What causes people to commit crime? This million dollar questions has place many criminologists and researchers searching for answers. In the past decades, people have tried to explain crime by referring to the earliest literature of criminal’s atavistic features to human biology. Recent studies have shows that crime is described in the social environment. While, no one theory can prove the causes of crime, strain theory has gain support in academic research for its five mode of adaptation.…
Although, it is unlikely that this approach would hold true for explaining why an adult with no background of juvenile delinquency would suddenly be involved in adult crime organizations. Members of criminal organizations will vary in age but “it is rare that one joins or begins criminal associations as an adult” and that the majority of “gang membership begins during youth and adolescence” (Britz et al., 2006, p. 16). However, there are some flaws in the applicability of Sutherland’s theory for explaining why people become involved in criminal gangs. One such flaw is the claim that one is deviant through the “excess of deviant over conventional contacts” (Thio, 2010, p. 24). It fails to explain why some people who are surrounded by nondeviant influences become deviant and for people who are surrounded by deviance never engage in deviant behavior. The theory analyzes how a person could learn from his or her surroundings but fails to explain “the reasons for why they make delinquent choices” (Church et al., 2009, p. 11). A better explanation of how deviance occurs is through…
However, Merton’s strain theory can be criticised because it focuses on individual responses to limited access to opportunity structures or access to illegitimate opportunity structures and doesn’t recognise that there is a social pattern of crime and deviance affecting whole groups of people, linked to social class, age, gender, ethnicity and locality, and not all of these people are subjected to the same opportunity structures.…
Robert Agnew published the general strain theory of crime and delinquency in 1992 as an improvement upon previous strain theory arguments proposed by Merton (1938), A. Cohen (1955), and Cloward and Ohlin (1960). The general strain theory explains crime and delinquency at an individual level, with a particular focus in social-psychological factors in the individual’s life. Despite the individualized approach, general strain theory includes some discussions of implications on the macro-, or structural, level as well. The theorist expands on earlier iterations of strain theories by supplementing the possible sources of strain, further specifying the relationship between strain and delinquent actions, contributing to the understanding of adaptations…
Strain theory is "a micro-level, process explanation of individuals criminal behavior based on notion of goal frustration" (Howell, 2015). The general strain theory of crime and delinquency was developed by Robert Agnew's in 1985 (Akers & Sellers, 2009). The theory has three explanatory factors which is first the strain that lead to negative emotion then to behavior, but what can impact a person response to a strain is the internal and external constraints. An internal constraint is the type of value structure, self control, or even the amount of emotion management (Howell, 2015). Where the external constraint is the amount of social support or bonding and there is the nature of peer association. Strain can come from three situations which are failure to achieve positively valued, removal of positively valued stimuli, and confrontation…
Here are nine formal propositions that demonstrate that social interaction and learning lead to delinquency. The first one is criminal behavior is learned. Sutherland said delinquency is a function of learning. The second one is criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication. The third one is intimate personal groups is the principal part of the learning of criminal behavior. So you can learn delinquent behavior from families such as parents. The fourth one is when you do criminal behavior; you learn the techniques of committing the crime, specific directions of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes. The fifth one is the specific direction of motives and drives is leaned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable. The sixth one is a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of the law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law. A favorable definition happens when a youth is exposed to ideas or behaviors that are deviant. When a juvenile is associating with others, he has obtained more definitions that are favorable to the violation of the law than are unfavorable, and then delinquency is likely to occur. The seventh is differential associations may vary…
There are many criminological theories to explain why crime and criminals work the way they work. Five theories are fit into a majority of today’s crime cases are Anomie theory by Emile Durkheim, General strain theory by Robert Agnew, Social Disorganization theory by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, Social Bonding theory by Travis Hirschi, and the Containment theory by Walter Reckless. Anomie is when there is a clear lack of social norms and values. This is common among teens who grew up in a dysfunctional, abusive family. General strain theory is used an individual is strained and unable to cope with the strain so they commit their time to doing crimes. Social Disorganization theory shows why certain neighborhoods experience more crime rates…
Social structure theories view societal, financial, and social arrangements or structures as the primary cause of deviant and criminal behaviors (University of Phoenix, 2013). In other words, the primary cause of crime or deviant behavior can be traced to the less fortunate, or lower class of people. Social structure theories indicate that neighborhoods of lower class individuals suffer from immense strain, stress, frustration, and a kind of disorganized chaos that creates crime (Inchaustegui, n.d.). While this theory definitely has some truths regarding resources and some people’s experiences, certain strains…
The general assumptions of strain/anomie perspective basically discuss that social structures within our culture could coerce people into group and situations that would push them to commit crime. The reason why I chose this over subcultural perspective is because the strain/anomie perspective has more application to explaining the causes of crime though expounding upon certain goals and motivations than to claim that certain groups and subcultures of people just have a great affinity for crime that others. I argue that out of all of the strain/anomie perspectives, Agnew’s general strain theory provide the best explanation for the overrepresentation of homicides in inner-city areas. While the other theories claim that they can identify the causes that give people the motivation to commit…
Higgins, George E., (2011). General Strain Theory, Peer Rejection, and Delinquency/Crime. Youth Society. 43 (4), pp.1273-1297…
The Relationship between Delinquency and Drug UseIn my attempt to discover if delinquency and drug use, or the sale of drugs were correlated with one another, my research lead to a positive correlation, especially when there was gang membership involved. The theory I have chosen to tie in with my review of the articles I found is the social learning theory of Edwin Sutherland known as differential association theory. According to Britannica online, Sutherland 's differential association theory of delinquent behavior is learned from other persons who are also engaged in delinquent behaviors. Sutherland believes that a person becomes delinquent because of an access amount of exposure to the definitions of criminal behavior and the violation of the law (Britannica 2007). This particular belief is a good theory to use to explain juvenile delinquency. Orcutt (1983) explains that Sutherland states that everyone has social groups which influence each of us in the actions that we chose to engage in according to the norms and values of that group. An example would be that most of our parents teach us that we should respect and obey the law. However, there are those that some people are associated with inside their social network that influence in negative ways, tempting and leading others into deviant behavior. Such as assuring those within a group that certain drugs should not be criminalized and that the chance of getting caught with them is very slim. With enough pressure and continued exposure to that mindset and behavior pattern, an individual whom has not been engaged in certain illegal behaviors becomes involved with those activities that promote the illegal and delinquent behaviors. The behavior referred to in this paper is the use or selling of drugs and its connection with juvenile delinquency and gangs. According to Orcutt (1983), Sutherland does point out that learning of social norms and values does not come from the mass population but for one 's own intimate…
Each year an untold number of teens, from seemingly well-grounded families, have become criminal statistics as they migrate from disassociated youths, to delinquency, to criminal activity. The common thought is middle-class young people are being pushed to gang life out of a need or desire to fill an emotional or physical void and these underlying desires have permeated the subculture and have become the norm instead of the exception. There are several theories which have attempted to explain the reason teenagers turn to deviant behavior, however, for this context we will be discussing only two; the first is the theory of Social Control, which is the way a society attempts to prevent and discourage behaviors that violate norms or laws. People tend to comply with social controls because we dread negative reactions from other people, and these reactions can include, anger, frustration, disappointment, pity and contempt, and if the deviant activity is extreme, then negative reactions may generate from the legal system, to include law enforcement, the courts, correctional and probationary systems (Barkin, S., 2012). The second theory, Strain Theory and Cultural Deviance, is the concept which advocates the values and moral of the middle-class, with a focus on financial success. Violations of this strain theory occur…
References: 1. Agnew, R. (2003). A General Strain Theory of Crime and Delinquency. In F.T. Cullen & R. Agnew (Eds.), Criminological Theory: Past to Present (Essential readings) (2nd Ed.) (p. 208). Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing.…
Such strains indicate the likelihood of crime, which include the harsh discipline of a parent and discrimination. Research says that these increase crime because of the emotional abuse in brings on someone. Sometimes research finds support for these strains but sometimes they do not. With strain theory, there is a likelihood of crime and it leads to negative conditions such as bullying, teasing, humiliating, and anything that has to do with verbal or physical abuse. There are two types of general strain theory, which is subjective and objective strain. Objective is events that are disliked within a given group. Subjective strain is events that are disliked by the person experiencing them. “As the larger stress literature demonstrates, individuals often differ in their subjective evaluation of the same objective strains. For example, some students are devastated by low grades, while others care little about their grades.” (Agnew 654). Sometimes grades affect students and if they get a bad grade when they put all their effort into it, these students do not understand why and think it is unfair. Strain can cause anything and especially if someone has so much work at school, family problems, or even problems with their peers it can cause them to act out. Some of these offenders have never committed a crime in their life and because of all the stress that they are getting they just cannot handle it. Bullying happens all the time and it is something we cannot stop because no matter what there will always be someone bullying another. Bullying is one cause of strain theory because if someone is being bullied for a long time they probably cannot handle…
To begin with, Social structure theories enlighten on how social economic structures can influence economic opportunities in our society, which then could also lay an impact on criminal tendency to a person. According to (author), strain theory, developed by Merton, states that there are certain things or circumstances that could increase the likelihood of a person to commit a crime, these are known as strains or stressor. These strains or stressors create a negative impact to the person’s emotions such as frustration and anger. These types of emotions influence the corrective actions and behaviors of an individual, thus committing a crime is an unavoidable result. Moreover, material success, such as cars,…