Analysis of the "Caught" Podcast

Name
Course
Institution
Date
Reaction Paper, Caught Podcast
Introduction 
 The podcast Caught episode 8 focuses on Desiree, a teenage girl in the foster care system and the juvenile system. From the interview, Desiree indicated she lived in a group home in the Bronx and had been in the system since she was ten years old and in detention centers and residential treatment centers. Desiree has gone through trauma from her broken family and sexual trauma. Being involved in the juvenile system worsens young girls’ lives, and there are cycles from the foster system to the juvenile system. The social disorganization theory is applied in the Caught episode 8 to explain delinquency. 
Theory
Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay proposed the social disorganization theory, focusing on the link between the residential location and crime. Social disorganization theory is a macro-level theory that explains differences in crime rates, but at the micro-level, the theory focuses on delinquency, social bonds, and peer associations. Poverty and residential mobility are macro-level components of the theory.
Shaw and McKay focused on variation in delinquency in Chicago and highlighted that crime reduced further away from the city centers (Wickes57). The neighborhoods with high crime and delinquency rates also had other social problems (Wickes 62). The theorists proposed that urban changes that caused weaker social and community ties resulted in social disorganization, and the location was one of the factors explaining crime patterns and trends. Neighborhood characteristics are one of the main factors that explain the prevalence of crime. However, family structures and stability also explain social disorganization. Strong families nurture children and vice versa, and family instabilities are associated with normalizing antisocial behavior.
According to the social disorganization theory, people who commit crimes are influenced by their environment, even more than they are affected by their individual characteristics. Where they live is more important than their personality in determining the likelihood of committing a crime. The theory supposes that various environmental factors present in certain communities negatively affect individuals and are parental negligence and abandonment.
While the theory is used to predict high crime neighborhoods, there is a focus on physical and social environment factors that influence whether an individual grows or exhibits certain behaviors. The main factors broadly associated with social disorganization are poverty, residential mobility, racial heterogeneity, and family disruption. This implies neighborhoods where there is ethnic diversity, high poverty levels, high mobility, and weak family structures tend to have other social problems. Socioeconomic marginalization worsens other social problems, and there are high crime rates in poor neighborhoods than in the surrounding areas. The lack of strong social relationships is a concern as it is more challenging to help children and youths from broken families and guide them as the system does not look out for them.
Different forms of social disorganization and the collapse of community controls are also reflected in the breakdown in t...