Research Journal: Boyz n the Hood and Life-Course CriminologyBoyz n the Hood is a story about boys who grew up on the streets of Los Angeles. It's a very authentic story, taken from the lives of those who experience these things every day, cycles that are born and continue without interruption as long as the community remains the same. Life course criminology is the simplest way to analyze the lives and crimes that are discussed throughout this film. I believe there are three key turning points that change the main character Tre's trajectory from that of crime to a better future: when he is still a child, he sees his best friend of the same age walking out of his house in handcuffs, secondly when his father takes him to a billboard in Compton to prove a point about gentrification and force Tre to learn that there are tangible things and places beyond the neighborhood, and finally this is the turning point that occurs when he sees his best friend shot dead in the streets. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay Tre, the main character, is a young man raised partly on the streets and by his father Furious. Luckily, he had someone to look up to to guide him in the right direction. As we see in many of his friends, the struggles they face end up consuming them too often. For about half an hour of the film, we see him as a child, running through the streets and gaining his knowledge from the older thugs he sees there. Eventually, his mother sends him to live with his father, who is well educated and cares deeply for him. This does not allow him to escape crime, but on the first night, in his father's house, there is a break-in followed by a shooting. The streets continue to be a factor, although Furious is able to point him in the right direction more often than not; his friends, however, are not so lucky. Life course criminology takes a unique macro approach like we have never seen before. John Laub and Robert Sampson are the authors of three books, Crime in the Making, Shared Beginnings and Divergent Lives, which have rewritten the rules of this theory and its intricacies. This theory focuses on trajectories and turning points. A trajectory refers to a long-term pattern of behavior, and a turning point is a realization that leads to a change in that trajectory. This theory, although fundamental, is the ideal prism to analyze this emotional and crime-riddled film. Each character is born in the same neighborhood, on the same streets. The crime that occurs in this region is too often used to solve problems. It's a way of life, and the boys in this film are born and raised there. Life course criminology helps to understand this and gives them a way out or a way to immerse themselves even deeper into the life of crime. For Tre, he sees a way out and, thankfully, grasps at it until it becomes real, but he's the only character in his group of friends who deals with that. The others have turning points that take them in the exact opposite direction, their trajectories were bad to begin with and only get worse as the film progresses through its emotional and crime plot. The life course theory makes the most sense in this situation because of the weight the turning points have in this film, even in a thematic sense. Using these points as explanations for each of the boys' outcomes and trajectories makes almost too much sense. Since the boys are young and running around their neighborhood, they don't cause any direct problems. Some heckling, insults, nothingtoo wild. They encounter many things far beyond their years, alcoholism and drug dealing, crime, even murder. One of their friends takes them all to see a dead body, and it doesn't even shock any of them in any measurable way. Tre sees all this from the outside, it directly wreaks havoc but his trajectory is never defined like that of a criminal. Nor is it this turning point that leads to a criminal trajectory, it only makes this possibility concrete. His friend “Dough Boy” is kind-hearted underneath it all, but he definitely has a strong outer shell. Tre is in the car with his father returning from a day of fishing in the bay when he approaches his house and looks across the street to see his best friend getting into a police car in handcuffs . It's never clear what the exact situation was, but it doesn't matter either. The important thing is to recognize that crime is real and that it even happens to offenders, and that's when Tre truly sees the effect it has on lives, families and even himself -even. Tre's father is an abandoned intellectual like the neighborhood has never seen before. He works somewhere in the world of real estate or banking, it's never made clear what he does. But that doesn't matter either; the key element here is the fact that his father Furious earns an honest living. Not only that, but he continues to educate himself and pass on his ideals to his child. There is a scene where Ricky and Tre go to visit Furious at his workplace after he takes the SAT test. He then takes them to a bad part of Compton to prove a point. He walks them to a billboard and begins talking about the state of the neighborhood and how it could improve. Soon, they are surrounded by thugs who reside in the surrounding houses, and by an older man as well. Furious explains how the "Jews, Mexicans, Italians and Koreans" keep their neighborhoods made up entirely of their own people, with their own money, and no "outsiders" can come and spoil things. He strives to help the residents of this neighborhood think about their future and understand that their actions have consequences. This is an essential scene in this film. This provides Tre with knowledge of things outside of South Central Los Angeles, it makes him realize that there is a future beyond this crime-ridden neighborhood, although it is not explicitly stated. This turning point could be the one that changes Tre's trajectory for the better, allowing him to go to college and have a better life. Finally, there is the turning point which is the most powerful. It's hard for the death of a friend not to spark strong feelings and introspection. But before that, it is precisely the clash which provokes the conflict between the two gangs. Right after they all flee the scene because of an automatic weapon shooting into the air (they don't know he's shooting into the air just to be tough and scare them), when Tre and Ricky are in The car, Tre says how he's going to leave Los Angeles if it takes everything he has. It takes this meeting for Ricky to think about specific ways out of this life. Unfortunately, this whole situation ultimately leads to his friend's death. Scarier still, Ricky was a burgeoning football star who had been offered a scholarship to USC. This only adds weight to the ordeal. I believe, however, that even without Ricky's death, Tre knew he had had enough and was going to get through this. The turning point was the confrontation and the mentality into which it plunged him. Combine that with the incredible support of his father and his trajectory was that of a black man of.