Cycle Of Violence Theory Essay

488 Words2 Pages

The cycle of violence theory that was developed by comparing the link between childhood trauma and subsequent criminal offending acts (Belknap 2006:82). The cycle of violence is a pattern that states that children who are subjected to childhood neglect and/or violence (physical; sexual; or emotional) are more likely to engage in criminal behavior as they get older. The criminal behavior may begin while they are still a minor and continue throughout adulthood or it may begin as an adult depending on their current surroundings and strains. The cycle consists of tension building, explosive action or behavior, and then a honeymoon phase, which repeats itself until the cycle is stopped by some kind of professional help or judicial interruption. …show more content…

He goes on to state that the way people respond to strain closely associated to how they handle or resolve their stressors based on their race, class, and gender, i.e. legal or illegal measures and their amount of societal support.
Pathway theories of individuals are the paths people have taken to arrive at a point in their life that they commit crimes. The process to obtain pathway theories the background of criminals or those who have committed criminal activity is investigated from the environment they grew up into the people they were surrounded by as a child, teen, and adult. Pathways theories are the life course a person that lead them to crime. It normally stems from conflict as a child.
Merging theories together helps to get more detailed data and better understand the reason behind human actions. Combining theories help to adequately assess an offender's reasoning for committing crimes as well as identifies ways to prevent them from committing additional crimes. Many factors overlap to create delinquent behavior, so combining research and theories is not only a good way of identifying control variables, but also a good way to extinguish