Analysing Factors Reasoning Juvenile Delinquency Youth Violence

Theories of social deviance and concepts about the causes of crime are some of the most important pieces of literature in today's society. Without these explanations for crime commission, there would be no way to try and prevent it. The theories of General Strain and Social Disorganization both seek to understand the reasoning behind deviance and delinquency. These concepts have certain similarities and differences in which they relate to each other. Agnew and Shaw/McKay agree on some aspects of explaining criminal deviance, but also conflict each other on other aspects criminal deviance. The best way to analyze this is to break these theories down to their core.

General Strain Theory by Agnew

Easily one of the most prevalent theories in the criminal justice and criminal sociology world, is General Strain Theory (GST). This theory, as proposed by Robert Agnew, states that specific strains or stressors can raise the probability of crime. Strains are simply things that happen or conditions in a person’s life that they don’t like, or did not wish for. Strains have a higher likelihood of turning into criminal coping when the strain is large, is viewed as unjust, and there is a reward for coping criminally. With strain, comes many negative emotions. Emotions of anger and indignation induce provocation for a way to correct the stressors. Crime is a way for the person to escape the stress, and/or seek vengeance on the cause of the strain.

Obviously, most people don’t handle strains by breaking the law. If someone is stressed about money, it is normal for them to obtain another job, or sell some of their belongings. But GST explains the things that raise the likelihood for one to cope in a criminal manner. Some of these factors would be incorrect social skills, inappropriate problem solving, little familial support, low self control, etc. In addition to these, one of the largest factors to be discussed is the criminal’s social norm which was established through their exposure and surroundings. Throughout Agnew’s theory he points out that mostly everyone desires to achieve a certain position of status, respect, and autonomy, when one is unable to attain a desired position, crime may take place (Thaxton & Agnew, 2017).

There are 4 “categories of strain” as described by Agnew. These categories are a lack of correspondence between expectations and achievements, failure to achieve highly-regarded goals, removal of positive stimuli, and introduction of negative stimuli. Agnew also introduced 3 different coping mechanisms: behavioral, emotional, and cognitive. Cognitive coping would be when someone seeks to minimize their negative emotions. Behavioral coping is when someone tries to permanently settle the cause of their unwanted or angry feelings. And cognitive coping is an emotional way for someone to deal with their negative emotions in a way that will decrease negative emotions (Pontell & Rosoff, 2011).

Social Disorganization Theory by Shaw and McKay

Shaw and McKay were two sociologists who worked with the University of Chicago and the Illinois Institute for Social Research during the 1920’s. These scholars came up with the “Social Disorganization Theory”. In short, this theory focuses on traditional institutions absence of control over its people, and the decrease of influence of widely-known social rules. This theory states that delinquency does not originate at the individual level, but that it is the typical response to abnormal societal circumstances. So essentially somewhere in the process, there is a shortage in the ability to operate communally, resulting in people exercising their unregulated freedom as a way to address their unhappiness and their wants/needs. This is commonly done through delinquent behavior and law breaking (Wong, 2).

Throughout their research, Shaw and McKay were influenced by Burgess’ “Concentric Zone Model”. This model consists of five concentric zones resembling an area from the innermost city all the way out to the extreme suburbs. The innermost circle is considered the “central business district” (CBD) which consists of mainly businesses and offices. Directly outside of the CBD is the “transition zone” which generally is made up of abandoned buildings and factories. The third ring from the middle is the “working class zone” which is said to contain mainly single family workers. The next zone is the “residential zone”, consisting of family homes. And the final outermost part, farthest away from the CBD, is the “consumer zone” or the suburbs.

Shaw and McKay referred strongly to this model as a way to define the distribution of juvenile delinquency and its spreading. They believed that a largely socially disorganized area was in the transition zone, where