Criminology Case Study Analysis Through The Theories Of Crime
Introduction
The theories of crime help to give insight as to why some people engage in criminal activities. The fourteen year old walks into a convenient store and picks up a bottle of juice then chooses to walk out simply because he thought the clerk was not looking. However, the clerk was keen in this case and the police are called in to handle the issue. The concept can be explained based on the biosocial theory of evolution and violence where certain traits are determined by their biological composition. It can also be explained using strain theories where the theory of anomie strives to relate the deviant behaviour to the stressors within the neighbourhood that trigger such behaviour. The social disorganization theory will also be used to link the economic deprivation of the boy’s neighbourhood given that he was from a poor family to his act. Lastly, the paper will also explore aspects of the life course theory and how they relate to the criminal behaviour.
Biosocial Theory: Evolution and Violence
The theory strives to bring a relationship between an individual’s biological determinants with their criminal and violent behaviour. Biosocial theorists have tried to establish the connection between human evolution and certain characters acquired throughout the evolution concept. As human beings grow, there are certain characteristics and emotions that become engrained and this either draws the members of a given family towards a common good or it scatters their interests in different directions. Humans are naturally born to be dependent on others from the first day. Thus, parenting effort is a great investment in bringing up the best in every child. In this case, the boy puts a bottle of orange juice under his coat and heads for the door which is equivalent to stealing. This boy comes from a poor family and they probably have to go for days without a proper meal. Additionally, the members of his family may also have to lookout for themselves and find a means of surviving since they can barely get enough from the confines of their home. The parents may have strived to keep the family together but at some point, they may have stolen from their employers and other places to keep this promise. Even though this boy may not be aware of what the parents do to keep the family together, he might have acquired it because the focus of the parents at the time they met was the mating effort instead of the parenting effort. For any relationship to thrive, the parenting effort must always supersede the mating effort. This boy might be a product of parents who invested more in the mating part with little consideration of the parenting effort that would mould him into a better perso. In this case, the boy comes from a poor family and he might also have so many siblings to be catered for by the same parents. In this context, the focus of the parents, especially the father, will be on the quantity of the children he has rather than the quality. Thus, it becomes hard to instil some good traits in children who are mostly left to watch over themselves. This boy might be lacking the needed support and nurturing from his home and this has created room for such deviant behaviour to crop up and be reinforced within the home since no one pays attention to him and his needs. Additionally, little consideration is put into moulding behaviour as members of a family focus more on surviving each day.
Social Disorganization Theory: Social Disorganization and Economic Deprivation
The theory mainly focuses on the ability of the social institutions within a community to instil common values that embrace lawfulness and to evaluate how people comply with these values within the community. There is a correlation between economic deprivation and social disorganization which brings about crime and violent behaviours among the members in a given community. When economic deprivation is coupled with poverty, it further aggravates the situation by contributing to high rates of youth violence. In this case, the fourteen year old comes from a poor family. Thus, it is highly likely that this poor family lives in a poor neighbourhood where people barely have enough resources to protect their interests collectively. There might be institutions willing to initiate reforms but their capabilities are limited by lack of money and knowledge.
Additionally, the impoverished areas tend to be less resourceful and this means that it is almost impossible to create intermediate structures that could address some of the issues. The relationship between community members cannot be strengthened and neither can it thrive even if someone strives to create it. Thus, such kinds of behaviour exhibited by the fourteen year old become a norm in these areas since there are no institutions that could better prevent them before they happen. In this case, the area might also have local gang groups since the environment allows for such things to be created so that members can form a support system for themselves. These gangs make crime to be admired by youths in the society since they tend to always be on the lookout for a family to rely on for support among other things. The boy may not belong to a criminal gang but his neighbourhood may have such gangs operating. Thus, it is only natural for him to feel justified in taking something from a convenient store because he feels like he needs it to survive at that particular moment regardless of whether he is right or wrong. In disadvantaged economies and poor neighbourhoods parents tend to abandon their children as they get lost in vices like drugs or if they get too busy trying to provide for the family. In such cases, people are compelled to steal not just for themselves but for their families. In this case, the boy might be the eldest child in their family and this means that he feels obligated to provide and complement what his parents bring home. The bottle of orange juice may have been taken in an effort to ensure that his siblings have something to fill their stomachs with that particular day instead of him taking it to fulfil his own desire.
Strain Theories: Anomie Theory
The theory is based on the idea that there are certain stressors within a neighbourhood that motivate people to engage in crime. Individuals often go through rough patches in life like the loss of a friend or monetary loss and this sometimes motivates their resolve to engage in crime as their way of coping with the predicament. The society often places an unusual emphasis on economic success. Everyone often ascribes to some kind of American Dream where the pursuit for monetary freedom takes precedence. The boy comes from a poor family but he yearns for things that he cannot afford at the moment. Thus, he uses the shortest route possible of acquiring it through stealing which lands him in the hands of the police. Individual members of a society often strive to adapt to the strains that make it almost impossible for them to attain success. Most of the time, the adaptations tend towards deviant behaviour. Poverty is one of the factors that have made it impossible for this boy to confidently walk into a store and buy something he desires. The lack of finances does not hold him back. Instead, he chooses to walk into the store and steal a drink when he thinks that the clerk is not watching. Thus, he pursues his goal of getting a soft drink but eliminates all the legitimate means of getting it by choosing to steal. This is in response to the social system that has blocked his opportunity of using the right channels to get what he wants. Anomie also brings about the weakening of the social order in any given society. It becomes hard to regulate individual behaviour when the institutions responsible for such have been weakened. In this case, the environment in which the boy lives may not be resourceful enough to the point of having institutions for correcting and dealing with different kinds of deviant behaviour exhibited by the youth. Thus, the young generation is left at the mercy of the world. The boy probably knows that he is wrong in doing this but still does it. The fact that the clerk calls the police on him shows that there might be no intermediate institutions that could better handle such an issue.
Life Course Theory: Socio-historical and Geographic Location
In this regard, the choices that people make to engage in certain acts are motivated by the numerous benefits drawn from it compared to the cost. The goal that these people have motivates them to act in a certain way based on their geographic location. The conditions that surround an individual’s living space shape their decision to do some things. In this context, the boy is poor because his family barely has much. It is highly likely that most of the family resources come from donations from affluent people and non-governmental organizations. These people’s life course is already determined by their geographic location which limits the availability of resources. The juice taken from the shelf is a luxury item that the boy could not have had access to even if he chose to work, earn something and buy it since it would not have made it to his priority list.
Conclusion
Generally, people engage in crime for various reasons most of which are only understood clearly by using theories to relate the given crime and the possible triggers. In this context, the biosocial theory links the family’s character traits to that of their parents. Even though the children may not know what their parents do to provide for them, the concept only becomes apparent when they also use similar means to survive. The paper also uses the anomie theory and the life course theory to highlight the contribution that stressors within the environment can bring in motivating the boy to steal from the convenient store. The social disorganization theory also highlighted some of the failures within the institutions that are supposed to initiate reforms. When such institutions lack, there is no sense of direction for the youth since their acts lands them in jail without a consideration of whether the issue can be resolved using alternative means.
