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Punisher - Critical Analysis
Men growing up can often find themselves under the pressure of becoming a delinquent
or may have chances they have to face when it comes to the life of crime, specifically gang
violence based on their surroundings. When looking at these men, it is important to understand
the environment they are growing up in, faced with crime and having the police in the areas they
are living in for most of the time patrolling. The book, "Punisher" by Victor Rios explores this
through the narrative of Rios himself, and his friends who successfully made it out of what he
calls the ghetto and had to face "constant punishment" (Rios, xiv) throughout the time period of
him growing up.
When reading the book, it focuses on many teenage and young Latino men along with
African American men, who were a part of the cities where Rios grew up in. This part focuses on
the dangers of inner city living including "at any given moment something could jump off, fools
could roll up, and shit could go down"(Rios, 4) which shows that many of these young men are
on edge all of the time, and have to keep their guard up around everyone in their communities
and neighborhoods. Along with this, people get "run up on"(Rios, 4) at any random street corner,
and may have to face a life or death situation.
When getting attacked by another group of people, the cops target the wrong person and
say "Hands on your ass"(Rios, 4) and they were the ones who faced the trouble. Cops aren't only
targeting the criminals in the area but almost everyone. The one's getting handcuffed were
2 eventually released, just as Rios had stated he went to "UC Berkeley"(Rios, 4) along with telling
the cops "He's cool, man!"(Rios, 4) to show that he isn't a danger and to let the cops unhand
those he was with. The cops also looked down upon Rios for acting as a mentor to these boys in
a way stating that "was doing the boys no good by studying them and advocating for them"(Rios.
4). The boy had then stated that "it happens every day"(Rios, 5) and said that Rios should know
that, especially growing up in those areas. Other people in the community of this inner city also
frown upon these boys stating, "I found that schools pushed out boys who had been victimized."
(Rios, 6) showing that the teachers even care less about the boys and are sending a harsh
message to them about their future.
The studies made on his research among the boys showed that the crime and consistent
policing very harshly affected these Latino and African American young boys. He went into
Oakland to review this and found many factors leading to these boys going down paths of crime
or not living their life to the fullest in the best way possible due to how they are seen. There is no
one really helping