Theories Of Crime In The 21st Century

Crime and the 21st Century: Applying the Strain Theory Crime in the 21st century as a whole is on the decline. From 2003 until 2012, there was a 12.2 percent drop in violent crime and a -14 percent drop in property crime. In 2012, according to the UCR data on violent crime and property crime, there were 1,214,462 violent crimes reported and 8,975,438 property crimes reported. (FBI, 2013). These statistics show that there is still a significant amount of crime within the United States with property crimes being reported more frequently. According to Baron (2006), people engage in property offenses to gain money in an attempt to decrease feelings of relative deprivation. It is also mentioned that deprivation is linked to violence as people get angered by their failure to fit in with the wealth that surrounds them which in very difficult to attain. Although it is important to understand the amount of crime being reported within the United States, it doesn’t explain why these crimes are happening or what can be done to address the issues of property and violent crime within the United States. One possible way to explain crime in the 21st century is to look at the Strain Theory. …show more content…
Chicago school of criminology, which seeks to explain human behavior by the social structures and physical environmental factors, differs from both the Classical and Positivist schools which focus on the soul, mind, and biological makeup of individuals to explain criminal behaviors. The Chicago school suggested that crime was more of a social product rather than an individual matter (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball, 2011). The Chicago school argued that society contains criminogenic forces which contribute to crime. The Strain theory, created out of the Chicago school believed that the key to understanding crime lies within the social roots (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball,