Essay On General Strain Theory

On the one hand, the right wing believes that a) the system is too lenient with offenders, b) the system favors the rights of offenders over the rights of victims, c) youths no longer respect authorities, d) hard working law-abiding Americans are paying the high cost for crime, and e) society is too permissive involving morality issues. The left wing, on the other hand, believes that a) the system inappropriately includes certain vices as crimes, which indicates a more serious crime problem than really exists, b) authorities label people as criminals, which may stigmatize them and create a self-fulfilling prophecy, c) correctional facilities are warehouses for criminals and they fail to rehabilitate inmates, which lead to recidivism, d) centralized power discourages the involvement of community members in solving local problems, and e) the criminal justice system discriminates against and segregates minorities in order to control

The social process theory of crime is an essential tool for criminologists and other justice related professionals. The social process theory contains three other sub theories, social learning, social reaction, and social control. The social process theory and sub theories interpret criminal behavior as a purpose of people’s interactions with establishments, organizations, and processes within the society (Siegel, 222). Domestic violence in this sense will focus around the social control sub theory, but any of the sub theories within the social process theory could apply. To use the social leaning theory a criminologist or specialist in the field must take account of the felon’s relationships and environment (Siegel, 228).

The consistent abuse of power by police within the same communities often raises question of protection of life and liberty. While it is hard to determine the exact extent of police abuse, it is evident though streams of media reports, protesting, and the occasional riot, that many in society fear, that police abuse of power has become the norm and that the abuse is violating their basis human and civil rights. This paper briefly discusses relatable events that can be understood by most, as to why police actions of abuse have caused protest and riots, especially in the minority communities, where the overgrowing concerns by the public is that police abuse of power has shifted from

For example businesses will have a homeless person physically removed for reasons such as creating an unsafe business environment or for other reasons such as being dirty or even loitering. An article from The Age talks about how the sight of the homeless camped in the city of Melbourne is damaging their tourism reputation; is what residents and business operators say, who have demanded the homeless be moved from public view. Our society is not completely cold towards the homeless as there are many organizations and movements that strive to better their livelihoods. However, what is mainly done to better their lives is not enough as the issue is of a large scale. Society mainly gives the homeless a “bad” image as shown by their harsh treatment from the police and the public.

Strain will result from the lack of autonomy disproportionately affecting adolescents and the poor because of their lower position in society. Those three types of strains will increase the likelihood of experiencing negative emotions in proportion to the duration of stress. The links between strain and crime is that

The motivations, incentives, stimulants represent the rewards that are elevated through crime. Agnew organizes the base for crime into domains beginning with self –control and irritability. A person that demonstrates intense emotional reactions, lack motivation and blames others for their problems can lead to both reduced constraints against crime and an enhanced motivation for the crime. Another domain relates to poor parenting, which leads negative bonding in a person’s social and personal life. This behavior is also a major trigger for lack of informal control and seeking rewards for negative behaviors.

“It seems more likely that the public’s distrust of the police in high-crime areas is driven more by crime than by police practices” (Sherman 10). Much of the abuse is coming from victims and criminals as being racist. As in a black officer towards white citizens or vice versa. The police brutality can something be the misconduct that occurs behind the scenes that we do not always see. It is believed “… that police are under great pressure to act quickly, especially when the murder victim is white, prominent, a child or a police officer

The private sector that owns them has an incentive to lobby for mass incarceration, and unfortunately the people victimized by society are the most likely to be incarcerated and forgotten about. For example, although private prisons are only 8.4% of the nation’s prisons, they hold nearly 50% of its immigrant detainees. In addition to that, African Americans are convicted at rate more than five times greater than white Americans. Many of these convicted citizens are also impoverished, and this factor along with their race makes them valued poorly by society. This corruption is evidenced by many of these charges being drug related, despite both races using drugs at similar rates, in tandem with the fact that private prisons spend millions of dollars every year lobbying for harsher drug laws.

The initial impact from socioeconomic status begins through the influence of an individual’s community and resources provided to nourish the well-being of the person. However, when a strong community or welfare is absent, the prosperity of the individual often declines. In the Journal of Economic Issues, Theodore Chiricos notes “...that poor individuals from juveniles to adults are more likely to be arrested and charged than middle and upper-income individuals (41-52)” (Chiricos 519). Communities with little access to substantial resources for intolerance against neglect of the law encourages disobedience to authority. Often, disobedience leads to serious crime, which then calls for trained professionals to defend

The opportunity theory suggests that offenders choose to commit crimes based on the opportunity that is presented to them to achieve their crime. For instance, if an individual is willing or ready to engage in crime and the situation proves to be favorable (environment) to the offender this opportunity in turn creates motive for the offender to execute a crime. This theory also argues that all crimes require opportunity but not every opportunity is followed by crime. The perspectives of this theory can also be used to build off of Merton’s strain theory. Furthermore, Clowards and Ohlins opportunity theory builds off of Merton’s strain theory because it involves blocked opportunities of success and that in turn causes strain or pressure that