Crime and Other Social Issues in the Society

1. Introduction

With the development of society all over the world, an increasing number of social issues appear in people’s life, especially in the some economically underdeveloped areas. Many sensitive issues lead to social tensions in some way. When people talk about the issues like crime, law enforcement, corruption and the informal economy, some conflicts will break out because these issues reflect the deficient development of the society. What’s more, a lot of literature works and films describe these social issues in their plots and resonate with people, for example, the famous novel Graceland of Chris Abani and the thriller movie the City of God.

2. Main Body

2.1 The Comparative Analysis in the Works.

It is well-known that the novel Graceland and the film the City of God are both the excellent works which reflect the true social situations at that time. They are the stories happened in the slum and reflected the slum problems and the predicament what the slum dwellers faced. Crimes are the main issues in the both works, the weakness of law enforcement and the corruption are the common problems in the life of slum dwellers. Because of the backward economic development of the slum, the informal economy exists in that social situation a lot.

When the two works face the same social issues, they used different methods to reflect the conflicts. There is no doubt that when people see the film of the City of God, they will be shocked by the scenes of a thriller. The boys had different dreams when they were a little boy, and they chose to use the different ways to make the dreams come true-crimes. Although the boy Rocket didn’t want to be involved in crimes because he wanted to be a photographer, he still can’t escape from the nightmare of crimes. The other boy Dadinho was a pure and pure criminal. He realized his dream with blood on his hands. This film reflected the violent crimes outrageously and satirized the corruption directly. The bad life condition promoted the production of informal economy at the same time. On the other hand, compared with the City of God, the novel Graceland described the social issues with more humanity and more hopefully. It gave peoples a sublime and moving ending. The main hero Elvis did his best to walk on the right way and wanted to be a good a good man in his life, although he faced a lot of crimes and lived in the environment of crime society. Graceland includes many contents such as crimes, bad law enforcement, and corruption, but most important theme is redemption. Therefore, people can find that although the film and novels both reflected the social issues of the slum, they still had their different emphasizes in their works.

2.2 The Analysis about the Causes and Consequences of Illicit Activity.

With economic and social development, many kinds of subjective and objective factors resulted in the intensification of the American social crime problems such as poverty, unemployment, population growth, the negative protection of the police, the lack of correct guidance and imperfect punishment system and so on. The United States has become the country with the highest crime rate in the world and is also the most serious country in violent crime. In this regard, the American Society has paid enough attention to the whole society further. When people analyze the main factors that influence the crime rate in juvenile delinquency, there are four factors cause the crimes mostly: the increasing of the groups; the use of firearms; alcohol drinking; drug smoking. Therefore, it is necessary to study the relationship between them and the crimes, especially the violent crimes and make the corresponding law or obligation to solve the solution, thereby reduce or prevent the expansion or increase of the corresponding crimes.

On the other hand, the incomplete law enforcement and corruption can increase the illicit activities rate of the society. Various types of crimes will not only affect the normal order of the society but also bring the loss and pain of material and spiritual, in other words, more crimes, more victims. The crimes will make people lost their sense of security; what’s more, the corruption makes people feel unfair in the society life. All these aspects will increase the social problems directly and enter the vicious circle. However, people can’t solve the crime problems thoroughly because these are also the part of the outcome in the development of the society.

2.3 The Further Thinking about the Theme.

As is known to all, there are too much crime and illicit activities in the current society now. It will influence the development of the politics and economy. What’s more, it also brings the loss of people’s life. Therefore, how to solve the problems has become an important question for the whole society. Firstly, the government should formulate and perfect relevant laws and regulations to the crime and illicit activities and punish criminals strictly. It is the most effective and direct manner to control the crime and illicit activities. Then, strengthen legal education and carry out more legal activities for people at the same time. The perfecting social security system is another good method to keep the social stability. And then develop the economy and improve the living level for the common people.

“In the current world, both developed and developing countries, in the initial period of industrialization and urbanization, the growth of urban crime rate increases fast with the dramatic and rapid changes in social structure. In the developed countries with the better industrialization and urbanization, the trend of crime rate in the city is more than that in the rural areas” (Lardner 12). Therefore, it is easy to understand that criminality is an inevitable by-product of urban development. And the crime and illicit activities happen in the slum have another important reason for history. For example, the novel Graceland, it is a reflection of living in postcolonial Nigeria and this place was still influenced by American culture. The poor living situation is also the outcome of colonial domination.

3. Conclusion

There is no doubt that the crimes and other illicit activities are the inevitable results of social development. The reasons are not only the social conditions but also the results of history. In many works such as films and novels, people can find the representation of reality although the scenes are atrocious. What the significance of this works is that help people understand the reasons and current situation of the issues. What’s more, improve the awareness of whole society to reduce the crime rate. People should treat the social issues properly and help the government to do their best to keep the social stability.