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)
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.
Socioeconomic struggles are often touted to be a large contributor to the causes of crime. In the film On the Outs, the stories of three girls– Suzette, Oz, and Marisol– are told. Each one faces economic struggles in their home life, whether it is being raised by a parent who finds it hard to make ends meet, or they themselves are finding it difficult to make money. Two criminological theories that could explain why the girls are involved in crime and the criminal justice system are strain theory and social disorganization theory. In this essay, I will discuss how strain theorists and social disorganization theorists would explain the girls’ juvenile detention and ultimately argue that social disorganization theory is the best explanation.
general strain theory is a theory that is derived from the original strain theory by Robert Agnew in 1992.Agnew states that strain theory could be central in explaining crime and deviance, but that it needed revision so that it was not tied to social class or cultural variables, but re-focused on norms. The general strain theory focuses on the negative relationships with others ,delinquency as the result of pressure by negative states such as anger and other negative emotions as a result of negative relationships. The general strain theory have three categories of strains according to Agnew which are the inability to achieve positively valued goals ,the removal or the threat to remove positively valued stimuli and to present a threat to one
Merton and Agnew’s General Strain Theory takes a look at what causes a person to commit a crime. There are various strains, also known as stressors, which lead to negative behavior patterns. Stress, anger and frustration are common emotions people feel and they may encourage someone to do something they should not in order to get relief or a solution to their problem. Merton’s strain theory was acknowledged during the middle of the 20th century and during the 1990s, Agnew developed a strain that seemed more fitting for current times. General Strain Theory
Strain theory has been expanded by other scholars. Robert Agnew's General Strain Theory (GST) broadens the concept by identifying three major types of strain: the failure to achieve positively valued goals, the removal of positively valued stimuli, and the presentation of negative stimuli. GST posits that individuals who experience strain are more likely to engage in criminal behavior if they lack the ability to cope through legitimate means, have low self-control, and are in a social environment that encourages criminal
In the 1960s, the General Strain theory was the go to theory to describe deviance. Although it was fought against by many researchers it still came out on top. The theory “is written at the social-psychological level… [and] focuses on the individual and his or her immediate environment” (Agnew, 1992, p.48). The theory mainly focuses on the strains that cause the deviant behavior to be committed.
The programs related to the strain theory are at risk programs that enhance the opportunity of poor youth to succeed at school. It’s a direct pathway to access universities, colleges, and careers. Criminal Justice Research stated, “One such program is the National Head Start Association, which sponsors a preschool enrichment program. Head Start focuses on preschool-age children in disadvantaged areas. Such children are placed in a preschool- program designed to equip them with the skills and attitudes necessary to do well in school.
It is well documented that juvenile females often incur harsher sentencing that male juvenile offenders. Females have seen a 50% increase, from 20% to 29%, in arrest from 1992 to 2012. The percentage of juvenile girls being sent to detention centers has had a similar increase over the same amount of time (On, n.d.). There are several theories that try to explain the phenomenon of this harsher sentencing, most notably is the paternalistic theory. There is evidence that juvenile girls are treated more severely by police, caseworkers, lawyers, and judges (Thibodeau, 2002).
In 1985 Robert Agnew a sociologist come to an interest of studying the theory and finds a potential for the theory in explaining several causes of crime in society, but due to its limitation he developed and reformulated the theory to widen its dimension or scope. After revising the theory he come up into General strain theory of crime and builds its foundation in 1992. General strain theory argues that frustrations and anger leads someone to deviance and may result into committing a crime (Agnew, 1992). GST defines strains as negative life events and conditions which are commonly disliked by the people who experience it or negative experiences of a person in a given group (Agnew, 1992; 2001; 2006). Strain is often classified in two distinct types, the Objective Strain and the Subjective Strain.
Theories Some of the theories that can explain why are there prostitutes lingering around my neighborhood are rational choice, social learning, and Strain theory. Rational choice theory of criminology, says that people make logical choices about under what circumstances to commit crime. For example, Mike’s girlfriend had to meet with the prison guard who accepted a blow job and thirty dollars in exchange for smuggling in three pills of oxycodone to Mike, which he took to ease the pain from a severe beating received in the yard. “Social learning theory has had a distinct and lasting impact on the field of criminology. This framework evolved from the Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association in the 1940s, which argued that crime is learned through interactions with intimate
The next article that will be discussed is about labeling theory and juvenile delinquency by Adams, Robertson, Gray-Ray, and Ray (2003). The purpose of this study is to examine juvenile delinquency using the theoretical examination of labeling theory. It examines labeling theory, by seeing how informal (parents, peers, and teachers) labeling and formal (social control agencies) labeling affect adolescents into committing delinquent acts. The researchers hypothesized that adolescents who chose negative labels as their self-image had a greater tendency to be involved in delinquency. This study also uses a quantitative research method to collect their data.
Each zone has its own distinctive personalities and Burgess and Park expected that each zone would produce its own distinct social behavior. Burgess and Park concluded that because of the constant arrival of immigrants, inner zone residents cannot obtain social control of their neighborhood (Guerrero 2009). Sociologists Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. McKay expanded the concentric zone theory to examine crime and delinquency rates in Chicago neighborhoods. Over a span of 30 years, Shaw and McKay conducted quite a few studies on delinquency (Guerrero 2009). They used court and police records of delinquents and came to a conclusion that Zone 2, which is the transition zone, was the area with the highest rates of delinquency.
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.
Juvenile Delinquency research has shown that the family structure has an influence on an adolescent’s likeliness of engaging in criminal acts. Delinquent behavior signifies an intricate reality which cannot be clarified by one lone influence. It is usually assumed that the family and also the peer group strongly have emotional impact an adolescent’s behavior. The impression of the school is frequently undervalued. Nevertheless, studies of criminological enquiries have exposed that the impression of the family on the growth of criminal behavior is comparatively weak.
