Robert Agnew's General Strain Theory In There Are No Children Here

People always wonder what means make people feel they need to commit crime? Do they want to? Do they want to hurt others? Why do they do it? Many criminologists have pondered this question, and have come up with many different theories to answer the age old question of why? Robert Agnew created general strain theory (GST). According to Agnew general strain theory is a hypothesis to explain why offenders have committed crime due to pressures or strain on them to counteract negative emotions. Agnew defines strains as any sort of situation that causes stress on the individual. This could be death in the family assault, loss of job, injury, financial hardships, or something else. There are two types of strains he focuses on. A vicarious strain

Many instances these juveniles would witness many deaths and would be scared for their life of what is to come. The projects were full of gang activity, and the children (although they did their best to have fun) were never really allowed to be children. Many of these youths fell into the wrong crowd and get into trouble at a young age, which leads to more trouble in their lives, as they grow up. For the boys in the book, many of their older siblings have been in and out of jail, and although their mother Lajoe, wants to picture living a long life, she invests money for burial assistance monthly, just to be safe. One of the children, Pharaoh, always did well in school. Pharaoh and Rickey became friends one day after Pharaoh was being bullied in gym class. Rickey who “had found someone with whom he had no choice but to be friend with” (pg. 74) now looked at Pharaoh as a younger brother, someone he must protect. Rickey is more of a “bad boy” due to the things he has seen in is short life. His cousin (Bird Leg) died right in front of him, and caused him a bit of PTSD, “when Rickey became embroiled in a fight, he began to relive Bird Leg’s last minutes, and as he did so his anger turned to rage...these flashbacks, which were not unlike those of a traumatized war victim, haunted Rickey for well over a year after Bird Leg’s death” (pg. 73). Had

Everyone in the story experience some sort of strain. Lajoe, lost so many children, not to death, but to jail and or prison. She tried to work with them, to get them the best defense, but without money, what more could she do? Lajoe, also worried for her children safety. She invested eighty dollars a month to have burial assistance in the case that one of her children gets shot, or dies of some other unnatural causes. As a mother, she should not have to be worried about this. But, because of where they live, there is death all around them. If we transition to another member of the story, we see Rickey, a juvenile who has already faced hardships. He witnessed his second cousin die, right in front of him. This really changed him. He could not imagine someone leaving the world so soon, and became angered that it had happened. This took Rickey down a path he would have to work really hard to come back from. Rickey, became part of the “bad” crowds. He started stealing, breaking into cars, and getting involved in drugs. When Rickey friended Lafayette and Pharaoh it was good! Because they would try and convince him not to steal. But they could not stop him completely. For Lafayette and Pharaoh, they dealt with many challenging issues through out the book. To begin, they live in the projects, this place was deteriorating and really discusting. Kids died of unnatural caused often, and there was little police presence