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General strain theory strenghths
Race discrimination in the police force
General strain theory strenghths
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More handpicked essays just for you.
General strain theory strenghths
Race discrimination in the police force
General strain theory strenghths
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
While a few theories are not as regular, others have developed and are utilized as a part of numerous criminal reviews today. Cutting edge criminologists consolidate the most important aspects of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and biological theories to advance their comprehension of criminal behavior. Rational choice theory, psychological, biological, and strain theory are used to analyze the
The general strain theory of crime, which was developed by criminologist Robert Agnew, would be best to explain this type of offense. Most stressors in daily life can be seen as easily solvable with money. Rather than working for financial gain, some people find it easier to commit crimes because it is a faster way to get what they want. This encompasses the reason for counterfeiting money because it involves the 3 main ingredients for the strain theory. The first aspect is the inability to achieve positively valued goals.
Elijah Anderson, a Yale professor, developed the concept or theory entitled the “code of the street” which explains the reasoning for high rates of street violence among African-American juveniles in a Philadelphia community. The “code of the street” is the way of life for many living in poverty-stricken communities which attempt to regulate behaviors. Anderson observed that juveniles in inner-city neighborhoods who are exposed to racial discrimination, economic disadvantages and alienation from mainstream society may lead violent behavior. The strain, social learning, and labeling theories are all directly related to Anderson’s work.
Within the past couple of decades, criminologists have developed different criminological theories that apply to the social behaviors and decisions of criminals. One of the earliest theories developed regarding criminality is the rational choice theory, in which describes the rationalization of determining if the rewards from committing the crime outweigh the consequences. In Scarver’s case, his decision to engage in criminal activities outweighed the potential consequences, or the other alternatives if he did not engage in such criminal activities. In addition to the rational choice theory, Scarver’s criminality can be related to the social disorganization theory, which describes the influence of one’s social and physical environment on one’s decision to commit a crime. Lastly, the strain theory can be related to Scarver’s criminality as well, as it is used to describe an individual who lacks the means to obtain such goals, and aspirations, so therefore, he or she engages in criminal activities to acquire the goals.
Coker gives great evidence that supports racial injustice in the criminal justice system. She discusses on the Supreme Court’s rulings and accusations of racial preference in the system. This article is helpful because it supports my thesis on race playing a role on the system of criminal justice. Hurwitz, J., & Peffley, M. (1997). Public perceptions of race and crime: The role of racial stereotypes.
They are disadvantaged, live in higher rates of poverty, which often leads them to strain and commit crimes for survival. Statistically, they face higher jail time for the same crimes, which keeps them in that cycle. An African American or any underprivileged minority child most likely will not be able to achieve as much a white child from a high class family. The tension between the goals and the institutionalize means will cause unsatisfied aspiration, which has a higher chance to lead to crime. The reasons that there are higher rates of crime in lower social classes are easily explained by this theory.
Despite that, one way this chapter can help increase knowledge on criminal justice issues is the fact that it suggests we should conscious of bias; especially, when sample is not fully representative of the larger population from which it was selected. For example, many law enforcement agencies believe that black and minorities made up a large percentage of criminals in this country, and they are more like to be up to no good. But if looked at it in the other way, maybe the law enforcement bias toward black and minority is the issue not the fact that minorities are more likely to be criminal because according to multiple research black and minority are 2 to 3 times more likely to be stopped by the police for minor violation than white in the United States (The Stanford Open Policing Project, 2017). Meanwhile, in U.K. they are “Now more than eight times more likely to be stopped by police than white people” (Cockburn, 2017). In those cases, since they are more likely to be stopped by the police that leads them to be more likely to be opened for search and more likely to be arrested.
These pressures are from the adolescent’s surroundings, family, and friends. Adolescents are at an age in which they are vulnerable, and being as vulnerable
Discuss the significance of scientific racism for criminology. Crime is a social phenomenon that accompanies humanity for as long as there is the society itself. The issue of crime has been covered more than once in the work of the thinkers of past centuries and its relations within the race has been widely explored since ancient times (Treadwell, 2012). However, a systematic interest in the study emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century, when criminology began to form an independent scientific discipline.
Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System Introduction The United States criminal justice system is the largest in the world. In 2015, there were more than 6.7 million people under some form of correctional control within the United States, including 2.2 million incarcerated in federal, state, or local prisons and jails. By being the world leader in incarceration rates, the United States eclipses the rate of any other nation. These statistics from “The Sentencing Project” emphasize the significance of mass incarceration in America and the racial inequality that takes form in its criminal justice system.
Strain theory is the belief that a child’s socioeconomic status plays a major role in juvenile delinquency. This theory implies that although most individuals have the same goals, and share the same values for success, many people are unable to obtain these goals because of their socioeconomic class. According to (“Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services,” 2015.) The children will have several different negative emotions when they have “Resenment when they perceive unjust treatment from others, and depression or anxiety when they blame themselves for the stressful consequence (volume 5, chapter 6).” Children who show signs of the strain theory really have a tough time expressing their emotions.
There have been many controversial discussions concerning the disfranchisement of felons, especially in African-American community. African-Americans are twice as likely to be convicted of a felony higher than any other race in the American population. African-Americans felons are also twice as likely to return to prison higher than any other race. The discussion about the recidivist’s rate of African-Americans often place blame on the individual’s behavior and/or being a product of one’s own environmental. Although this may be true but taking deeper into cause of African-Americans recidivism, would reveal the main factor being laws that have been put into place to keep convicted felon at a disadvantage, hence felony disenfranchisement.
Strain theory is a very well-known theory to criminology world. Robert Merton who introduced strain theory first, believed that as a society we encourage others to committed crime and engage in deviant behaviors due to the nature of our lifestyle within our society. As we know, strain theory argues that there are pretty much two different types of people, people who are willing to reach to their American dream by working hard and not breaking any laws and others who will achieve American dream by engaging in deviant behavior in order to get to their goals. However, once other criminologists started to study strain theory and processing the details, they were able to find many inadequacies and limitations.
This study focuses on the effect of both the blacks and white mandatory terms and sentencing enhancements. Overall, both increase prison admission rates, but disportionately affects the black men more who have violent offenses. There was a correlation with these rates that it aligns with the theory of modern racism (in terms of after the Civil Rights Movement). By having such rates, the author believes this always racism to be presentence behind colorblind policies and practices which in this case incarceration rates. However, the author claims that the there are dangers of race neutral production of racial inequality is the legitimization of racial stratification.
The Criminal Justice System and the stages within it are seen as being affected by socioeconomic factors, race and gender. Many citizens who call for Criminal Justice reform point to the statistical factors showing racial and gender disproportionality in arrests, convictions, wrongful convictions and the population composition