Robert Merton's Theory Of Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency refers to the violation of the law by minors who constitute individuals that are below a predefined statutory age (Tomită, 2013). A child is considered as being delinquent when they commit an act that contravenes the law and norms of the society. When a juvenile is involved in illegal activities, the legal procedures administered to them is different from that of an adult offender. In most states, there are juvenile court systems and detention facilities that cater for underage offenders (Tomită, 2013). However, there are instances where minors are charged as adults particularly when they commit serious offenses. Since the emergence of human civilization, crime has been a dominant problem and is attributed to socioeconomic

Coined by Robert Merton, the theory postulates that criminal acts are the outcome of the strain placed upon people without the ability to achieve middle-class norms legally thus turning into illegitimate approaches. He argues that stress is caused by the gap between the set goals, and the approach of attaining them (Akers & Sellers, 2013). Merton asserts that both means and social goals are tailored to the norms of the middle class thus making it difficult for the lower level to achieve them. Individuals who cannot achieve societal goal legitimately have five adaptations: innovation, conformity, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion. In conformity, people consent that they cannot attain the targets set by the society and continue to endeavor in the few opportunities to which they have access (Agnew, 2001). Rebellious individuals reject both the goals established by the community and the approved means as they strive for a new system to replace the old one (Akers & Sellers, 2013). Additionally, in retreatism, individuals defy the ways and goals whereas, in ritualism, the people accept means but are never able to reach goals and lastly innovation is when people use unconventional means in order to acquire culturally accepted

According to the general strain theory (GST), individuals who experience stress or strain become upset prompting them to engage in criminal activities to cope. The primary principle of this method is that crime is motivated by emotion. Developed in 1994, Rosenfeld’s institutional anomie theory postulates that a market and institutional arrangement where the market is allowed to dominate without any restrictions from other institutions such as family may give rise to criminal behavior (Akers & Sellers, 2013). The theory emphasizes on how social institutions affect criminal behavior instead of the economic framework. The strain theory was further modified by including aspects of differential association and disorganization theorizing that even when legitimate means are unavailable, it does not imply that illegitimate means are