Robert Agnew General Strain Theory

An abundance of research has been conducted on how Robert Agnew’s strain theory can help better understand why crime is committed. However, limitations to this to theory have come to the surface. Some suggest that

This essay will outline how crime theories are able to assist in recognizing the causes of criminal activity, as well as demonstrating two criminological theories to two particular crimes. Overviews of trends, dimensions and victim/offenders characteristics of both crime groups will be specified. The two particular crimes that will be demonstrated throughout this essay are; Violent Crime (focusing on Assault) being linked with social learning theory and White Collar crime (focusing on terrorism) being linked to General Strain theory. In criminology, determining the motive of why people commit crimes is crucial. Over the years, many theories have been developed and they continue to be studied as criminologists pursue the best answers in eventually diminishing certain types of crime including assaults and terrorism, which will be focused on.

Robert Agnew developed his theory called General Strain Theory based off of Robert Merton’s Classic Strain Theory. Agnew introduced three types of strain. Generally, “the higher the dose of strain that a person experiences the greater the likelihood of the person becoming engaged in crime or in some form of deviance” (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball, 1989). A journal article called “General Strain Theory and Delinquency: the Developmental Process of Robert Agnew’s Works from a Historical Perspective” says that “the strain may result from when others (1) prevent an individual from achieving positively valued goals; (2) remove positively valued stimuli pertaining to individual; (3) present

Causes of crime are arguably criminology’s most important and largest research topic. In this process of research, criminologists and academics have used numerous theories in attempts to explain how and why people resort to crime (Ellis, Beaver, Wright, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to examine a case study first with the use of strain theories (ST), followed by social learning theory (SLT). The first section will involve a summary of the case of R v Mark Andrew HUGHES (2009) NSWDC 404 involving an outline of the offender’s personal life, of his crimes, and his punishment handed down by

Exploring the role of negative emotions among murderers in a population of federal offenders: the General Strain Theory

First of all, what is “Social Strain Theory?” Robert Merton who is a theorist and creator of Strain Theory has allocated that “strains” are instigated by United States social structure which dictates equivalent goals in terms of success and job status within all members of society despite all members not having equivalent means to achieve money and success. Those that have that have obstacles in the way of achieving success and wealth experience strain and could engage in criminal behavior (Merton). In this theory Merton also created “Deviance

The rate of violent crime jumped from five instances for every one-hundred thousandth person in 1980 to fifty instances for every one-hundred thousandth person in 2000, in other words the rate increased by 1,000% in twenty years. The rate of property crime jumped from one hundred instances for every one-hundred thousandth person in 1980 to four hundred instances for every one-hundred thousandth person in 2000, in other words the rate increased by 4,000% in twenty years. A criminological theory that could explain why the violent crime rate went up is general strain theory,

The proposal of Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory in explaining criminal deviance is based on three concepts. The first concept is that people

The defense sought to win the case by default and delaying the testimonies from witnesses and other proceedings (McMorris, 2017).

Burglary has an undeniably large presence in society. Consequently, there is significant discourse surrounding the major criminogenic forces that motivate burglars. As a result, this essay asserts that to a large extent, strain theory provides the most effective explanation for burglary. However, this essay recognises the limitations of strain theory, thus the essay acknowledges the smaller, albeit still significant roles that theories like Seduction of Crime theory and Conflict theory play in explaining burglary. To develop this hypothesis, a number of factors are explored. First however, a definition of burglary must be established; for the purposes of this essay, the Common Law definition shall be used. Additionally, strain theory’s fundamental

Before we embark on description and analysis of a General Strain Theory of criminology, it is important to, first of all, understand the meaning of the term "criminology". Criminology, as defined by the two social theorists, Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham of Italy and England respectively in their classical school of criminology, is the scientific study of crime, its causes, law enforcement as well as prevention measures taken to curb and control the crime in this case. Despite the fact that criminology has lots of fields including sociology, economics, psychology, biology, psychiatry, statistics and even anthropology, the term also has various theories explaining the real concepts surrounding crime, criminal and criminologist. The reason as to why these theories are many is that criminologists are trying as much as possible to seek the best solutions for reducing the levels and types of crimes. In this regards, the specific theory of criminology that will be described and analyzed in this paper is the General Strain Theory.

There are two different categories of coping mechanisms, criminal and non-criminal behaviors. General strain theory includes constraints to nondelinquent behavior, as well as factors that may affect an individual’s nature to delinquent behavior. In this way it is possible to predict the adaptations of both delinquent and nondelinquent that will be chosen (Agnew, 1992).

The strain theory, which states American culture defines goals which the social structure blocks many members of the lower income class from achieving due to lack of opportunities such as education and reliable jobs, was developed in 1938 by Robert K. Merton. Merton’s strain theory is broken down into the five modes of adaptation, conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. Conformity is the acceptance of cultural goals and the traditional means of reaching them. Innovation is the acceptance of cultural goals but the rejection of the traditional means of reaching them. Ritualism is the rejection of cultural goals but the routinized acceptance of the means of achieving them. Retreatism is the rejection of both the cultural goals and the traditional means of reaching them. Rebellion involves special cases where the individual rejects both the cultural goals and the traditional means of reaching them but actively tries to replace both elements with different goals and means of achieving them. Among the people who have elaborated upon Merton’s strain theory are Steven F. Messer, Albert Cohan, Richard Rosenfeld, and more recently, in 1992, Robert Agnew.

Criminology is composed by a vast amount of theories. Theories are needed to understand why people commit crimes. There are two theories that stand out and help criminologist very well to help them better understand why criminals commit crime. The anomie/ strain theory is composed by Emilie Durkheim but revised by Robert Merton (Chris 25). It is a theory that states people lack social and ethical norms, and it also puts pressure on an individual to be successful and achieve certain goals. If they do not, they are looked down on in American society (Mark Bond 1). The next theory is the social bond theory composed by Travis Hirshi. The social bonding theory is the thought that people who have a strong relationship with their community is less likely to commit crime. The four elements of the signs of attachment, involvement, commitment, and belief are signs that show whether an individual is bonded to his community in some way.

Through history many theories have been derived to provide an explanation for why people chose to participate in criminal activity. The low self-control theory and the strain theory are both current and viable explanations to this problem. Crime is defined as any activity that is against the policy that a governing body has establish and is agreed upon. Crime theories are created to asses the potential of crime and the criminality of people in general.