Crime Affects Crime

Memphis Tennessee statistics report an overall downward trend in crime based on data from fourteen years with violent crime increasing. In 2012 the city violent crime rate was higher than the national violent crime rate average by 352.41%. However Memphis crime rate is still high. Memphis was ranked third most dangerous city in America in 2014. The rate is steadily increasing. (neighborhoodscouts.com)

The motivation of criminals encompasses more than one common denominator, however, the degree of culpability and causation are within close proximity of one another. People every day engage in illicit acts for a myriad of reasons that run the gamut from white-collar crimes such as embezzling large sums of money to retail thefts. Gang related and drug-crimes that result in violence have plagued metropolitan areas throughout American. There is never any justification for taking someone’s life unless it is in self-defense, but people kill indescribably for material goods or money. Is it the Americans’ insatiable appetite and relentless pursuit of obtaining wealth and prosperity in achieving the American dream? Yes and no. For some people, this is the underlining-motivator for committing criminal acts regardless of the consequences. The perception of wealth in America as a viable solution for resolving problems is a mirage not a remedy. Even though this is a common known cliché that “money doesn’t buy happiness,” people continue to risk their freedom and commit criminal acts for such a dream. These are just a few irrational explanations of why people under the general strain theory, whether first offenders, or career criminals commit crimes. There are many exceptions, such as domestic violence, sexual assault, mental health problems, drug and alcohol addiction that contribute to criminal behavior as well.

Robert Agnew’s General Strain theory expands prior theorist’s concepts which emphasizes that the obstruction of an individual goal or the inability of an individual to achieve conventional goals through appropriate means causes unlawful innovations, such as crime (Brezina, 2010). More so, Agnew’s expanded the concept of stressors in an effort to make stressors classless. In addition, Agnew states that the strains that generate strong pressure which tend to lead to criminal behaviors are chronic strains, strains that are rationalized to unjust or severe, and strains that can be resolved by crime (Agnew, 2001). Lastly, Agnew believes that criminal response is most likely to occur when normal coping strategies are absent.

Crime is an unfortunate part of many people’s lives - both for the victim of the crime and also the suspect. There are many theories as to why crimes happen, who commits the crimes, and why crimes happen to certain people. Not all crimes can be solved, or questions answered but these theories give a peek into the thinking or background behind some crimes that are committed.

In the 1980’s, Criminologist, Robert Agnew, presented his theory of general strain, in which he covers a range of negative behaviors, especially how adolescents deal with stresses of strain. General strain theory focuses on the source, such as anything that changes in the individual’s life that causes strain. His theory provides a different outlook on social control and social learning theory for two reasons: the type of social relationship that leads to delinquency and the motivation for the delinquency (Agnew, 1992). He states that certain strains and stresses increase the likelihood for crime such as economic deprivation, child abuse, and discrimination. These factors can cause an increase of crime through a range of negative emotions. For some people it can take a lot of willpower to take a corrective action and try to deter away from committing crime in a way that they can relieve these negative emotions. When people cannot cope with the stresses of the strain, they turn to crime as a coping mechanism. Agnew also states, that not all people that experience the stresses of strain will go forward to committing crime and live a deviant life.

The two theories identified are Strain theory and General strain theory. Strain theories are indicated when certain strains or stressors are increased, there is a probability for a person to commit a crime. According to Robert Merton, strain theory is a form of adaptive problem-solving behavior that is committed in response to problems involving frustrating and undesirable social environments (Schmalleger, 2011). Strain results from an individual failure to achieve one’s goals, such as money, status/respect, autonomy, loss of a positive (death of a friend or love one), and loss of value possession. Strain can be thought of as pressure that individuals feel to reach socially determined goals (Agnew, 2015). A person who experience these strains become upset, which they may turn to crime in an effort to cope. By doing so, crime may be an escape or reduction for them to escape this feeling.

It makes sense to me that the precursor to crime would be caused by failure to achieve economic goals, failure to achieve non- economic goals, no positive stimuli, loss of loved ones, and the introduction of negative stimuli which may be arguments with parents, teachers, etc. It is logical that if negative events happen closer together, it would make matters worse. The theory states that the result of all this,

The aim of this essay is to compare, contrast and evaluate two sociological theories of crime causation and two psychological theories of crime causation.

Over the course of time crime rates have fluctuated heavily throughout the United States, raising concerns for the general public. With that in mind many Criminologists have come together attempting to explain why, as well as how crime occurs. Dr. Robert Agnew has lead the charge in this field in regards to his affiliation with something called: The Strain Theory. The word, “Strain” in this instance can be defined simply as, “anger or frustration that results from negative relationships or experiences” (Hackworth 3). Now when making the correlation between criminology and this particular theory one must consider all aspects of a criminal’s life. Agnew explains this ideal further in his article, “Building on the Foundation of General Strain

For the minority groups, for instance, it influences behaviors through prolonged and increased stimulation of physiological stress responses of the body, and as such, they are less likely to be cooperative to law enforcement agencies (Wells, 2016). According to published research, stressors have the capacity to influence human behavior through negative emotional states like lowered self-esteem, anxiety, as well as depression. The affected individuals could consequently resort to health behaviors that are risky such as negative coping responses that could, in turn, put them on a collision course with law enforcement

A positive correlation means as one variable increases, the other increases. Correspondingly, as one variable decreases, the other decreases. In this case, “vitamins cause crime,” is stating that as more people intake vitamins, the rate of crime is increasing. Although this may be true, it still does not prove that consuming more vitamins causes crime to rise. Correlation does not prove causation.

According to the Social Stress Theory, crime and violence is related to the amount of stress felt in one’s life. Applied to mental health, it is proposed that mental illness will lead to stressful situations in life which will in turn lead to crime and violence (Silver 2006). Stressful life events have shown a relation to an increase in

In our text, Robert Agnew reformulated the grain theory into the “general strain theory” that perspective suggests that law-breaking behavior as a coping mechanism enables those who engages in it to deal with socio emotional problems generated by negative social relations (pg. 160). Agnew believed that strain creates a predisposition for delinquency in cases that are chronic or repetitive that causes a negative affective state meaning emotional often result from negative relationships (pg. 161).   In Robert Agnew’s article “Why Do Criminals Offend? A General Theory of Crime and Delinquency” he explains, examining the impact of some specific variable on crime can produce misleading results.

Also anything that helps with positive coping mechanisms to deal with an individual’s stress. It was proven in studies that educational and vocational programs are needed communities for high-risk youth. The youth without much motivation can have a huge impact on the amount of criminal activity that takes place. Another thing mentioned was that it was not necessary to avoid encountering stress, but to develop healthy coping skills. These arguments also have important policy implications from Agnew argued that two major policy recommendations flow from General Strain Theory reduce the exposure of individuals to strain and reduce the likelihood that individuals will cope with strain through crime (Schram & Tibbetts, 2014).

The effects of crime on victim can have a mixed feeling about making a victim impact statement. They may want to tell the judge or parole hearing officer how the crime affected their life and yet they may be anxious because you don't know how to prepare an impact statement or you don't want to bring back bad memories by describing how the crime has hurt you. The victim impact statements may include descriptions of: