83-84). This theory therefore follows the idea that a person who is constantly at the end of their rope with parental hostility, relationship problems or perhaps school failures will build negative emotions and in attempt to flush such sentiments away they might commit an act that can be illegal; and so the criminal is …show more content…
Throughout the story we learned how Medina had several troubling events and although one can argue that she didn’t have one significantly traumatizing experience, she did have a number of them, that if aggregated could be a great strain on any individual. I believe that Medina’s strains were how her family had to deal with her mom supposedly being possessed, her siblings being troublesome, her family in a poor economic condition, her controlling boyfriend and mother, as well as being an outcast in school (Medina, 2003, pg. 145-165). I think that many people face some of these strains on an everyday basis and it definitely adds up. I assert that it certainly paves the way to needing a relieving mechanism and some choose to relieve themselves of the stress through criminal ways. In retrospect, general strain theory rationalizes that an individual with a great level of strain is likely to need an output that might be illegal and taking what we know about Medina’s life, we can match her story with the theory, and see how it fits; and it’s without a doubt that general strain theory could be why Medina committed a criminal