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Robert Agnew's Strain Theory In Scarace

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In the movie Scarface we view go in depth about some life events of Cuban refugee Tony Montana when he enters the United States and receives his green card. We also see what leads him to his criminal activities of becoming a national drug lord. In this film there are a number of different theories that can be applied. I will be using Cornish and Clarkes Rational Choice Theory, along with Robert Agnew’s Strain theory in order to analyze Tony’s reasoning behind committing these crimes. I will be using examples from the film Scarface in order to draw and link these theories with the film. The first theory I will be explaining is Rational Choice Theory. Cornish and Clarke argue that “offenders are rational people who seek to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain.” (Cullen, 2015 pg. 438) …show more content…

Rational choice theory also stipulates that all complex social phenomena are driven by individual human actions. It focuses on the choice to engage in crime. We must keep in mind bounded rationality in order to understand Rationality is constrained by the limits of time and ability and the availability of relevant information (Cullen, 2014 pg 439). You can easily link Rational Choice theory to the film Scarface. In this film Tony Montana (Al Pacino) calculates the pleasure and benefits he can obtain if he becomes a cocaine distributer. He knows it is illegal and the consequences he could face if he gets caught but continues to do it. Tony does not stop dealing cocaine because he is pleasured by the feeling of power and money. He chooses to be a criminal so he can achieve his goals of success and he feels this is the only way to do so. Another example we can use from the film that draws from the RationalChoice theory is when Tony kills the Cuban government

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General strain theory was developed by Robert Agnew. There are three major categories in the types of General strain theory: Failure to achieve positively valued goals, the loss of positively valued stimuli, and the presentation of negative stimuli. A positively valued goal has three sorts and those are money/economic success, status and respect. Lack of money causes strain because it is not obtainable through legitimate means. Strain will result from the lack of autonomy disproportionately affecting adolescents and the poor because of their lower position in society.

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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

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Agnew’s General Strain Theory in There Are No Children Here Introduction Throughout this semester, we have covered various criminological theories along with their strengths and limitations. These theoretical perspectives provide possible explanations to why individuals commit crimes. In addition to, these theories are indirectly woven within cultural objects such as song lyrics, movies, books, and television.

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Introduction Jennifer Ebarhardt who, through her collaboration with different experts in various fields such as law, criminology, novel studies that further law enforcements and judges as well as criminology discover in her studies found out that there is racial bias in today’s policing and sentencing of criminals such that black color is stereotype as group of people who are associated with violence and therefore they mostly received death sentence especially when their victims are whites and therefore they are blacks who are arrested. These behaviors can be best explains using the following theories: General Strain Theory According to this theory, people are involved in crimes because they are not in a position to achieve their goals making them to be frustrated and has the following sources: A person aspiring to become wealth and famous but these aspirations are impossible making them to engage in vandalism or physical attacks which are antisocial forms of behaviors, a person may experience strains due to removal of highly valued stimuli such as migration to new residence will make him/her to get involved in criminal activities in efforts to revenge the loss of highly valued stimuli. Black American youths are unable to meet making them to develop frustration and delinquency.

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The offender decides whether or not the choice will be beneficial. Even though everything cannot be possibly thought out and planned by an offender perfectly but they can rely on the course things taking place at the time of the

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Throughout the years, there have been several theories developed, in the field of criminology, seeking to explain crime and delinquency. Criminology is constantly evolving due to the political and economic views of society. Throughout this change,many theories were created, while other theories are proven to no longer be valid. Each theory whether valid or invalid, takes a different approach in its explanation of crime and delinquency. The question that many have tried to answer is, which theory has the most empirical validity and can best explain why individuals choose to engage in delinquent and criminal activity?

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In class, we watched a scene from the film Goodfellas. The scene was about Henry Hill as a kid how he got introduced to the gangster lifestyle. Throughout this essay, I will explain three behavioral theories, how it applies to a criminal behavior and Goodfellas. Rational choice theory is Attempts to explain all (conforming and deviant) social phenomenon in terms of how self-interested individuals make choices under the influence of their preferences. It treats social exchange as similar to an economic exchange where all parties try to maximize their advantage or gain and to minimize their disadvantage or loss.

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Developmental theories look at how offenders start and end their criminal behaviors. All developmental theories, including the two focused on in this paper, pull from social, psychological, and biological factors to find answers. Both of these theories follow along a trajectory or pathway for offenders. Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory has offenders following along two possible trajectories. They can either follow along the high risk trajectory or the low risk trajectory.

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The responsivity principle states that clinicians should tailor treatment delivery that will produce the most effective outcomes depending on unique needs of the client. It is important that the therapist considers each offender individually and adequately assesses their cultural, mental, and physical needs. There are several advantages (pros) and a couple disadvantages (cons) to the therapeutic approach of the RNR model. The pros of this model are that treatment intensity is matched with individual risk level, dynamic issues that are directly linked with crime, and that specific treatment is tailored to individual offenders. By matching treatment intensity to risk level, offenders receive treatment that will be most effective in meeting their therapy needs.

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Third, I will explore Farrell 's critique of Hayward 's article and consider his arguments made in response to Hayward 's conclusions. Fourth, this paper will engage in its own critique of both Hayward 's and Farrell 's work and conclude with which article makes the most compelling argument. Tenets of Rational Choice Theory and Situational Crime Prevention Rational choice theory originated in the Classical School of thinking as it is based on the ideas of utilitarianism, which states that individuals make decisions that provide the greatest pleasure, as well as the ideas of free will and rational thought (Farrell and Hodgkinson, 2015). According to Farrell and

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Fifth, the specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable. Sixth, a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law. Seventh, Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity. Eighth, the process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning. Lastly, while criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those needs and values, since non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.

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The court system should acknowledge the offenders past and realize that the reasons they are committing crimes are not their free will, it is elements in their past that have caused them to act in a deviant manner. Furthermore, Cullen and Johnson (2017) agree by stating, “science has demonstrated that un-chosen individual traits (e.g., temperament, self-control, IQ) and un-chosen social circumstances (e.g., family, school, community) can be

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The attractiveness of this theory is primarily based on the ethical code that Hampton subscribes to, which is that pain-inflicted punishments should not be condoned when it comes to disciplining wrongdoers. Rather, constructive analysis done pertaining to why certain actions are morally wrong in society would be intellectually stimulating and productive for both the wrongdoers and the public, all while avoiding the infliction of physical pain. Compared to the retributivist argument, which circulates around the idea that the purpose of punishment is to make wrongdoers pay for their misdeeds, and that they should be treated the way that they have treated others, the MET is a more humane way to treat wrongdoers, and in the long run, would perhaps help them emerge from confinement as better citizens within society, rather than as potential repeat offenders. Therefore, the appeal of the MET stems from the positive implications of treating wrongdoers with respect and dignity, all while teaching them why their actions were wrong while simultaneously instilling positive and moral values in their psyche before allowing them to re-enter

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The theory views the offender as either a patient or a victim or both. According to this theory a person who has committed an offense is not morally responsible for the offense he or she has committed because the offense might be the product of an illness in which treatment is required; this type of person is regarded as a patient. When the offense is the product of a dysfunctional social environment the person is regarded as the victim. The advantage of this approach is that it focuses on the offenders, instead of punishing the offenders this approach focuses on repairing and treating the dysfunctional areas that the offenders are experiencing by means of behavioral therapy and other therapeutic programmes.

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Motivation is a key factor; many criminals are motivated by desires, rage and desperation. It is very possible that criminals are not thinking rationally when committing a crime. In other words, the severity of a punishment is largely irrelevant when criminals are not thinking clearly at the time, the very fact that they committed the crime in the first place is already evident that they never considered the consequences. Therefore, it is untrue that harsher punishments are more

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