They are failure to achieve positively valued goals, removal of positively valued stimuli, and confrontation with negative stimuli (Agnew, 1992). The major assumptions of General Strain Theory place emphasis on these types of strains and stressors and how they cause deviant behavior. The connection between the strains and deviant behavior are the negative emotions that are produced by the strains such as anger and anxiety. The causes of deviant behavior can be linked to those emotions and the personal resources available to handle the emotions. This helps to define why some individuals with similar strains commit crimes and why others chose legal manners in which they deal with their strains and emotions.
“By having them together, they form relationships.” When they are among so many different criminal associations with different behaviors this is more likely to increase the problem plus group experience tends to glamorize delinquency and drug use. The kids give each other more attention and comfort. They are in a competition of who can do the worst. Maia also said that, “Being put on probation, which involves more contact with misbehaving peers.”The source of one’s self esteem is how you stack up with your peer’s. Peer pressure worsens behavior.
Such labels carry a stigma with them, often resulting in these individuals to accept the “label” as their personal identity and never moving away from that criminal lifestyle. For example, a teen that is convicted of a crime and sent to a juvenile detention center to serve time instead of taking part in some sort of rehabilitation will typically carry that “criminal” label with them for the rest of their life. This individual will be looked at and treated differently because of this label and will eventually come to accept it. A well-known aspect of the labeling process is the concept of primary and secondary deviance. According to Siegel primary deviance involves violations that have “…little or no long-term influence on the violator” (2011:187).
Although he feels that this way of looking at crime is not fair to the victim or the justice system, but that the media over the years has influenced this way of thinking, giving the conception that certain conditions surrounding when, where, or how the crime took place may be the factor in why it happened in the first place. He terms the issue as a “feedback loop” meaning that as a society we are aware
Like the item says, 'functionalist sociologists focus on how far individuals accept the norms and values of society.' Durkheim blames people not being fully integrated into society’s norms and values as to why they commit crime. So he said once people have served their time for their crime, they should be reintegrated. It’s a strength that Durkheim suggests them being reintegrated as it means they’re less likely to reoffend if they feel they belong to their society and do not look for status through crime. However, interactionists would say that agents of social control cause crime, not the society you are in.
The essay will be looking at these risk factors and their effects with particular reference to the Youth Justice System, in addition to other agencies. The essay will then go on to examine some studies conducted into risk factors, including Farrington’s work. It will also look at any policies or procedures that have been introduced as a result of the perceived importance of risk factors, such as …………, before endeavoring to decide how valuable the use of risk factors can be in the management of young offenders. Risk factors can be simply defined as those variables which may predict an “increased probability of later offending” (Kazdin et al., 1997, cited in Newburn, 2007, p.841). The Youth Justice Board, one of the major bodies involved in working with youth offenders, state that they are “working to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18” (Justice, 2012).
Finally, the paper will conclude with a discussion on how the programs work to reduce juvenile crime based on an analysis of the relationship between program premise and goals, and one or more major causes of juvenile delinquent behavior. To examine juvenile crime causation one must consider the various reasons behind the delinquent acts. The ideological schools of thought present various motivations. Classical, psychological, and biological theories attempt to explain the core reasons juveniles commit status or violent crimes. A juvenile status offense refers to illegal conduct committed by a minor.
Another theory that can contribute to dropouts is the Rational choice theory. This explains that after an arrest, a student may decide to dropout because of his/her criminal record. They considerate he factors of their criminal record and compare it to students without one. They believe that it makes it harder for them to continue with high school, or even a college profession. The last and most important theory has to be the labeling theory.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the social process theories and how these theories are in relation to determining why individuals commit crimes. The social process theory views committing crimes as being a learned behavior. These learned behaviors are due to the interactions with organizations, institutions, and things that happen within society. Due to society’s lack of control to contain these criminal acts, negative labeling occurs. This labeling is what pushes people into committing crimes (Siegel, 2000).
Once a label is given to an individual they become part of all the generalizations that go with that label (Siegel). For example, someone who has been convicted of a crime might be seen as someone who has no respect for the law. These labels also present a self-fulfilling prophecy. Being identified as a deviant, a person is usually ostracized from conventional social groups, and therefore is forced to become part of less desirable ones (Fitch). Being a member of less desirable social groups will only reinforce that they are a deviant, and increase their chances of engaging in deviant behaviors (O’Conner).