Imagine living in one of the most violent cities in the U.S… What violence do you see? How does this violence you see effect you? What causes these acts of violence to be set in motion? Put yourself in the shoes of a person living in the inner city. Whether that be a man, child, woman, or adolescent. Think about what it would be like to live a day in their lives. I come from an area plagued with senseless violence and constant conflicts. I have personally been victim of and also played a part in the type of violence that plagues our inner cities. Now, I will be discussing the causes of inner-city violence and some of the adverse effects it has on people. The environmental factors are what I will be focusing on primarily.

The first factor I will be discussing that can be contributed to the cause of inner city violence will be that of the physical environment. The inner-city is a busy crowded place, but on top of that it is also a place where negative vibes prevail. The reality of the physical environments of our inner cities are in fact that it is debilitating and rundown. Think if every time you stepped out your door you saw the city around you decaying, along with the people. Seeing this type of stuff on a daily can influence your mood. It can make you irritable, impatient, and sometimes even hopeless. These types of feeling associated with the physical environment are very real. “The power of the physical environment to influence human aggression is well established. Crowding, high temperatures, and noise have all been linked to aggression and violence” (Kuo 543). The Physical environment of the inner city also allows maneuverability when it comes to criminal activity. This creating a need for an ever attentive state of being associated with the ever present dangers that lurk within our inner cities. According to Kuo, “Danger requires individuals to be vigilant for signs of impending trouble, to continuously consider possible responses to new situations, and to consider the ramifications of those responses”. This meaning you are virtually in a constant state of worry, and in turn this can cause mental fatigue.

With all this worry and mental fatigue don’t you think a nice quiet place to sit and think would be appreciated? Alas though this is not the case seeing as how the crowded environment of the inner cities allow for minimal time alone with your thoughts. According to Kuo, “The home environment may place further demands on attention; lack of adequate space and facilities makes purposive functioning more effortful, as more problem solving is required to accomplish goals in unsupportive or inadequate settings. Problem solving may be made all the more fatiguing by the lack of quiet, safe settings in which to think” (Kuo 548). With no place to think and ever present danger of violence we can say that the inner city is not a place of peace. This being said these factors can in turn cause your emotional state of being to decline. When mental state of being is on the decline so is your self-control. With these two things on the decline in an environment, such as the inner city, violence could possibly be the end result.

The second factor I would like to discuss that influences violent behavior in the inner city, is the fact that substance abuse is very significant issue. Coming from a similar environment I have seen first-hand the devastation that the impacts of hard drugs such as, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine can have on people. They warp, twist, and finally destroy the minds and bodies of their users that cannot find an escape from the curse that is addiction. Not only do these drugs cause mental and physical wear, but also can be the cause of numerous violent crimes. The fact of the matter is most of our inner cities are plagued with drugs. The violence that stems from the use, the distribution, of these types of narcotics is a very real. It presents an ever real dangerous environment to the people inhabiting our inner cities. I will use the rise of the vice lord criminal organization as an example. “Youth and adult gang involvement in the drug trade after the cocaine epidemic began around 1985. The Chicago Vice Lords, a large and violent criminal street gang grew during this era; providing one example that suggests gangs and crack sales emerged concurrently” (Howell and Decker 2). With the rise of criminal organizations such as the vice lords through drug trafficking the reaction of violent behavior is sure to follow as always is with the distribution of mass amounts of narcotics. Gangs are not to be solely blamed for this violent backlash that comes from drugs. The drug users are to blame also, seeing as how their demand for the drugs is what brings the drugs and criminal organizations in to our inner cities. That demand I have noticed is the main reason for drug related violence. Seeing as how they need the drug to stem the adverse physical and mental effects of being addicted to a hard narcotic. When they do not have the drug of their choice they are more likely to commit violent acts to gain what they need in order to get their drugs. To find relief from the self-inflicted curse that is addiction. According to Klaus, “The alcohol-drug abuse-violence nexus presents itself in several distinctly different facets: alcohol and other drugs of abuse may act on brain mechanisms that cause a high-risk individual to engage in aggressive and violent behavior. Individuals with costly heroin or cocaine habits may commit violent crimes in order to secure the resources for further drug purchases. Narcotic drug dealers, but not alcohol vendors, practice their trade in a violent manner.” This I find to be one of the prevalent causes of inner city violence.

The third thing I would like to discuss that plays a major role in the influence of inner city violence is the fight for resources. Most people who live in our inner cities live below the poverty line. With this being said, it can be a struggle just to make ends meet, or to get the resources that are required to provide for them and their families. This lack of resources when paired with a family can cause an immense amount of stress within a household. These stressors in the household can cause the individual to feel pressured to provide. Not only is there a lack of resources, but also a lack in jobs, causing some to turn to a more malevolent line of work. This malevolent line of work usually is that of the drug dealer, but that is not the only option; some people steal, rob, and kill for their living if conditions of extreme poverty force them into a position where they feel like there is no other way. “Today there is a growing consensus that resource deprivation in general can cause violent crime” (Hsieh and Pugh M.D. 182). This growing consensus is an all to revealing sense of truth when correlated with the causes of inner-city violence.

When faced with all these different environmental factors, and with some of the inhabitants of our the inner-cities mental health on the decline, what can we expect from the people? Some people may maintain a frame of mind which allows them to continue functioning on a normal level, but others may break. It is this break in the mind state that I would like to discuss. As you know the inner city is obviously a violent place, with violent people, committing violent acts against one another for varying reasons. Above I have covered some of those reasons why inner city violence may occur. With all this violence occurring around you it seems some may become normalized to violence. With this normalcy when violent acts occur it seems that some may in turn become comfortable with the overall idea of violence. With this acceptance and feeling that violence is normal some people might now in turn go out and commit violent crimes; to where as others will still avoid that kind of behavior. It is this break in ideology that I wanted to pin point on, because it is the beginning of a psychopathological ideology most likely caused by the environmental factors that we see within our inner-cities.

The idea that violence is normal and that it should be accepted, because it cannot be prevented, and with that reasoning why should they just sit back and suffer when others could suffer. With an environment as big as the inner-city it could seem like a playground to those that sway towards that type of ideology. This creating a greater comfort to those who hold this type of idea true. This in turn allowing them to operate in a violent manner without them consciously entertaining the idea that they will not get away with it. This is an Idea I call the playground effect, and this effect is one attribute of our inner-cities that doesn’t get touched on when paired with the socioeconomical cause’s that I have written on above. This also directly ties in with the decline in mental health within our inner cities caused by the environmental factors I have mentioned above. It is a culmination of these causes and effects that I find contribute to be some of the main causes of inner-city violence. It is my hope we can find a way to make our inner cities less debilitated, less violent, and more peaceful.