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Streetwise Documentary Analysis

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1. As you watch Streetwise—a documentary about the lives of Seattle street kids in the early 1980s— consider the explanations of juvenile delinquency offered by strain/anomie theories and control theories (including social disorganization theory and social bonds theory). First, choose the branch of theory that you believe BEST explains the delinquency of the kids featured in the film. Next, choose the single theory along your chosen branch that you believe offers the best explanation. For instance, if you think strain theories offer the best explanation, you should decide whether Merton’s theory or Agnew’s theory best explains the kids’ delinquency. What theory did you choose? Strain-anomie theory fills the film Streetwise. Merton’s idea of strain-anomie focusing on the American dream and success definitely drived the children and their decisions. Many of the kids did not have the means to reach their goals. Even if seemed they had the means such as a supportive family there were still problems. The parents were in jail or alcoholics or even abused the children when they were younger. The children turned to innovation to reach their goals of the American Dream. How does this theory explain delinquency? The children each spoke of a family and pets and living in a house with a front yard. This is the …show more content…

Each of the girls explained they are only doing it for the money. They do not want to go on dates necessarily but they like having money. One of the girls was explaining to Tiny that she came go get her friend off the street but instead her friend convinced her the money was good and she decided to start hoeing too. They all were just in it for the money and how easy it seemed to be to get the money. They all eventually wanted to find love and settle down and have a family and a home in the

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The boys sought for this experiment were already delinquent, and as noted this was a case study, these were unique individuals and as such the findings cannot be generalized to the larger population of the United States, California or even Oakland. Another fact that must be noted is that the author utilized snowball sampling, the author went to community organizations and asked to be connected to ‘at risk’ kids, and when he established communication with some of the young men, he asked them to refer him to other youths in similar situations. The author also makes note of the fact that his own experiences as a child may have had a bias on his

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People that have gone to a good school and have a family with positive influences are less likely to engage in deviant behavior. External structures like schools, churches, clubs, police departments, keep individuals from deviating, these institutions push individuals into conforming to the norms of society. Travis Hirschi introduced four elements of social bonds: “attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief” (Vierra 2014). Reckless believed that these four components could prevent crime and deviant behaviors because they give the individual a purpose and sense of responsibility. If individuals in many of these lower income neighborhoods do not have a job and no source of steady income, then they are ever more likely to resort to deviant behaviors in order to attain the means of survival.

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Jeanette worked at a jewelry store, Lori sold posters, and Brian did labor work. The children sought the inspiration of going to New York and leaving the harsh life in Welch , they saw New York as their new Glass Castle. The children used their adventurous values to make New York happen, the children were almost colonizing New York. it took great courage and

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57). Research shows that delinquency and youth violence have been on the rise over the decade growing in epidemic proportions since 1993 (Hoyt & Scherer, 1998). Delinquency means for one to break the law and does not have to involve any form of criminal activity in one doing so. However, it is known that antisocial behavior, delinquency, and violence share common roots and similar consequences according to Mcwhirter et al. (2013). Violent crimes committed by youth has escalated by youth victimized by youth violence doubling the in juvenile arrests for violent crime by 2010, and fueled anxieties about future crime wave as the juvenile delinquents mature into adults (Hoyt & Scherer, 1998) with female delinquency making its mark up the ladder according to research.

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In his strain theory, Agnew identifies several other sources of strain besides Merton’s disjunction between goals and means (Hemmens & Walsh, 2014). In this perspective, strain includes the negative emotions that arise from social relationships. According to Agnew, strain occurs when from the removal of positively valued stimuli such as the loss of a romantic partner, the presentation of negative stimuli such as negative school experiences and the prevention or a threat to prevent an individual from obtaining a positively valued goal (Hemmens & Walsh, 2014). In the case of Lafeyette, his strain came from all three sources. The removal of positively valued stimuli for him was losing Terrence to prison and his two friends to death (Kotlowitz, 1991).

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It is a direct correlation with Agnew’s General Strain Theory, thus neighborhoods that experience less strain will fare better. So if the neighboring community experiences less strain, has better community support (police response, community involvement such as churches and youth organizations) are reasons that neighboring communities experience differing impacts of street

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This theory gets to the root of most of the troubles and assists policymakers find a solution, even if it is just short term. Many of these policies are designed to protect the rights of children and reduce the number of delinquents. In Juvenile Delinquency in a Diverse Society, Kristin Bates writes that, “Plenty of other groups have utilized anomie theories to inform delinquency and crime-related policies today, such as the “I Have A Dream” Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club of America.” She argues that these and many of other organizations create and defend policies designed to influence the younger generation in a positive

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His areas of study are Juvenile delinquency, Youth violence and Criminological theory. The main argument of the source is that General strain theory provides and explanation of crime and delinquency and that it is the latest and broadest form of strain theory. General Strain Theory represents a revision and extension of prior strain theories. “General strain theory is distinguished from other criminological theories by the central role it assigns to negative emotions in the etiology of offending. It is also distinguished by the emphasis it places on particular strains, especially strains involving negative social relations “ (Brezina, 2018).

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There are many theories that suggest that crime is constructed socially, or is a product of the society in which the crime is committed. One such theory, proposed by Robert Merton, is known as strain theory. While strain theory is a useful model for explaining how societal values can drive people to commit crimes, it has several flaws and does not focus on how laws are made and how this contributes to the formation of crime. While Merton suggests that laws are created from consensus within a society, it will be argued that strain theory can also support the idea that laws are a “product of conflict” (Hagan 5). Strain theory is founded on the idea that the goals of a society and the accepted means of achieving said goal causes strain that can

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Strain and Deviance: an empirical test of General Strain Theory of in a Philippine Public University LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical Background During the past decades, various criminologists developed different theories in an attempt to explain the causes of crime within the society. In return they were successful, as of today it was adopted or accepted, indeed all of theories explain the root causes of crime. One of these theories is anomie or strain theory which originally argues that the lower class frustration to higher class causes crime (Merton, 1938) in attempt to explain why majority of the people who commits crime are lower class.

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Albert Francis Charles Augustus Emmanuel Cohen presented the theory of gang constitution that used Merton’s strain theory as a basis for why individuals resort to such group behavior. There are five adaptions to strain and of the five Sanyika was proximately cognate to the adaptation of revolt, which is the most complex of the five adaptations. Strain is considered the primary source for the development of criminals. According to Cohen, delinquent youths begin to value destruction of property and skipping school, not because these behaviors lead to a payoff or success in the conventional world, but simply because they defy the conventional norms and laws as good, thereby psychologically and physically rejecting the cultural system that has been imposed on them without preparation and fair distribution of resources. (Tibbets, p. 116)

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The social disorganization theory developed by Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay is one theory that endeavors to explain the phenomenon of crime. This essay aims to analyze, assess, and clarify whether the social disorganization theory accurately dissects the social problem of delinquency. Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay, two criminology researchers from the Chicago School of Criminology developed the social disorganization theory in 1942. The theory contends that an individual’s social and physical environments are the principle influences to the behavioral choices that they make. In their research, Shaw and McKay measured and assessed crime, truancy, juvenile delinquency, and mental disorder as part of the problems in Chicago communities.

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Criticism of Merton’s Strain Theory One critique of the strain theory is how it overemphasis the position of the social class in regards to crime and deviance. As we know, the strain theory applies mainly to the American lower class as they struggle the most. Our lower class are faced with the lack of resources to help them reconcile their goals. However, by looking at the variation of deviant and criminal behavior, the strain theory does not adequately account for any type of crimes besides the normal street or neighborhood crimes.

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This research paper draws on existing sociological research and classical social theories to examine juvenile delinquency, and to prove that juvenile delinquency in the schools are linked to social structure, within a sample of the entire form three student population. The two major theories this research paper will highlight is the strain theory coined by Robert Merton and social disorganization theory by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay reason for using the same is that they are old theories, but often relates to modern criminality and delinquency, and also focuses on social structure and social functioning in society. Both social disorganization theory, and strain theory states that high

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The set of the structural-functional theories are among the most widespread perspectives on the juvenile delinquency. The group of the theories regards that the behavior of the underage delinquent is caused by the breakdown of the social process that consequently results in the increase of conformity (Thompson & Bynum, 2016). The group of theories presumably blame institutions that are responsible for the socialization of the young delinquents for the way the socialize the individuals by causing them to conform to the values of the society. One of the central theories of the juvenile delinquency is the anomie theory that is rooted in the early studies by the sociologist Emile Durkheim.

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