Robert Merton Grain Theory Analysis

4.How likely is it that legalizing and regulating marijuana would reduce gang violence and reduce income for organized crime groups will be asked on the

What influences youth to join and leave gangs in America? This essay strives to seek and inquire an answer or explanation to this question. I will try to approach the answer to this question by analyzing the biggest factors of it such as the influence of social institutions, psychological behaviour, media and many more to determine the push and pull factors of a gang. Understanding that the dynamics of gang membership can be separated into formation & joining which will allow theories & methods of gang-related research to be refined.

A Youth Behavior Survey that was completed in 2015 from high schools all around the nation reported that New Mexico was ranked second in the use of cocaine, ecstasy, fifth for methamphetamine and highest for heroin. In the article they included that there is a lack of treatment options for young teens and the availability of these drugs is usually in their own homes. From these statistics, it shows that the society of New Mexico is beginning the use of drugs at a young age. With beginning to take drugs as a teen, it can become a gateway to worse drugs in the future, and just goes to show why there are so many deaths from drug overdose. In the article it states “advocates for addicts point to an abundance of illegal drugs in New Mexico, and a shortage of addiction treatment options.” (Uyttebrouck) For teens to get on a better track, rehab programs and the health department should be educating these teens on the many problems that can come from bad habits of taking drugs so they can have a better society.

There is a huge connection between adolescent substance abuse, and delinquency. As far as the law on legalization depending on the age and mental state of a person, it is illegal no matter what; Even if the kid is underage. The legal consequences of substance abuse are arrest, adjudication, and intervention by the juvenile justice system. In most cases, delinquents usually have the same common factors of school and family problems, negative peer groups, and a lack of being social in their neighborhood and community. Substance abuse also generates violence, and crime, which has been bringing much fear to their community and its residents. Gangs, drug trafficking, prostitution, and youth homicides are also other problems that link substance abuse and delinquency together.

This provides an explanation for why gangs are affecting the youth. They sell the product to the teens and women in bulk in a low price still making profit. Then the teens and the women sell the drugs in smaller quantities for higher prices to their friends ,people in the streets, classmates and make they make profit through that. The teens and women that are making money through selling those drugs can also be users of those drugs also. Which can lead them to a lifestyle of just selling drugs and being an addict.

The War on Drugs not only has many acts that have been in place due to it, but there has been a domino effect with other topics. The War on Drugs has become a complicated, yet important aspect of the U.S. as well as other countries. It was to be believed that the War on Drugs has influenced incarceration. This effect was the ability to imprison those who are using drugs, and the amount of crime will begin to decrease (Lloyd, 2015). Margaret Lloyd (2015), also discussed how a community that has less crime could be a better living area for children, in hopes they will not act in deviant behaviors.

After Prohibition in the 1900s when alcohol was banned and illegal to sell or make alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, and liquor. People thought that alcohol was the leading cause of all social problems, unemployment, poverty, business failure, crimes, slums, violence, illnesses, and the destruction of families and moral corruption. While all of this was happening in the 1900s now today in the 21st century we have the same similarities between the new era of Prohibition the war on drugs and the Prohibition era in the 1900s. Today we are faced with the same problems with the war on drugs. Though some people have different ideas and thoughts and might not agree with what I will say about the new era of Prohibition I still think otherwise.

A variety of programs attempt to achieve the crime control goals established by general strain theory, but none are explicitly drawn from general strain theory. Restorative justice programs are an example of this. These restorative programs aim to impose less severe sanctions on offenders to reduce the risk of offenders viewing their punishment as unjust. This is accomplished by making offenders aware of the harm they caused and allow offenders to have a say in the sanction they are subjected to. The offenders also have a voice in mediating with the community and victim of their crime, which in turn helps teach them to cope with strains through legitimate, non-criminal means (Agnew, 2006).

The United States is not immune to the worldwide drug addiction epidemic. Drugs pour in from Mexico daily, then distributed to throughout the country. The economic crisis in America is creating an excuse for drug use (e.g., depression, hopelessness). This chemical fix not only creates problems for the addict, but the family and community as well. Every addict has an enabler, a person who makes the addiction possible through various venues of support (e.g., financial, denial). Addicts are only concerned with their next fix and will resort to any means to obtain it (e.g., theft, prostitution, pan-handling). Some have even resorted to extremely desperate measures; for example, murder for inheritance or life insurance proceeds.

The disappearance of decent paying manual work since the early 1970's leaves unskilled, uneducated individuals vulnerable to poverty. This is when selling drugs, an alternative to enduring grinding poverty, has been a common enough response as the income gap had widened. This has increased the violence and crime rate of society.

The third part of the general strain theory is the removal of positively valued stimuli. The removal of positively valued stimuli could include many things. Some things that could be involved in negative stimuli could be the death of a family member/friend, the loss of a relationship, the loss of a substance that one might be addicted to, (coffee, drugs, videogames etc.) the loss of previously owned money, or even the loss of a cell phone. The removal of positively valued stimuli could include anything that was valued and then is taken away by some force (Bernard, Snipes, and Gerould, 2010, p. 164-165).

Drug trafficking has played a huge role on many people's lives. It is believed to be stimulated by their environments, peers, upbringings and psychological factors.

Drug abuse, teen pregnancy, imprisonment and unemployment all bring income to communities. Populations, educated workers are faded due to negative results of different gangs. Drugs and teen

Not only does drug trafficking create a high crime rate but, it also destroys families in the sense, that parents have to do jail time and leave their own kids without parents. “More broadly, many countries have de-escalated their “Wars on Drugs.” Indeed, President [Barack] Obama hinted strongly in a recent interview that he supports marijuana legalization”. (Miron). If drug legalization becomes effective jails won’t be over populated and our tax money would be used in other areas where the country needs

Perhaps a better way to approach Hunter’s offending would be to look at it in the context of Robert Merton’s strain theory. In the article it is assumed that Hunter has psychological issues that lead him to commit crime. He is presented as a fantasist who truly believes in the claims he makes. However, it is possible that instead Hunter is fully aware of what he is doing and has developed a system in which he commits fraud as a way to achieve societal goals of wealth and status.