General Strain Theory - Criminology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Criminal Justice

Download General Strain Theory - Criminology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Criminal Justice in PDF only on Docsity! General Strain Theory Docsity.com Merton • Anomie is tied to economic status Early strain theory focused on relationship between low social class status and crime Docsity.com GST • Hypothetically, individuals from all social classes could engage in criminal behavior because they could all experience negative emotions arising from strain • This modification of Merton’s theory made GST powerful because it could explain all types of offending Docsity.com Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory (1992) • Anger has a significant impact on all measures of crime and deviance ANGER Criminal Behavior Strain Docsity.com What are Strains? • Strains refer to events or conditions that are disliked by most individuals Docsity.com Subjective Strains • Influenced by a range of factors, including people’s personality traits, goals and values, and prior experiences • Example: Death of a spouse vs death of a spouse-abuser Docsity.com Three major types of strain 1. Failure to achieve positively valued goals 2. Loss of positive stimuli 3. Presentation of negative stimuli Docsity.com Failure to achieve positively valued goals • Gap between expectations and actual achievements (not always long-term) Docsity.com Gallup's Study (2006) • Used mail and Web surveys with a randomly selected national sample of 480 teenagers aged 13 to 17 Docsity.com Problems as reported by US students % Drugs/smoking/alcohol 31 Peer pressure/fitting in/looks/popularity 17 Sexual issues (teen pregnancy/abortion/STDs) 14 Education 14 Ignorance/lacking of youth caring/getting involved 10 Career/employment/economy/money/future 10 Morals/attitude 8 Lack of respect/treatment from society 7 Violence/gangs 6 World politics 5 Parents 4 Negative effects on media on youth 3 War/draft/terrorism 3 Stress 2 People don't listen to us 2 Health/medical care/coverage 2 Social Security 2 Safety 1 Other 5 No opinion 2 Docsity.com Problems as reported by US students Boys Girls % % Drugs/smoking/alcohol 32 31 Peer pressure/fitting in/looks/popularity 14 21 Sexual issues (teen pregnancy/abortion/STDs) 11 16 Education 15 13 Ignorance/lacking of youth caring/getting involved 11 10 Career/employment/economy/money/future 11 9 Morals/attitude 10 7 Lack of respect/treatment from society 4 9 Violence/gangs 6 6 World politics 7 3 Parents 1 6 Negative effects on media on youth 3 4 War/draft/terrorism 3 2 Stress 1 3 People don't listen to us 2 2 Health/medical care/coverage 1 3 Social Security 2 1 Safety 1 1 Docsity.com Agnew’s Theory Factors affecting disposition to delinquency Criminal Behavior ANGER Constraints to delinquent behavior Strain Docsity.com Links Between Strain and Crime • Anger was found to incite a person to action, and create a desire for revenge • Crime allows individuals to obtain revenge against those who have wronged them • Crime may allow individuals to alleviate their negative emotions Docsity.com Factors promoting crime Bad temper Low self-control Previous delinquent behavior Delinquent friends Inability to cope with anger Protective factors • Good temper • High self-control • Shy personality • Non-deviant behavior • Lack of deviant friends • Coping skills Docsity.com Behavioral coping strategies • Individuals may actively seek out positive stimuli (social support from friends and relatives) • Try to escape negative stimuli Docsity.com Emotional coping strategies ¢ Relaxation methods * Sport ¢ Meditation Docsity.com GST and gender 1) The levels and types of strain might be different for girls and for boys 2) Boys and girls may have different responses to the same strain Docsity.com Sex differences in coping strategies Females employ escape and avoidance methods to relieve the strain Females have stronger relational ties that might help to reduce strain (social support) Males are lower in social control, and they socialize in large, hierarchical peer groups where they need to maintain their status Therefore, males are more likely to respond to strain with crime (Agnew 1997). Docsity.com Policy Recommendations • Agnew proposed several different programs to reduce delinquency which have shown success after being implemented Docsity.com Policy Recommendations • Family-based programs are designed to teach the members how to solve problems in a constructive manner, and parents are taught how to effectively discipline their children (Agnew, 1995) • This will reduce the amount of negative emotions that result from conflict in the family and will decrease the amount of strain in the home Docsity.com