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Documentary Analysis: When Kids Get Life

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Jessie Townsend May 3rd, 2016 Prof. Allen Wong ASOC283 Why Kids Get Life The documentary “When Kids Get Life” delves into four cases involving juveniles who are serving life without parole in Colorado prisons. All of these juveniles are serving this time due to first degree murder among other charges they have received. The ages of these juveniles at the time of their crimes range from fifteen to seventeen and all of them still currently remain incarcerated. By applying different delinquency theories to each case, there is a chance that one could explain or even rationalize why these juveniles committed the crimes that they did. While their actions may not have been positive ones, there are always mitigating …show more content…

One is the failure to achieve positively valued stimuli, the second is confrontation with negatively valued stimuli and the last is removal of positively valued stimuli. (Wong, Lecture) In Nathan’s case, he constantly suffered from all three of these behaviors. Firstly he was unable to achieve the escape from his parents that he so desperately longed for. Secondly he was constantly abused by both his mother and father and lastly he was taken away from both his friends and the band they were in consistently which removed much of the positive outlets that he had. General Strain Theory also displays three different types of strain. These are experiential strain, anticipated strain and vicarious strain. (Wong, Lecture) While Nathan was undergoing experiential strain from his horrific home life, Erik endured vicarious strain from watching his friend having to deal with the circumstances he was suffering from. The immense strain that Nathan was under was what caused him to eventually snap and murder his mother. Nathan felt unable to escape and dealt with his strain in the only way he thought was possible – killing. Meanwhile Erik assisted his friend because he was feeling vicarious strain and also wanted to help his friend escape the unwanted family situation he was seemingly trapped …show more content…

Within this theory there are two types of punishments and two types of reinforcements. Positive reinforcement deals with the presentation of positive stimuli after an action. Negative reinforcement is when a negative stimulus is taken away. Positive punishment is when undesired consequences are attached to a certain behavior. Lastly, negative punishment is when desired consequences are removed such as material items. What this theory engages with is the assumption that the engagement of behavior begins after the observation of similar behaviors in others. (Wong,

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