Tom O’Connor

Experts on juvenile crime have long debated whether violence is rooted in biological factors, such as birth defects or genetic anomalies, or environmental factors, as in social and economic hardship or family influence. In the following viewpoint, Tom O’Connor argues that although everyone is born with a potential for violence, violent behavior is learned and reinforced by the influences of a child’s family and environment, such as poor, gang-infested neighborhoods where guns and drugs are plentiful. Tom O’Connor is an assistant professor of justice studies at North Carolina Wesleyan College.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What does the author claim are two main “products of poverty”?
2. What are “neighborhood” factors of juvenile crime, according to O...