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Crime Theories

Decent Essays

In the United States, from an early age we are taught that individual wealth is a measure of personal success. Wealthy people are viewed as powerful, happy, and successful. They are also viewed as having access to educational and occupational means that provide them with opportunities to increase their wealth. Strain theory as it relates to digital crime involves the feeling of people in the lower and middle social classes that they do not have equal opportunities or access to those same educational and occupational opportunities. Instead of pursuing legal means to increase their wealth, some of the people who commit white collar crimes are those from the lower and middle classes who are stressed and strained due to finances and their …show more content…

(Marilyn Price, 2009) At one point in our lives we have felt a sense of inequity or strain. There are people struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table for their children. But there are some people who take the feeling and run with it, with no thought to who they may be hurting. They commit digital crimes such as identity theft, credit card fraud, or any other type of internet fraud scheme. Since the crime is committed via cyberspace versus on the street, victims have become faceless, therefore allowing digital criminals less incentive to feel guilt. One example of a non-digital crime that could be caused by the strain theory is bank robbery. There are several reasons why a person would commit a bank robbery. One would be because of financial strain. Another could be a sense of entitlement. The bank may be viewed as a representation of corporate American greed by the bank robber. For the most part, bank robbers rob banks for financial gain without any thought to the faceless account holders.
Another example of a non-digital crime that could be caused by the strain theory is a charity scam. In Great Neck, New York, a couple funded a lavish lifestyle by setting up Coalition for Breast Cancer Cures, Inc, and a for-profit fundraising arm, The Resource Center. They used donations to pay for vacations, high-priced dinners, bills

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