it.” (P 138) For Kody and many juvenile delinquents they learn early on that “crime pays”.
I also found the Neutralization techniques by Sykes & Matza to be very helpful when reading Monster. These are attitudes or beliefs that allow juveniles to drift away from society norms and participate in delinquent behavior without regret. Several times during the book Kody used these techniques. One particular case was after killing people for his initiation he started to feel guilty but then blamed it on the victim for being out. As if he should have known that something bad would happen to him because of it. This helped Kody to push aside his feelings of guilt and focus or other criminal activity. He often used killing people to appeal to higher loyalties. In everything he did it was for the well being of the gang. Every murder was for the gang’s namesake. Committing crimes is how one proves their loyalty.
One of the theories that I thought applied to Monster while he was in prison was the labeling theory. The labeling theory, introduced by Howard Becker, suggests that society creates deviance through a system of social control that assigns labels to certain individuals as a delinquent. This encourages them to accept the given label and personal identity. From watching the video in class about the Philip Zimbardo experiment I saw the effects of a label on people who were labeled prisoners. Like the prisoners from the experiment, Kody internalized the label society had given him. For Kody Scott although he had committed many crimes already, when placed in prison he said, “…I have an indelible scar on my mind stamped “criminal” (p 138). It was very interesting to see the effect that the prison bars had on him when he was actually innocent of that specific murder. Although this theory doesn’t provide a reason for the first several crimes it does explain how the label given to Kody resulted in additional criminal acts. Kody internalized the label he was given and continued to act as though he were a criminal. He was one before being in prison but he never internalized the label until it was given by society.
I found that reading this book was very interesting. I was unaware until taking this course that juvenile delinquency occurred at such a young age. I had always thought of juvenile delinquent being in high school. Reading this book confirmed that not only does delinquency occur at and early age but that it is the norm in many places. The book itself was very descriptive of the many crimes committed and it was the first time I was exposed to that much detail of committing a violent act. I was worried about reading the book initial because of the violence but while reading the book I was drawn to see how the crime would affect him over time. The book has been very helpful to applying the many theories we have learned so far this semester. It has help to see specific cases where the theories prove to be true. Many of them were very beneficial and helping me to understand what causes a person to do such violent things and really helped when reading this book. Over all, this book was very beneficial to helping me with this class.
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