Essay About Crime Prevention
On the other end of the spectrum, are those who believe crime leads to deviant behavior because it has become a realm for criminal activity, for example, bribery, doping, and discrimination (Pajcic & Sokanovic, 2011). Due to the amount of division in the perception of crime and sports, it has lead to a substantial number of tests and research done on the positive and negative correlation between the two. Henceforth, negative or positive, both crime and sports are multi-faceted concepts, which encompass many controversial topics, while having many correlations. But even with a relation between sports and crime, the positives of the two variables working in conjunction with one another, outweigh any cons that may arise.
Athletics have always been used as a form of intervention and assimilation for communities and prisons (Darko, 2015). Delinquency and sports participation are both prominent developmental themes during adolescence. Pre-adulthood plays an instrumental role in delinquency and crime because youth become more self-sufficient and begin to shy away from the guidance of their parents; they begin to make a shift of dependency towards their community, school peers and after-school activities (Fredricks & Eccles, 2008). This is why when studying the relationship between sports and crime; it is important and relevant to evaluate the affiliation during adolescence.
Participating in sports builds a foundation of discipline and mental strength for participants as well as increases responsibility. (All Gymnastics Company, 2017) As demonstrated in Richardson’s, Cameron’s, and Berlouis’s study, participating in sports has the ability to improve self-esteem, cognitive reasoning abilities and provide participants with a feeling of purpose (Richardson, Cameron & Berlouis, 2017). Specifically, in the criminal justice system, sports coupled with education provide inmates with a form of rehabilitation and a pathway to re-assimilate into society after jail (UNODC, 2018). Further, preventative measures through athletics and physical activity, allows juvenile crime rates to decrease (Darko, 2015). Through sports, participants learn the value of hard work and sacrifice. Classical criminal tactics for young adults no longer suffice in today’s society and Darko attributes the reappearance of adolescents in detention centers as a primary reason for governments to implement alternative methods to assist juveniles. There is an increasing number of crimes associated with young adults, (Darko, 2015) so it is important to understand the purpose of athletics and how it ensures a form of discipline that allows participants to curve crime and behavioral issues.
These measures have also been tested in other countries where crime rates were also very high. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have created a program, which helps to alleviate potential crime in countries by creating a crime prevention program in the following areas: State of Qatar, Brazil, Kyrgyzstan, and South Africa to name a few (UNODC, 2018). These programs assist in alleviating lawlessness in the countries while improving psychological and physical health. This initiative prides itself on its resilience against crime, violence, and drug use while providing children with essential life skills, communication tactics and self-discipline, which helps to navigate against criminal activity. With almost 2,000 participants, UNODC’s youth crime prevention initiative not only impacts schools, youth centers, and young adults but also the communities it inhabits itself in (UNODC, 2018). Oliver Staple, UNODC’s program manager responsible for the curriculum, stressed the importance of athletics at his crime prevention banquet, saying sports have a fundamental impact in the community and it was only a matter of time before the program began using it as a tool to advance crime prevention (UNODC, 2018).
