An African American's Decision Making: Choice vs. Constraint At the age of thirteen, Jonathan (a pseudonym) knows all the names and shapes of the guns circulating in his neighborhood . Jonathan lives with his siblings and mother in a poor neighborhood in a metropolitan area. Due to the lack of his father's presence in his life, his uncle serves as a male role model. On many occasions, when his uncle “goes out to steal” from nearby shops, Jonathan is often his guard. Despite criminal laws and police regulations, crime rates in these poor urban neighborhoods are rising with incarceration rates and death rates following suit. According to Elijah Anderson (1994), an American sociologist from Yale University, the inclination to violence derives from the life situations of the urban poor; these circumstances could be a lack of paying jobs, racial stigma, rampant drug use and trafficking, and a lack of hope for the future. Consequently, who or what is responsible for the problems manifested in these African American urban poor communities? The answer lies in the choices. The behaviors of these African Americans can be attributed through the individual's disposition and situational influences; therefore, two theories contain the key explanation to answer the investigation of this phenomenon: Rational Actor Theory and Structured Socialization Theory, respectively. The context in which urban poor African Americans must live indirectly influences their decision making. One such factor that influences their survival is income. As noted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the average income of African Americans is significantly lower than the average income of all races, and an even higher income...... middle of paper ......w Directions for Development children and adolescents, 143, 11–31. Scott, John F. (2000), “Rational Choice Theory,” in Understanding Contemporary Society: Theories of the Present, Abigail Halcli, Gary Browning, and Frank Webster, eds. London: Sage Publications, 126-38.Unknown, “Criminal Justice Fact Sheet.” NAACP. NAACP and Web. 18 April 2014..Farrington, D. (2007), 'Origins of Violent Behavior over the Life Span', in D. Flannery, A. Vazsonyi and I. Weldman, eds., The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression,19 –48. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/cosby.asp https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-245.pdf http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/ 08 /29/1234787/-Why-Barack-Obama-publicly-berates-black-Americans-again-during-his-march-on-Washington-speech