The biography "There Are No Children Here" by Alex Kotlowitz shows the journey of two boys and the challenges they face growing up in the middle of the city ​​of Chicago. The River family lives in downtown Chicago at the Governor Henry Horner Homes, a public housing complex, where violence and poverty are at their highest levels. The two boys, Lafayette and Pharoah, live in a small apartment with their brothers and mother, LaJoe. Since his father was rarely present, Lafeyette felt the need to step up and be someone his family can count on, helping his mother around the house or with his younger siblings. LaJoe believes she failed as a mother to her three oldest children because they were involved in drug trafficking and went to prison at least once. They had all fallen into the social norms of prostitution, drug dealing and trouble with the law. LaJoe believes education is the only way out of the inner city and its problems. Over Henry Horner's years, the neighborhood slowly decayed, middle-class families fled, and employment dropped dramatically. For the city “unemployment was officially estimated at 19%; unofficially, it was probably much higher” (Kotlowitz 11). Their neighborhood was once among the wealthiest areas of the city, but has now devolved into shootings that occur regularly. Violence happens so often there that the police department doesn't keep track of all the shootings because it's a normal thing to happen in those neighborhoods. Pharaoh calls the neighborhood a "graveyard" due to the amount of people of all ages who have died due to the many problems plaguing the city center, such as gang violence or drugs. Now their neighborhood was like a ghost town, there were no entertainment for children such as bowling alleys or public libraries. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The guy aims to show that there is no sense of community or trust among people because they feel like they are just trying to get ahead and avoid getting involved in problems. It wants to show the life story of children who grow up living in areas of poverty and high crime and how that can affect someone's life. The broken windows theory states that visual manifestations of social disorganization are what causes crime. The public housing complex itself does not appear safe with broken mailboxes, dirty streets and no electricity poles outside the complex to make people feel safe. It was even worse inside the compound, with the River family housing eight people in an apartment not much bigger than a prison cell, with no bedding and roaches and maggots everywhere every day. It doesn't help that there are no libraries nearby, indicating a lack of education for the schools around there. As well as there being no after school activities such as clubs, sports or tutoring. This causes social problems and delinquency because if there is no entertainment for children they will choose to get involved in gangs or drugs. Gangs tend to recruit young children to do their dirty work and kids don't want to get involved in that. Lafeyette says there are “a lot of people in the projects who say they won't do drugs, that they won't drop out, that they won't stay on the streets. But they're doing it now. Never say never” (Kotlowitz 29). This means that projects change people in a negative way, they are different from the person they were before moving there. It pushes children towards using itof drugs, not trying or even just going to school, which leads them to drop out without any kind of education and the only means is to join a gang or become a drug dealer to survive. Lafeyette feels he has to set a good example for his brothers because they didn't set one for him. He needs to be the right one who does not get trapped in project stereotypes and does not change the way his family lives. By the end of the summer, “police recorded that one person every three days had been beaten, shot, or stabbed in Horner” (Kotlowitz 32). This is no surprise to people living in Chicago's downtown public developments, as it has become a social norm that is increasingly alienating their community. Neighborhoods and the environment people live in influence criminal behavior, if someone's friends become involved in criminal activity, they may feel pressured by peers to do the same thing. Social problems occur in urban centers due to poverty, drug addiction and population turnover which also leads to crime. Children who do not do well in school, who return home to an unstable family, or who live in a dangerous area will show signs of social disorganization and will be more likely to pursue criminal acts than those who have stable home lives. Differential association theory states that when individuals are among others, they tend to adopt some of their characteristics such as attitudes and motivations towards criminal behavior. Edwin Sutherland argues that all behavior is learned and is not the result of a biological or psychological defect. In inner-city Chicago, the norm was to join a gang, and people were forced to commit a crime that spread violence throughout the neighborhood. Social learning theory shows the learning process and social behavior of an individual by suggesting that new behaviors can be received by imitating and observing the actions of others. Once they see someone do something, they apply those behaviors to themselves and assume that if that person can do it, then they can too. I chose this particular theory because I think there are many things that connect in this story to why children end up on the wrong path of gangs, drugs, and violence in Chicago's inner cities. This story shows kids growing up in a dangerous environment where the standard is that kids from there don't get an education and end up on the streets involved with the wrong people. They see criminal behavior everywhere they go and have social norms that shape that behavior to the point that they get in trouble with the law. They don't think about punishments and only think about the rewards their actions can get. Lafayette's friend Rickey seems to be a bad influence on the kids and may lead Lafayette down the wrong path. Rickey suggested that they both steal some tapes from a video store, but Pharoah insisted that they leave. When he said no, Pharoah was “disappointed in Rickey, but even more so in Lafeyette, who seemed to bow to his friend's pressure” (Kotlowitz 151). River kids continually come into contact with people who exhibit deviant behavior and it's normal for kids in their area to be drawn into that crowd just because it's simply around them. The criminal behavior that people in their community participate in is because they see other people doing it, like their friends, and they want to be accepted or they need money and protection. People who live in the city center are judged and associated with..