Strain Theory Essay

The thesis paper, Examining Juvenile Delinquency Contributors through Life-Course and Strain Theory, written by Caitlin Burns (2013), discusses the connection between life-course theory and general strain theory as an explanation to juvenile delinquency. Her paper goes on to discuss how the presence of strain theory in a juvenile’s school environment, family environment and peer groups, leads to delinquency. Burns states that, “There are several known contributors to juvenile delinquency, but the

The two theories I have decided to merge are Agnew’s General Strain Theory and Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory. I picked General Strain Theory because it does a good job at discussing some of the things that can trigger the release of a person’s negative emotions which in turn may lead to deviant behavior. I also decided to write about Social Bond Theory because it describes some of the factors that keep people from committing crime. Both of the theories have strengths and weaknesses individually, but

A theory is described, as an idea or set of ideas generally intended to explain, to prove facts or events. Theory can be an idea that is suggested or presented as possibly true, that is not an ideas that relates to a particular subject (Merriam-Webster, 2015). Theory is an explanation of something. Theories in criminal behavior explains why an individual commits criminal and delinquent acts. This paper will compare and contrast two theories of crime or criminal activities that was discuss in this

Strain and Deviance: An Empirical Research of General Strain Theory in a Philippine Public University LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical background During the past decades, various Criminologists developed different theories in an attempt to explain the causes of crime within the society. In return, they were successful, which are adopted and accepted today. Indeed, all of the theories explain the root causes of crime. One of these theories is anomie or strain theory, which attempts to explain why the

Michael Byrnes Cindy Moore Theories of Criminal Behavior 11/16/14 Labeling Theory and Strain Theory: John Dillinger   Introduction: Throughout history there have always been many different theories of crime and why people commit crimes. In the late 1930s a new theory rose to the forefront; this theory was called the anomie theory. Anomie means a lack of ethical standards. The anomie theory was proposed by Roberton Merton. It stated that society, as a whole, generally shares the same goals relating

Strain theory asserts that society fix goals and put pressure on individual to realize them. Society does not provide adequate means to achieve those goals, as a result, individual feels strained and commits crime. Often people sell drugs or engage in prostitution to become rich. So, without providing or showing the right way of achieving goals, society pressurize to accomplish those which influence people to follow some alternative or deviant course of action (“Strain Theory (Sociology),” 2017)

Social disorganization theory in part manages to evaluate why youth crime occurs; however, this theory has its limitations, and requires additional insight from another theory; General Strain Theory to provide a strong evaluation methodology. In evaluating these theories, several academic sources such as articles and books will be consulted. The theory of Social Disorganisation explains why some communities have higher rates of crime than others. This theory posits that social disorganization, which

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. The Strain Theory could be explained as a person who has reached their boiling point and it has become time for it to release some, if not all its internal pressure.

The strain theory can prove many ways on why individuals feel the need to commit a crime because of stress. The strain theory was developed by Robert K. Merton with the help from other theorists branching off from the theory. The one theorist that had a great impact was Robert Agnew. David Polizzi proclaimed that “ Robert Agnew with his general strain theory has sought to introduce a variety of other factors relative to the experience of strain and the capacity they represent concerning subsequent

Despite Differential Association being a better predictor for youth crime than the Labelling Theory, the acquisition of new counteracting behaviours can override delinquent behaviours possibly arising from rehabilitating means. Additionally, data that supports Differential Association is often based on self-reports by adolescents and this can often skew results. This is because individuals, especially young people, may not have an accurate judgement of what is classified as deviancy, thus either