Far From The Tree By Solomon: Chapter Analysis

One of the comments that I was most interested in when reading the Crime chapter in Solomon’s Far from the Tree book, was the mention of three grand risk factors influence the creation of a criminal. A single-parent family since it might increase the probability of them having a low socioeconomic status. This later translates to a high chance at their child dropping out of school, not attending college, working low paying jobs, becoming substance abusers, and later on becoming single parents as well. Abuse and neglect, which often leads the child towards two paths. One includes depression and self-pity, since they see the world as an unsafe place. The other path is the one in which we would be interested since if influences the child to be aggressive and indulge in criminal behavior since they see the world as a war zone in which they need to fight in order to survive. The third factor is exposure to violence. Living in an aggressive household
Most sources point out that even though family is a big factor in the way a child is raised and their values, peer groups seem to be an even bigger influence of their current and future behavior. Considering how in school children tend to gravitate towards cliques, to whom they develop a loyalty, it is easy to see how a child who is in a peer group that support the early use of illicit drugs, or places high vale in engaging in premature unprotected sex, will engage in those activities in order to maintain their place within their social group. It was interesting to see how even language was modified depending on who the child wanted to project. For example, Krishna, a Latino boy who was involved in a Chicano gang spoke very broken and crude English with Solomon when interviewing, however, as time went on and he became more comfortable with the author, he started speaking perfect