What Is Marco Lopez's Theory Of Criminal Behavior

Improved Essays
Marco Lopez, who is nineteen years old, will be tried for the double murder charges of Luis Reynoso of fifteen years old and Reynoso’s father. Mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole could be the outcome for Lopez for the heinous nature of the crimes if convicted. Lopez is considered a known gang member with a prior record. Due to his gang membership, Lopez’s family banned him from returning unless his lifestyle changed. The Reynoso’s family was amiable and let Lopez live under their roof for the time being. As time went on, Reynoso’s father became worrisome of Lopez’s influence on his son and his involvement within gangs which brought the father to ban Lopez from his home. After being abandoned on the streets once …show more content…
The fear and vulnerability direct individuals toward the need of protection, loyalty, and relations which constitutes initiation into gangs. Without social controls, such as family, education, or prosocial individuals surrounding the individual, one may interpret their own values and morals (Riedel, Welsh, 2016). Lopez adapted the morals and ideals of his gang into his personal morals. The fear of Reynoso leaking the information of their prior criminal acts possessed Lopez resulted in his brain being stimulated to fight for protection against this threat. Majority of gang mottos or way of life includes protecting themselves as well as the gang. Reynoso knew about the gang and their criminal involvement of crimes which posed a threat. Lopez was protecting his “family” of gang members from conviction from law enforcement and saw the family needed retribution for abandoning him out on the streets. Loyalty to the gang and relations with members exemplify Lopez’s reasoning behind his actions from a social control theory …show more content…
Child abuse and neglect, excessive physical punishment, negative relations among friends and negative school events can be the stimulation needed for prompting deviant behaviors. The general strain theory encompasses the belief that experiences and strains among the individuals life are why certain individuals become criminals. With this theory, criminals are not born but made. With the strain triggers, the general strain theory has been expanded to when criminal behavior will likely result from. Strains that are more likely to result in crime can be seen unjust which provokes anger, in high magnitude which generate more anger since one’s ability to cope in a nonviolent way is unsettled, associated in low social control formed from the labor market, and creation of pressure or incentive to engage in criminal coping (Riedel, Welsh, 2016). Related to Lopez’s case, consideration into the strains found from his result into gang membership began with the creation of incentive to engage in criminal coping from carrying on the family tradition within the gang. As time passed, his involvement in criminal behaviors stemmed from low social control due to little education and inability to find work. Lopez’s entire life was filled with strains dealing with different parts from family ties to gang

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Strain theory helps explain why individuals join gangs and how their affiliation to a gang can ultimately lead to these members committing a variety of crimes. Society plays a very important role in how people see themselves in relation to others (Winterdyk, 2016, 177). Individuals believe they are aware with the goals that must achieve and attain in order to be seen as successful by others. For some individuals these important goals could be identified as the house they live in, the car they drive, the clothes they wear, the shops they shop at, etc. (Winterdyk, 2016, 177).…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Elijah Anderson’s “Code of the Streets”, there is a myriad of social institutions that can influence crime in neighborhoods. The “street code” is described to be that based on the amount of respect and power one earns by actions they take to gain a reputation or result in unfortunate predicaments. A social institution that can influence crime is family. If the family is exposed to the “street life”, the child will more than likely become part of it. Other institutions include peer pressure, a child’s or adolescent’s need to fit in and be accepted will more than likely increase their involvement in a crime and become influenced to do so.…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Criticisms As with any theory, the strain theory draws great criticism. One of the major criticisms is the fact that the strain theory is based on weak empirical support. Scholars have argued that the strain theory was improperly measured suggesting that the main concept of the strain theory was improperly measured in previous research (Burton & Cullen, 1992). A criticism made by Bernard (1987), is that the strain theories do not predict relationships at the individual level between crime and frustration.…

    • 1315 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jeffery Dahmer On a sad day in May of 1960 Jeffery Dahmer was born in Milwaukee Wisconsin. He was one of America’s most infamous serial killers. Other names attributed to him was the Milwaukee cannibal because he ate the flesh of his victims. At an early age, he began killing animals and put a severed head of a dog on a stake in his yard and a cemetery where he buried them.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Exploring Criminality: Willie Bosket Criminological theories can be used to help understand potential causes of criminality like in the case of Willie Bosket, a young man that lead a troubled life and came from a troubled past. Fox Butterfield wrote a book entitled All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and The American Tradition of Violence in which he examines not only the life that lead to Willie Bosket being in solitary confinement for the rest of his life, but also the history that lead to Willie’s existence. One type of theory that can be used to identify reasons behind Willie’s behaviors are Strain Theory, a type of theory that suggests crime is rooted in discontent with one’s status- financial, social, or otherwise- a concept that,…

    • 1729 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Salinas Gangs

    • 1065 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A mafia or gang is an undercover a group of offenders. This group was created in the mid-19th century in Sicily because, people became sick go government. Then it was scattered throughout the West, the United States of America and Australia. The most famous gang in the United States is five gangsters which are located in New York. At the beginning, gang was related to a family.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Punished by Victor Rios, besides labeling, opportunity theory of crime is the most visible in the lives of the young men because for most of the participants, the only available opportunities for survival are through crime or other deviant behavior. In chapter 3, Rios follows two boys who each found their way into crime because of the lack of other options. In the case of Tyrell, with his father being unable to get a real job, Tyrell saw selling drugs as the only way to make money with which to support himself. “They chose to commit a crime,” Rios comments of the boys in his study, “consciously calculating the potential risk of arrest and incarceration. Many of the boys came to this assessment after believing that they had no other choice,…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Russell Tiller’s documentary The Seven Five, the characters Michael Dowd and Adam Diaz were ideal ‘criminals’ to analyse using theories that we discussed in class. I will be using four theories to explain why those two characters were committing criminal acts. The four theories I plan to use are learning theory, self control theory, general strain theory, and differential association. I would like to start with Michael Dowd. He was known to be fearless, he was known to not care if he got busted, and he learned a lot of this behavior because of his fellow peers.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Dexter Crime Theory

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Throughout history there have been numerous explanations that try to determine why individuals or groups engage in criminal activity. Criminology is used to understand the causes of criminal behavior on both the social and the individual levels. There are many theories within criminology that are used by criminologists to explain what causes individuals and groups to commit crimes, as well as how to prevent them from doing so. One of main focuses of criminology is to understand the social influences that shape criminal behavior. Many popular images of crime portray explanations behind the motivations of criminal behavior.…

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In social structural theories criminologist are understanding the correlation between individuals and their interactions with others. By looking at the interaction they are able to determine the cause of crime. Monster by Sanyika Shakur is a memoir about his gang life that started when he was eleven years old. Throughout his gang life he becomes the baddest gang member alive while his time was spent in and out of jail. Later into his life he came to a realization that the gang life was not going to help support him and his family.…

    • 864 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Society has made bounds of progress over the past century developing criminological theories to help explain criminality, deviance, and conformity. A good theory provides a foundational lens for one to interpret and understand why a crime is committed. These theories seek to uncover more than what researchers have discovered in the past in order to understand every aspect of why a crime occurs. This research paper will evaluate five different theories; social disorganization, anomie, general strain, cultural deviance and labeling theory, presenting the theorist(s), theory premise, strengths and weaknesses and an analysis of how each theory has played a part in making me the person I am today. Ancient Roman Philosopher, Marcus Aurelius…

    • 1771 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Biological, Sociological, and Psychological Theories It is not secret that people are out committing crimes every day in the streets of our communities. Over the years there have been many theories developed in order to help understand why it is that people decide to take part in some of these criminal acts, while some people stand together and claim that this is a result of poor parenting and others arguing that it is due to the environment that the child is around. Regardless of one’s point of view, it is very clear that crimes are occurring and that biological, sociological, and psychological theories have been developed in an attempt to help understand why it is that some individuals take part in these crimes. There are many things that…

    • 1013 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have chosen to write my essay on the article, “Building on the Foundation of General Strain Theory: Specifying the Types of Strain Most Likely to Lead to Crime and Delinquency” by Robert Agnew. Since I first heard of strain theory, I found it to be a fascinating concept that was easily seen in both everyday life and in the media. My favorite example of strain theory involves the plot of the television series, Breaking Bad. In the first few episodes of the show, we learn that the show’s main protagonist, Walter White, had lung cancer and may die; leaving his wife, teenage son, and (soon-to-be-born) daughter with very little to no money.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Domestic Violence (Why is Domestic Violence tolerated by females within the Hispanic/Latino/ and Chicano household?) 28 year old, Francisco, grew up in an unexpected life of violence. As he grew up and matured with the help of a single mother, two brothers and a sister, he soon began to understand everything had to be done by his own hands. No attention from either of his family members caused depression and interest in danger and pain. Roaming around the streets of Los Angeles and later moving to Pomona he met quite a large amount of people.…

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Within the vast multitude of social structural theories, two stand out among all the others. Shaw and Mckay’s Social Disorganization Theory serves as a unique theory that attempts to gauge the cause of the seemingly rampant crime occurring in society. Particularly, the Social Disorganization theory references an individual’s environment as a significant factor contributing to their moral fiber and ultimately their behavior. Henceforth, those individuals who are unfortunate to have to grow in an environment that is teeming with crime and composed of those with low socioeconomic status, they are likely to follow the common trend.…

    • 1553 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics