Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

The Influence of Peer Pressure on Male Prisoners’ Involvement in Street Crime

Mohd Suhaimi Mohamad, Nasrudin Subhi, Fauziah Ibrahim, Salina Nen, Norulhuda Sarnon, Ezarina Zakaria, Khadijah Alavi, Suzana Mohd Hoesni

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i6/10240

Open access

Previous studies have indicated that peer pressure is a contributing factor to an individual's involvement in street-crime activities. This paper, thus, aims to explore the influence of peer pressure on street crime propensities among Malaysian male inmates. Employing a mixed mode research design, 282 inmates were involved in surveys at four prisons in Peninsular Malaysia. Only 20 inmates were selected for in-depth interviews at the Kajang Prison. The results show that 72 percent of prisoners admitted to having a partner involved in street crime and 60.3 percent of them engaged in criminal activity before being arrested and imprisoned. The majority of inmates admitted to set certain criteria in the selection of peers based on contextual needs - good friends to share daily activities and bad peers for criminal activities. Strategic partners (governmental bodies) need to work together strategically to ensure that street crime can be prevented at the community level.

Barlow, H. D., & Ferdinand, T. N. (1992). Understanding delinquency. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Bolton, W. D., & Brown, D. W. (1978). Rural juvenile delinquency: Problems & needs in East Tennessee. AgResearch Bulletins, 580, 1-48.
Brown, D. K. (2001). Street crime, corporate crime, and the contingency of criminal liability. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 149(5), 1295-1360.
Corno, L. (2015). Homelessness and crime: Do your friends matter? The Economic Journal, 127(602), 959-995.
Creswell, J. W., & Plano, C. V. L. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications
Fauziah, I., Suzana, M. H., Ezarina, Z., Salina, N., Norulhuda, S., Khadijah, A., Nasrudin, S., & Mohd Suhaimi M. (2020). Drug abuse and the involvement of prisoners in street crimes. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 24(4), 4508-4516.
Gardner, B. (1994). Successful Pennsylvania school probation expands. Corrections Compendium, 19(8), 1-3.
Hirschi, T. (2002). Causes of delinquency. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.
Kakar, S. (2005). Geng membership, delinquent friends and criminal family members: Determining the connections. Journal of Gang Research, 13(1): 41-52.
Klausmerier, H. J., & Ripple, R. E. (1975). Learning and human abilities: Educational psychology. New York: Harpwe & Row.
NorBayah, A. K., NurSaadah, M. A., Norhayati, I., Hilwa, A., & NorDiana, J. (2020). Do friendship attachment and positive and negative emotions encourage emotion prosocial behavior among adolescents in Malaysia? International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 24(4), 4410-4423.
Nurco, D. N., Kinlock, T. W., O'Grady, K. E., & Hanlon, T. E. (1998). Differential contributions of family and peer factors to the etiology of narcotic addiction. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 51(3), 229-237.
Omboto, J. (2013). Challenges facing the control of drugs and substance abuse in prisons. Saarbru?cken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.
Chong, S. T., Farquharson, K. Er, A. C., Lukman, M. Z., & Mokhtar, M. K. (2011). Enhancing youth civic engagement and generalized trust through bonding social capital among friends. Pertanika of Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 19(S), 57-64.
Chong, S. T., Jaafar, J. S., Rahim, A. S., Kadir, N. B. A., Subhi, N., Koh, D., Khairuddin, L. L., & Nen, S. (2012). Self-integrity as the protective shield for peer group loitering among at-risk youth. Asian Social Science, 8(9), 98-102.
Royal Malaysia Police. (2010). Laporan Tahunan Polis Di-Raja Malaysia 2009. Kuala Lumpur: Royal Malaysian Police.
Tharshini, N. S., Ibrahim, F., Mohamad, M. S., & Zakaria, E. (2016). Socio-demographic and perpetrators experience in committing crime: A descriptive study on male young offenders undergoing community service order. Journal of Advanced Research in Social and Behavioural Sciences, 4(1), 7-18.
Weatherburn, D. J., & Lind, B. (2001). Delinquent-prone communities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

In-Text Citation: (Mohamad et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Mohamad, M. S., Subhi, N., Ibrahim, F., Nen, S., Sarnon, N., Zakaria, E., Alavi, K., & Hoesni, S. M. (2021). The Influence of Peer Pressure on Male Prisoners’ Involvement in Street Crime. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(6), 1076–1086.