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burglars on the job
Burglars On The Job Scott Decker and Richard Wright studied and wrote a book on criminals who make their livings burglarizing people’s homes. They named the book Burglars on the Job. Their study found that most of the criminals that were career burglars stole to further their drug habits. Many of these career criminals were only making a living by stealing from others. In 1893 Emile Drurkheim came up with the original concept of anomie. He studied suicides in Europe and found a condition of normlessness or lack oh norms and called it anomie. Robert Merton borrowed from Durkheims work and came up with the anomie/strain theory. His theory was a way to explain delinquency. He stated that when a person is unable to reach societies set goals then they suffer from strain. In the case of this book the goals of society would be money. The burglars in the Burglars on the Job would be considered innovators according to Merton. They accept the goals of society but reject the means to get the goals. The criminals in the book said that most of the money to had stolen was used to buy clothes, jewelry, cars, and drugs. They wanted to be rich and have nice things they just refused to get a legitimate job and earn their money so they burglarized. They seemed more worried about their appearances of being rich then anything else. Their spending habits would put them in a position that they had to continue to steal because the money they had previously stolen was spent as soon as they got it and did not think about the next’s months bills and such. Some of these burglars, or otherwise known as hustlers, had legitimate jobs and only burglarized for the cheap thrills and excitement. Many of the burglars that have jobs and careers stated that they can make more money by burglarizing one house in an hour then they can make working a week or more at their real jobs. Many of them feel that it is for this reason they are seemingly forced to commit these crimes. Some of the hustlers

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