Strain Theory and Crime Research Paper

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Crime and Its Impact on Youth

Crime impacts children differently than it does adults. This paper examines the differences and the reasons children are affected uniquely by crime. It looks in particularly at the multiple theories that can be used to explain these impacts, such as Strain Theory and Social Control Theory. It also identifies the unique challenges that children and adults face as they struggle to cope both with the environments in which they live and the criminal justice systems that confront them. The paper concludes that children are uniquely impacted by crime because they are still in their developmental stage, wherein their psychology and physicality are still highly susceptible to external influences.

Introduction

Children suffer from the effects of crime in different ways from adults. This is primarily due to the fact that children are still developing, both cognitively and physically, whereas adults are already developed. Crime thus impacts the development of the child/youth, altering the likely outcome of that child's adolescence and setting the stage for a troubled adulthood if no intervention is adequately employed to re-route the course set by crime's effect. This paper will discuss the impact of crime on youth and show how theories and concepts of juvenile delinquency can be used to address the issue more fully.

Social Theories

There are several theories that can be used to explain the behaviors of developing youth. Strain Theory, Social Control Theory and Social Learning Theory all point to how issues outside the individual impact the developmental course of the psyche. When combined with the physical changes and needs that a growing person needs, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, the impact of crime on youth can be analyzed in a way that produces positive results. As Werner and Silbereisen (2003) note, the cause of most delinquency in youths stems from problems that arise in the youth's home life -- it can be the result of a broken home, divorce, abuse, or other types of negative surroundings that push the child into seeking relief, identity, kinship or retaliation via delinquent behavior. In their study on how "harmonious" families are more likely to produce positive outcomes in terms of child development, Werner and Silbereisen (2003) show that there is a correlation between trust, autonomy, prosocial experiences, and family cohesion, while a lack of these elements is consistent with juvenile delinquents and the homes from which they come. In other words, stable homes tend to produce stable youths who develop into stable adults. Unstable homes tend to be impacted by criminal activity (substance abuse, domestic abuse, etc.) and lead more to unstable youths who develop into unstable, criminal adults absent adequate intervention.

The Development Factor

Thus, the impact of crime on youths is a direct blow to their sense of self as a positive force in the home and in society. As Agnew (2008) points out, environments impact juvenile behavior -- this is the essence of Strain Theory. Strain Theory holds that criminality stems from negative states in which the criminal is immersed for a long duration of time. Rather than suggesting that criminal behavior is "learned" as Social Learning Theory posits, Strain Theory argues that criminal activity and juvenile delinquency is the result of the individual's core suffering from the strain of living in a negative state.

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This would help to explain why troubled homes tend to correlate most commonly with juvenile delinquency. The negative states of the home life place undue strain and pressure on the child so that he or she acts out in a negative manner. The child essentially articulates through his or her actions that nothing around him or her is positive, that the society in which he or she finds themselves is intolerable, and that the only logical thing to do is to lash out -- to get back at society. The impact of crime on youths in this sense is evident: the child who should be receiving nurturing, care, shelter, proper diet and education is instead immersed in a world where Maslow's hierarchy of needs is upside down. The child retaliates by acting as the aggressor: the victim becomes the perpetrator. It is an attempt at asserting power against what is perceived to be an unjust reality.

From the standpoint of Social Control, the actions of the juvenile delinquent can be explained as the result of the child's desire to control society and benefit himself through criminal acts. It is more focused on the selfish motivation behind delinquency rather than the external forces putting pressure on the child (Schreck, Hirschi, 2009). The child's actions are viewed as having a root in a fundamental, innate disposition towards negative behavior. According to Social Learning Theory, this behavior is learned from peers and/or parents.

Children who suffer from crime are also more likely to be impacted in terms of how their family structure is situated. Children who are victims of crime or commit criminal activity are typically uprooted from their familial environments and either placed in the care of a foster family or taken into custody by the state in the form of juvenile corrections facilities. Children's orientation is thus highly impacted at a young age by crime. Adults, on the other hand, are in a much different place in terms of family associations. Adults are not as dependent upon family structures for having their needs met. Maslow's hierarchy of needs may still apply to them but not in the same developmental sense as is the case with children.

In any case, the child is negatively impacted by crime precisely because the child is in the midst of developing into an adult and the environment in which the child is situated can have a negative effect on the child's psychology and/or physical needs -- pushing the child into a negative state wherein crime is the likely outcome. For an adult, the environment is more likely to already be to some extent in the adult's control. That is, if the adult does….....

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