Social Strain Theory And Criminal Offending

Criminology data show a strong correlation between undereducated children and juvenile crime. Children who struggle academically in school, have poor attendance, are expelled, or drop out, likelihood to commit crime increases. The social skills such as learning how to have ownership through deadlines, following instructions, and overall dealing with people constructively, are thrown out the door when a student doesn’t finish school. A child who doesn’t end up having a proper education soon realizes he or she can’t get certain jobs due to their insufficient education and feels hopelessness. According to social strain theory, his or her feeling towards social differences are magnified and pushes him or her to attain the “American Dream” or financial security through

All individuals have the ability to conform to the rules and norms of society. Merton’s Strain Theory suggests people feel strain when they are unable to attain society’s goals and/or beliefs. Then, because they are not able to appropriately achieve these goals in the way society says to, some will do so by committing criminal behaviors. This theory also explains, in society there are

According to Niño et.al’s (2017) “Social Isolation and Youth Violence,” the article depicts the subject of general strain theory and how it could lead to criminality. Two

The strain theory explains the criminal behavior and is a breakdown of why people commit crimes. The theory was developed by an American Sociologist Robert K. Merton (1910-2003). Merton believed that the society influences deviance and plays a huge role in criminals committing crimes. Emile Durkheim (1858-1957) presented the earliest version of the strain theory. He believed that well-built societies set restrictions on individual goals, meaning that the person was given a chance to achieve their goals. Durkheim theory centers on the pursuit of limitless goals, whereas Merton theory targets the lower economic individuals who are incapable of achieving more limited economic goals.

Within the social science field, strain theory has been expanded and advanced by many theorists over the last century. Created by Emile Durkheim in a study surrounding suicide, it quickly adapted to other areas of criminology and sociology. Strain theory can explain many forms of crimes, it cannot account for all forms of crime and deviant behaviour within society. Strain is prevalent throughout many forms of societal life, but not all can be linked to the crimes of which are committed by those within society, it tends to turn a blind eye to some forms of crime of which have not been acknowledged by the theorists. Though explicitly arguing the idea that strain theory does not account for all types of deviance, this will also include the arguments which have been put forward to say that strain theory does account for all kinds of crime.

The author explains Strain Theory as being "certain strains or stressors increase the likelihood of crime" (Hartmann, 27). The text goes into an explanation that as people become more uncomfortable, as they feel more uneasy, they are more likely to be involved in criminal activity. This happens due to an increase of anger, frustration and depression (Hartmann, 27). These feelings create a mindset in the individual that is more capable of justifying taking actions to improve their environment.

Strain Theories of Crime There are numerous sociological theories of crime causation. Some of these theories initiate with social class or family differences, educational hardships and occupational goals, with neighborhood and peers, and/or with the effects of official labeling. From a sociologist perspective crime is the product of social interactions and must be understood and examined in a social context. There are three major sociological theories of crime and delinquency: strain, social learning, and control theories, (Voigt, 2002).

Social Process theory views criminality as a socialization function. The theory explores how one learns things through interactions with various organizations, institutions, and processes in society. It also focuses on criminal behavior as being a learned behavior that affects every person regardless of race, class, or gender. Social process theorists believe that socialization with key social institutions help control human behavior, and that the most prominent elements are the individual’s family, peer group, school and church (Seigel, 2011, pg. 168). Thus, the key element in determining juvenile behavior, is the socialization the juvenile receives at home, school, and in the community.

Social order,and economics in society explains crime by reference to the Social Structure theory. This type of theory makes important relationships among social institutions and recount the types of behavior that differinate groups of people from certain Individuals.There are three major types of social structure theories. The first theory is social disorganization, and this theory lack of alerting, not even development of culture, social change, and conflict, This is the conditions that exist when faced with these conditions. A sociological approach that propose a separation between socially and sub culturally sanctioned goals and means as the source of criminal behavior, and this is the strain theory. Culture conflict theory perspective on crime suggest that the main cause of being a criminal can be found in a inconsistennse of values in the middle different socialized groups over what is acceptable . These theory focus on the way in which society is organized. They are organise by their group, or class. In comparison all of these theories believe that social structure in

For instance, as part of an extensive multivariate analysis, Stephen W. Baron’s 2004 inquiry into youth homelessness through the lens of general strain theory, taken from a sample of street youths, discovered homelessness to have a significant positive correlation with future criminal behaviour. The sample generally consisted of unemployed youths, more than half of which were male, that were not enrolled in school, and had been living without a fixed address in the lasts 12 months. The results revealed that homelessness was associated with property, violent, and total crime (Baron, 2004). This is supportive of Agnew’s theory, as general strain theory asserts that crime happens in reaction to strain as a means to achieve revenge against whom they

Throughout the year the violent crime rate in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, has rapidly increased. Many others have tried to conclude why the crime rates are sky rocketing. My own conclusion on why violent crime rate in increasing is because of the strain on an individual. The strain theory fits this category as it explains more so the psychological side on why violent crime is committed from an individual. My proposal for the solution to decrease the violent crime rates is to have easy access facilities that individuals can reach out too. The strain on oneself can lead to them trying to escape the strain/stress and engaging in a violent crime. The strain theory allows for a better understanding on why individuals engage in acts of violent criminal

Over the years there has been the development of various concepts that are intended to clarify and comprehend criminal behavior in society. While some of these concepts are not as of now being used, most them have transformed and are utilized as a part of various criminal investigations in contemporary society (Haynie, and Osgood, 2005). The present criminologists mixed viewpoints that have been attracted from various controls to push their knowledge on criminal behavior. As a rule, the discourse on criminal behavior focuses on social and environmental variables with the social learning theory and the social structure theory being the greatest speculations that can clarify the commonness of crime in society. While these two components are the

According to Gavin, in the text Criminological and Forensic Psychology, many psychologists have attempted to explain crime by coming up with multiple social theories. Gavin states that psychologist suggest that those who commit crimes have “individual differences” that “make it more likely than some people to commit crimes…” and that these social theories say that these crimes are a result of “the breakdown in social structures”. One of the first social theories that was introduced came about in 1938 by Merton, his theory is known as Strain Theory. Gavin goes on to define Strain Theory as the “social structures exert pressures which may lead an individual to commit crime”. His theory was a result of determining the “relationship between society and the values and behavior of members of that society was pivotal in the sociological examination of crime” (Gavin, 54). What strain theory attempts to explain is that crime is a result of instability or problems; for example, pressures of society and societal goals can influence an individual to commit a crime (Gavin, 54).

Social disorganization theory assisted in developing links crime rates in neighborhood ecological characteristics. This knowledge is based on certain conditions that are related to the disorganized urban environment, and have an enormous impact on the crime rates in these neighborhoods and communities. The major trends or facts of social disorganization are university, college and school dropout rates, unemployment, low income, deteriorated housing, high single parent’s rate. Shaw and McKay’s contentions that social areas have different mixes of criminal and conventional influences, and that the exposure to learning of criminal values, mainly by associating with others in the same neighborhood, is the key source of crime (Cullen, Agnew & Wilcox, 2014, pg. 99). Anomie assisted in identifying peoples responds to known gaps between accepted societal values and those values based on conditions. These strain are focused towards criminal motivations, and people who are economically humiliated in our society will be ready to humiliate others alike. In this particular situation, people choose criminal activities such as; drug trafficking, robbery and car theft and violence. Frustration and thwarted aspiration lead to the search for avenues of escape from a culturally induced intolerable situation; or

Emile Durkheim developed the first mod ern strain theory of crime and deviance, but Merton’s classical strain of theory came to dominant criminology during the middle part of the 20th century (“Strain theories - criminology - Oxford bibliographies - obo,” 2017). Classic strain theory focuses on the type of strain involving inability to achieve success or focused on a broader goal of the middle-class status (“Strain theories - criminology - Oxford bibliographies - obo,” 2017). Robert Agnew developer of general strain theory in 1992, becoming the most leading version of strain theory and major theories of crime (“Strain theories - criminology - Oxford bibliographies - obo,” 2017). General strain theory focuses on a wide range of strains including the inability to achieve a variety of goals, loss of balanced passions ad negative treatment by others (“Strain theories - criminology - Oxford bibliographies - obo,” 2017). General strain theory deviates the explanation of race, gender, ethnic, age, communities and society differences in crime rates (“Strain theories - criminology - Oxford bibliographies - obo,” 2017). People that gravitate to general strain theory are more likely to relieve less support that increases the crime of rate.