The Strain Theory of Understanding Juvenile Delinquency Essay

This paper explores Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory by helping to explain what it is as well as research that has been conducted to support it. A majority of the articles used in this paper help try and explain or define what GST is as well as attempt to define its components. This paper will then help better understand some of the research that has been done regarding GST. These studies will help explain why certain types of strain lead to criminal acts as well as the effect of negative emotions leading to crime. Another aspect introduces the matter of how people cope with certain strains by committing crime and reasons behind it. The importance of strains leading to juvenile delinquency is briefly explained. Next, some limitations on the theory are provided. These will include recommendations for further studies on the GST along with explanations as to why policy applications are difficult for this theory. Naturally, weaknesses of the theory will also be provided within the limitations section. Finally, an application of the general strain theory will be provided for the film “Bernie.”

Strain theories of criminal behaviour have been amongst the most important and influential in the field of criminology. Taking a societal approach, strain theories have sought to explain deficiencies in social structure that lead individuals to commit crime (Williams and McShane 2010). Strain theories operate under the premise that there is a societal consensus of values, beliefs, and goals with legitimate methods for achieving success. When individuals are denied access to legitimate methods for achieving success, the result is anomie or social strain. This often leads an individual to resort to deviant or criminal means to obtain the level of success that they are socialized to pursue. This is the basic premise of strain theory. This

When a juvenile commits a crime, it is not considered a crime, however it is considered juvenile delinquency. A massive problem throughout the US is juvenile delinquent acts. Juveniles acting out in a delinquent manner can be caused by many things. However, there is not just one reason why a juvenile may commit these acts. Instead there are many reasons that could lead up to delinquency. In this essay, I will be discussing a few theories as well as ways juveniles may receive treatment.

Social Strain Theory and criminal offending are seen by most theorist as a way of understanding what could be the causes of youth committing crimes. Theorist are very concern if social strain theory really does have the answer to why this is happening, but they also believe that the result may be inconclusive, because of all the different variables and independent variables that could be used in their research. We will take a look at this theory, and see if they and ask our participants from the state of Georgia inner-city neighborhoods a few question that they will supply their own answer to, and then ask them an open-ending question face to face and ask them to choose the answer that best state why they might commit a crime or not. If we are able to understand the results then we hope we can implement it into policy. And by incorporating it into policy, then we might be able to design a strategy that will help LEOs or other agencies to reduce youth offending, deter criminal acts and future crimes. Lastly, so with the implementation of social strain theory into the policy and the evaluation of the data, discussion and the questions we can create a foundation for further research studies to build on our results.

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

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.

A review of a wide range of literature indicates that researchers have conducted significant research on this particular topic on juvenile delinquency and the impacts that the general strain theory has had in understanding such behaviors. However, the majority of these studies have not been able to provide a clear connection between the negative behaviors shown among teenagers and youths and their criminal behaviors. In most cases, researchers argue that such behaviors may come about due to

Juvenile delinquency is very prevalent especially among adolescents because studies have shown that during the time of adolescence that is when delinquency tends to increase and once adolescence has passed at about 17 years of age then it tends to decrease (Adolescent Delinquency, 2002). There are many factors that can contribute to the increase of delinquency during adolescence, some of the factors can be personality, mental disorders, genetics, economic status, environment, family, and culture among others, also to understand better the causes of juvenile delinquency the social control theory is the best theory to explain juvenile delinquency as a whole (Adolescent Delinquency, 2002).

Strain Theory could have a strong influence on a youth’s lifestyle and be a theory explaining why juveniles have turned towards delinquency as a building block in the direction of adulthood. The following essay will be introducing a belief on why strain theory is one of the foremost concepts leading to misbehavior in adolescents.

Juvenile delinquency is a social issue in the United States today. Juvenile delinquency, is when “a violation of the law is committed by a juvenile and is not punishable by death or life imprisonment” (Juvenile Delinquency). The juvenile system is different from the adult system in many way and most juvenile delinquents are from the age of ten to the age of seventeen (Juvenile Delinquent). Once the delinquent or anyone is at the age of eighteen, they are considered to be an adult. Therefore, in the justice system they are tried as an adult. There are many different reasons why a child would commit crime, such as mental and physical factors, peer influence, home conditions, neighborhood environment and school conditions. Teens are greatly influenced by the interactions and surroundings they are around. Their behaviors can result from the parent and/or their peer influences. Parents play a great role in the child’s life and a teen’s peers also play a strong role in how the teen behaves when the parents are not insight. This research will examine links between the social environment of teens and how it influences the teens actions and behavior which leads them to commit an offense.

In Merton’s (1938) strain theory social structures account for the criminal tendencies found in offenders. Individuals adjust to societal pressures in five distinct ways. Adaptation I, which entails conforming to both culture norms and means, is the most common. The popularity of this adaptation allows a society to function effectively. In contrast, adaptation IV is the least common and gives rise to the rejection of both cultural goals and means. Those that adopt this culture pattern are societal misfits and usually include some such persons as psychotics, psychoneurotics, chronic autists, vagrants, and chronic drunkards or drug addicts.

Theories are possible explanations for an event taking place or actions that are committed by an individual. In regards to juvenile delinquency there are many theories based on possible causes from biological, social, and economical. Understanding that children learn from their elders and peers from the time they are small children until they have reached adulthood, is the basis for the most compelling theory, the social learning theory (Prather & Golden, 2009). The impact that individuals have on each other and response that is returned based on what is known as acceptable, helps to identify some aspects to why the juvenile finds the delinquent behavior standard. It is believed that we imitate the behavior and habits of those in our regular

Through an understanding of causes of juvenile delinquency society may come to deal preventively with delinquency; certainly treatment of the offender needs to be based upon an understanding of the causal mechanisms that have produced him. In this paper we'll describe three theories of juvenile delinquency such as Social Learning Theory, General Strain Theory and Behavioral Theory and discuss appropriate preventive programs based upon these theories.

Deviance among adolescents in our society has many different causes and multiple theories throughout the history of criminal justice have been developed to attempt to explain, prevent and reduce incidents of status offenses and juvenile delinquency. There are theories varying from individual, to social and environmental. All of these theories have their merits and contribute in one way or another to the advancement of the understanding of juvenile delinquency and the treatment and prevention of delinquency within our society. Those that have proven to be successful we have applied in our justice system while those that are proven over time to be ineffective or defective we have discarded. There is no single theory that applies to all delinquent behavior in all situations. It is best to determine what theory may work best in each specific case based on the individual and the specific situation. Dodge’s information processing theory of social problem solving (Crick and Dodge 1994) was developed by Kenneth Dodge in an attempt to explain the interaction between the child’s cognitive development and their social environment. This theory combines elements of both the individual and the social environment and examines how these two variables interact with each other to present a model for juvenile delinquency. During my investigation of this topic I discovered that an adapted model of Dodge’s theory existed that seemed to be more encompassing of the causes of juvenile delinquency,

Juvenile offending is a major problem in society. Understanding the risk factors that contribute to the increased likelihood of a juvenile to engage in delinquency is important. There are many factors that can influence the increased risk of juvenile delinquency. These factors include poverty, low socioeconomic status, age (Jarjoura, Triplett, & Brinker, 2002), race, gender (Lucero, Barret, & Jensen, 2015), education (Lucero, Barret, & Jensen, 2015; Jarjoura, 1993), and family structure (Anderson, 2002; Kierkus & Hewitt, 2009). It is important to examine if some risk factors can contribute more than others and to what extent they interact with one another. This paper will discuss three important risk factors that contribute to the likelihood of juveniles engaging in deviant acts. The three risk factors discussed are poverty, family structure, and educational attainment. In addition, this paper will demonstrate how these three risk factors interact with one another, resulting in a higher propensity for involvement in juvenile delinquency.