Crime Control Problem

Improved Essays
In a city that is being overrun but crime, making policies is not an easy thing to do. Throughout the city gangs are roaming the street, windows are barred up to keep people out at night, public schools are struggling to keep the youth in the system, and teen pregnancy is out of control. At its current rate, this city will not be able to function much longer unless major changes take place. When solving any problem, the first step is figuring out the cause. Crime can be caused by many things and after this source is identified, the solutions are easier to discover. In this specific city, the modern crime control theory can be used to explain the high crime rates. In the current city there are a number of “strains” that the people living there …show more content…
The first type of strain is one that is seen as unjust. If a strain is happening that is not based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair, then it is more likely to lead to crime. The second type of strain is one that is high in magnitude. This means that the strain is of great significance or influence to the people of the city. The next type of strain that tends to lead to criminal behavior is a strain that is linked to low social control. If there are no influences to conform to society either through law or social pressures, and the strains that are taking place are associated with these lack of influences, the chance of these strains leading to criminal behavior is higher. The last type of strain is one that creates an incentive to commit more crime. For example, if achieving a source of income was a strain that was occurring for a lot people in the city, this strain might cause people to turn to illegitimate criminal means to achieve this income such as drugs or prostitution. If these types of strains are taking place in the city along with the key factors, it can be hypothesized that the crime rates will be very …show more content…
By using the general strain theory to explain the causes for the crime, I was able to come up with policies that could help eliminate some of the strains in the city. Over time, I can continue to add programs and adapt policies to combat the strains that appear in the city. As these strains are eliminated from the people 's lives, the crime rate will go down

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    North Memphis Case Study

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The crime problem will never be achieved, but it can be controlled through punishment for breaking laws. The North Memphis District will possibly continue to experience ongoing crime because of the lack of funds the government fail to invest in the community, which can make it a better environment in Memphis. The Social Disorganization, Social Control, and Strain theory attempts to express why and how crime remains in certain societies and what steps should be taken to lessen criminal behavior. Therefore, patterns of crime in cultural occurrences can greatly affect all of the theories from group to group with societal context that include time and space (Porterfield,…

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In response to the multiple criticisms pinned against Merton’s Classical Strain Theory, Robert Agnew revitalized Strain theory to make it more broad and applicable. This theory shifted from the ideals that crime was caused by the unattainability of the American Dream to crime being precipitated by the inability to cope with negative affective states. Agnew noticed a miscorrelation between increasing crime between adolescent population and Merton’s Theory of Classic Strain. CST didn’t give reasoning to why crime rates among adolescents was increasing; this questioning is what initiated Agnew’s theory. Merton and Agnew had the same hypothesis, (strain causes delinquency), but different operational definitions of what strain is.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Robert Agnew's Analysis

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Pages

    In Robert Agnew’s revised version of Merton’s theory, he wanted to provide a wider explanation of criminal behavior. He argued that the failure to achieve goals of material value is not the only reason for a person to commit a crime. Agnew gives three types of strain producing events that he believes may result in an individual engaging in criminal behavior. According to Angnew, the first major source of strain is money.…

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This author believes that every city should have a similar program to target the areas with higher percent of crimes. Targeting specific areas will help the crime percentage decrease while at the same time produce security for citizens. Residents of the area should not live with fear of becoming victims of crimes, and the only way to accomplish it is with the help of the police. Providing services like the ones that the Weed and Seed Program provides would help all high-crime areas to become safer environments. Removing most criminals from the street will help other individuals to recognize that criminal activity is bad.…

    • 1173 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Crime Control and Due Process: Effects on Criminal Procedure Policy Herbert Packer's models of the criminal process are the Crime Control Model and the Due Process Model. Each model has as its basic underpinning a desire for justice, but they reach the conclusion in different ways. While the Crime Control Model concentrates on efficiency and expediency, the Due Process Model focuses on the rights of the accused to exhaust every means to prove his innocence. The Crime Control Model relies heavily on the proper investigation and evidentiary procedures of the police and on effective prosecutorial prowess.…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 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
  • Improved Essays

    Gun ownership in America is granted by the second amendment of the Constitution which allows Americans to cherish the right to bear arms. Americans enjoy their Constitutional right with having one of the largest gun ownerships in the world. It is estimated that 31% of households have some type of firearm present (Smith and Sun 3). Although, the percentage of households with firearms has decreased from 51.1%, there is still too much gun violence (Smith and Sun 3). There are about 32,000 gun related deaths every year in which 19,000 of them are suicides and an additional 74,000 people are injured (Swanson, McGinity, Fazel, and Mays 366).…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Cause and Effects of Gang Violence in Saint Louis, Missouri Up until the last two decades, Saint Louis, Missouri has been a rather safe and quiet city. But in 2015, the city experienced more homicides than any year in the past two decades and landed itself among the most dangerous cities in America (Murphy “2015 Was St.”). In fact, just this year the city was named the most violent city in America (“St. Louis Named”). A large reason for the violence is gang affiliation. Another cause for their high violence rate is drugs.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This shows how once the crime in New York City reached its tipping point at rock bottom, crime rates began to subside and drastically improved. In the book,…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nobody fully knows why people commit crimes and negatively affect our society, but society can try to explain some reasons with sociological theories. People can look at three widely known Sociological theories of crime; Strain, social learning, and control theories. Each of these theories explain crime by using social environment such as, family, school, social groups (friends), workplace, community, and society. Each theory is similar but at the same time very different, each theory is different on how social environments cause crime, they take different parts of social environment, and some theories explain differences of the individual and others explain differences in social groups. Strain theory explains that individuals engage in crime because they are stressed or strained.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A crime is an action that breaks the law and can be punishable by the state. Every year, there is a slight increase in crime. This is because of the increase of people in cities. Cities tend to have the most crime because of the fact there is more buildings to shoplift, more cars to steal, and more people living there. If there are more people in more area, this increases the chances of people breaking the law (“Population Growth and Crime”).…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They both deal with the causation aspect of criminology. Both theories note that there are several contributing factors that lead to individuals committing crime, yet each theorist believes his reasoning reigns king. Many theories are formed based upon the effects of criminal behavior and activities, yet these two attempt to spear the root cause of such occurrences. Another similarity exhibited by these two theories is that they were replaced by either derived theories or psychological theories. In regards to the strain theory, several derived theories such as the General Strain theory and the Institutional Anomie Theory trace their roots back to the strain theory.…

    • 1553 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    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).…

    • 1435 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Crime is increasing every day, everywhere and most definitely increasing in communities. Crime is a major problem in the United States, people are dying from crime, people from younger generations are committing crimes, and law enforcement officers are getting hurt while protecting our communities. There are hundreds of crimes committed a day, which means there are hundreds of victims of crimes a day, but there are many of ways to reduce that number. Imagine if there was a way to reduce the number of homicides, burglaries, forcible rapes, and in all the amount of crime all together. One of the ways is by using social media to enhance policing.…

    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ecological Theory Of Crime

    • 1015 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Crime has been a daily social issue in our society for many centuries. The lack of control over crime has caught the attention of many researchers and academics who, from decades, have tried to study crime to seek solutions for this social issue. Crime has become an issue of interest to study by many sociologist and criminologist because it affects not only the victims of crime, the perpetrators, their families, but society as a whole. Theories after theories had been previously created to control crime rate and explain its existence, instability, and its links to dependable factors that were increasing the rate of crime among certain ethnic groups and disadvantaged communities. While some theories reasonably explicated their main proposition,…

    • 1015 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays