General Strain Theory

The limitations of Merton’s theory of strain can be argued as the study, which he has compiled is only concentrated on working class crime, not the middle class and white collar crimes. Furthermore, there is an over prediction because not all individuals under strain become criminals. For example, women are under most strain with unequal pay, yet statistics prove that women commit less crime than men.

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

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.

Introduction The acquisition of material wealth can act as a powerful motivator for a significant proportion of society, and many individuals carry out their daily actions in the pursuit of such goals (Broll 2017a). In the case of the “The Vaulter” Jeffrey James Shuman, a high profile bank robber operating during 2010 and 2015, this desire culmunated in a massive string of robberies across multiple Canadian cities (Thanh Ha 2015). When examining this facet of Shuman’s actions, the application of Merton’s Strain Theory provides a means of classifying Shuman’s deviant behavior based upon his motivations (Broll 2017a). Additionally, through Labeling Theory, one can provide explanations for Shuman’s continued actions, and identify secondary deviance

Domestic violence, also known as Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), is a topic widely debated by many in the criminological field, with scholars arguing various theories, motivations and triggers. This essay will be contrasting and comparing two theories: the positivist model general strain theory (GST) and feminist theory and will attempt to address the issue of explaining IPV. This will be done by critically comparing each theory, with an analysis of how each best defines IPV and explaining each of their advantages and disadvantages. This essay will also explore the concept of GST, explaining how mental illness and childhood abuse may later develop into violent tendencies within a relationship. In contrast, the essay will investigate the impacts

The general strain and power control theories have both associated crime with compliance, but, in opposite ways. Criminologists believe that crime occurs because of the need to be successful. The strain is perceived in this manner because they lack equal opportunity. This result to, the reality of obtaining it illegally, such as drug dealing, stealing and becoming a part of gangs. These individuals felt pressure from their society to conform to certain ideals and that is what drove them to become criminals. An example of this would be the “American Dream”. It causes much of the stress in some people’s lives. Control theory is based upon the belief that all the delinquency can be solved by how you are raised. Feminist argue

Strain theory assumes that criminals share the same goals as non-deviant people (ex. Getting rich, providing for your family), and that the main distinguishing factor is that criminals lack the legitimate means to pursue those goals. Instead, they pursue illegitimate pathways to achieve those goals: some typical examples would be someone living in poverty that steals bread in order to be able to feed their families, or someone wanting to be rich but being unable to find employment, so they take up drug dealing. The actions of the criminals make them deviant, but on a fundamental level, their interests don't differ greatly from a law-abiding citizen. I recognize that strain theory is a theory with a limited scope: for one matter, it doesn't

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 one that has shown the most significance is an adolescent’s commitment to school and the social environment that an individual develops while in this particular atmosphere” (Burns, 2013). In Burns (2013) paper, she also indicates that a juvenile’s peer group has been proven to be a contributor to juvenile delinquency, but that a juvenile’s school environment influences what type of peers to choose.

Your research is almost like mines except you seek to find out the relationship between benefit/offending , while mines look to try and understand if general strain theory causes individuals to do offensive deeds.

One being, ‘why, several years later, the financial mess which was caused in large part by reckless lending and excessive risk taking by major financial institutions, no senior executives have been charged. Well, It’s difficult to say exactly who was to blame for the financial crisis, it wasn’t based on an individual’s actions. For a crisis of this magnitude to occur it would require misconduct from a large collective of individuals. It would be difficult to find these individuals and prove that they had criminal intent. Strain theory can be applied in this case, as it states that certain stressors increase the likelihood of crime. Working for large organisations, can involve a large number of stressors, that can cause a large amount of stress and frustration. These emotions can create pressure for corrective action, resulting in crime as a possible response. Strain theory can be applied to white collar crime, (Cloward & Ohlin, 1960; Cohen,1955; Merton, 1938). As strain theory suggests that people commit a crime when they are blocked from legitimately achieving cultural goals (such as holding a prominent

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 to having success in life; whether that is having a family, wealth, power, or just happiness. Society generally agrees that these are things that are to be sought after. Furthermore, Merton proposed that society, as a whole, also has a list of generally accepted ways to achieve such goals (Merton, 1938). Criminal activity, such as robbery, murder, and corruption, are among the things that are not accepted by society as appropriate means to achieve these goals. Merton’s anomie theory was built upon in 1992 by Robert Agnew who developed the general strain theory. General strain theory argues that when members of society are unable to achieve the general goals that society has set forth, they will, in order to avoid further rejection, further alienate themselves from society. Agnew also argued that if these individuals feel as if their shortcomings were a result of their environment failing them they will likely develop very negative feelings towards society, causing them to

Criminologic theorists use one another’s work to develop theories further and apply them to different societies and times. The labelling theory has a small group of key theorists behind it, originating from a sociological influence on deviance (Goode (A) 2016, 64). In 1963 Howard Becker published Outsiders which articulated his theory of labelling (Becker 1963) (Hayes 2015, 244). Though the 1960s saw labelling theory rise and Becker is credited with the theory, there were three earlier works that laid a pathway for much of what was to come. The earliest work identified with labelling is George Herbert Mead’s 1918 article titled The Psychology of Punitive Justice. Mead wrote about the hostile attitude found in punitive justice, the attitude

This is opposed to strain theory which argues that social and personal strain “force the hand” of individuals and cause them to commit crimes. However, the weakness of this theory in regards to white-collar crime is the question of why those who've already gained financial success wish to seek more of it through illegitimate ways, particularly if they earned their initial success in a legal manner.

In today’s society crime occurs everyday across all aspects of life. One particular crime is that of white collar and corporate level crime. It is important that we as a society study this type of crime in depth because many individuals believe that white collar and corporate level crimes are victimless crimes when in reality they have the potential to destroy major corporations and economies all with one single case. The news or media rarely talk about this type of crime because it is often difficult to understand and individuals typically lack interest in these types of cases. One particular case is that of Jordan Belfort. Dubbed the infamous “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort is a former stockbroker who robbed investors of over $200 million dollars to create his wealth through “pump and dump” schemes, insider trading, money laundering securities fraud, and stock-market manipulation. As an attempt to further understand these complex cases I will break down Belfort’s case as far as the methods and means as to how he got started, his use of “pump and dump” schemes and other means as to how he acquired his wealth. In addition to this I will discuss the sanctions and disciplinary action that Jordan Belfort was given, how the case affected society and what new regulations were

Kerviel’s case and his actions are not unusual in the realm of white collar crimes. However, to the extent of $7 billion monetary loss created by Kerviel is new, and has left many question unanswered. For instance, how was he able to pull off such a large amount of bad trades without the banks knowledge? This can be explained through differential association also this can be explained by the structure of our corporation where profits out weight ethics. Although strain theories and the notion of white-collar crime have historically been diametrically opposed at a fundamental level, Agnew's general strain theory (1992) provided the materials for potentially bridging the gap between the two ideas. Recognizing that extant research had not yet taken