Agnew's Strain Theory In The Case Of Shepherd

Strain theory focuses on the negative aspects of the society in which the criminal lives, and the resulting pressure on the individual to commit crime (Agnew, 1992). Agnew’s GST proposes that negative relationships induce negative emotions in the individual involved, which then causes the likelihood of the individual to engage in criminal behaviour to increase with the experiences of strain (Agnew, 1992). In the case of Shepherd, we can see that he has been sniffing petrol and smoking cannabis from a young age, and drinks alcohol on a daily basis (R v Shepherd, Archie [2009] NSWDC 386). He has also been associated with delinquency acts as a minor (R v Shepherd, Archie [2009] NSWDC 386), showing that the effects of strain on him have been ongoing …show more content…
According to Agnew, this kind of strain could lead the individual to delinquency as the individual attempts to counteract the loss, recover what was lost, or seek vengeance on those who removed the positive stimuli (Agnew, 1992: 57). This loss could be the death or broken relationship with a family, friend, or boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife. It can also be simply the theft of a valued object. The loss of positively valued stimuli in Shepherd’s life was the death of his surrogate mother and her son, Bradley Johnson, whom Shepherd seemed to respect and was reliant on for support. The murder of his relative in an old family feud with Dutton’s family (R v Shepherd, Archie [2009] NSWDC 386) could also be another loss of positively valued stimuli to Shepherd. The pressure placed on him by the strain could have further aggravated his anger, resulting in his sudden abusive treatment towards Twylla Dutton in an attempt to relieve the strain and to seek revenge on the Dutton family. Hence, crime becomes an illegitimate approach to coping with experiences of strain and negative emotions. It essentially serves as an avenue for the individual to escape or reduce the level of strain and negative emotions, or to seek revenge against the individual or situation that caused the strain (Agnew in Eriksson & Mazerolle, …show more content…
Hirschi (1969) developed a Self-Control theory based on social bonds that suggests that an individual must maintain tight bonds with ‘family, school, work, everyday activities, and beliefs’ in order to avoid deviant behaviour (Hirschi in Hale et al., 2013: 293). Considering Hirschi’s suggestion, deviant behaviour could not be avoided for Shepherd appears to not have social bonds with family, school or community. According to Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), the parental role is especially important in determining an individual’s level of self-control (Higgins, Jennings, & Tewksbury, 2009). The parent-child emotional bond is crucial for parents to gather and analyse behavioural information in order to know if their child is deviant, as well as to guide and discipline their child to correct deviant behaviour if present (Higgins, Jennings, & Tewksbury, 2009). Such parental role is absent in Shepherd’s life, which explains the potential of low self-control for Shepherd. Low self-control is said to increase criminal inclination, as individuals are then likely to be impulsive and risk taking. Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) argued that the ability to judge the perceived pleasure and the perceived pain of an act is influenced by an individual’s level of self- control (Higgins, Jennings, & Tewksbury, 2009). Therefore, an individual with