Hammond, a high school dropout, found himself on the other side of a barrel. He had gotten into an argument with a rival on 132nd Street near a Chinese restaurant. A friend of the rival took offense, pulled a gun from his waistband, and pumped two shots into Mr. Hammond's stomach, and another into his back" (Gregory, 2013). One could argue that this short excerpt demonstrates a clear manifestation of Merton's social strain theory in that there's a clear disconnect between the goals that Hammond has in life and a way to attain them. Instead Hammond has elected to simply become another part of gang-life and the kill or be killed mentality. In fact, one could argue that this violent activity rife with frequent shootings is actually a form of retreatism -- but instead of indulging in drugs or alcohol; they're retreating into this life of gang violence and the turbulent politics that goes along with it. With violence in this case, just as with drugs or alcohol, there's a sense of having given up, which is what retreatism is.
Furthermore, social control theory is easily and readily applied to this story. While social control theory does focus on why law-abiding citizens do not commit crimes, it clearly explains how criminals often commit crimes because they've formed connections with deviant groups or have been socialized by them. In this case, one can lucidly see that Hammond has been socialized turbulently by this chaotic lower socioeconomic group, where the ultimate law is that of the gun.
However, what's most relevant about applying the social control theory to this article pertains to the work that Hammond's non-profit, violence-interrupting organization is doing. A lot of the work that he's doing includes outreach to kids so that he can reverse...
Therefore, in response to criminal actions, the rules and laws of a system are developed. It is their presence that represents the glue of the social parts. One shortcoming of this theory however is the fact that it cannot explain the motivation behind the actual existence of criminal behavior. It tends to perceive the society as a whole, through statistics and factual dates and tries to predict its evolution. Durkheim
Criminological Theories and Their Application Character History Nikita Voronov was born in Omsk, Russia in 1977 to a 17-year-old mother named Natasha Voronov. She had gotten pregnant with him after dating a man for one month, another Russian male who was working in the mining area at the time. Once Natasha became pregnant she never saw the father of her child again who fled the town. Desiring a better life for her
Criminological Theory and Statistical Data Introduction Criminological theory is not always based on evidence—that is, on statistical evidence. Sometimes it is based on ideas that seem logical at the time. Theorists will notice correlations in the ways in which crime emerges in certain communities and they will base their theories of crime on these observances, though no statistical evidence is actually accumulated to verify the theory. The theory simply makes sense from
VI. DURKHEIM'S ANOMIE Another theory in criminology is known as 'Durkheim's Anomie' which was conceived by Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist who first introduced the anomie in the work entitled: "The Division of Labor in Society" in which the anomie was utilized in provides a description of a "condition of deregulation that was occurring in society." (Criminological Theory, 2001) This anomie was used to describe how that the mores' of behavior
Criminology Comparison of the Classical and Positivist Approaches What is Criminology? The Classical Approach The Positivist Approach The common ground between the classical and positivist schools What is Criminology? Criminology is a term which is used to describe the entire study of criminal behavior under which narrower aspects of factors, causes and consequences are also studied. The subject deals with and undertakes the personal and social factors that are associated with criminal behavior. It also sheds light
Criminology Theories Biological Theory of Crime The biological or bio-physiological theory of crime regards human behavior in general and of deviance and criminality in particular as mainly the result of internal states of mind (Schmalleger, 2009). More specifically, the biological perspective, as it was originally detailed in the 19th century by Cesare Lombroso, emphasized the role of heredity in conjunction with the (then) new concept of Darwinian Evolution also in conjunction with
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now