The General Strain Theory

Proposed Topic

Exploring the role of negative emotions among murderers in a population of federal offenders: the General Strain Theory

Introduction

The General Strain Theory (GST) states that people who commit crimes are pressured into them by negative emotions that result from a variety of life strains. Negative emotions cause them to feel in a negative way and thus creating pressure on them to act in a variety of ways, with crime and violence being one possible response. GST has been explored among many different populations, but what has not been explored was its ability to predict crime of murder. The present study focuses on the role that negative emotions play in producing different types of criminal activity and involvement, most specifically, murder.

Abridged Literature Review

General Strain Theory was reinvented by Robert Agnew in 1992 and gave new perspectives to existent strain theory that was introduced a few decades ago (Agnew, 1992). Classic strain theory is associated first with Merton’s (1938), Cohen’s (1955) and Cloward and Ohlin’s (1960).

Based on Durkheim’s theory of anomie (1893), Merton developed his theory of deviance within a social structural framework. Merton’s view on the subject is that goal-expectation discrepancies, together with social stratification creates strain among disadvantaged populations in turn leading them to use any means necessary, such as criminal, in order to achieve culturally-defined goals (Merton, 1938). Merton stated that deviance was a product of discrepancy between social goals and the legitimate means to achieve these goals (Smith & Bohm, 2008). Merton created a typology of deviance (Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, and Retreatism, and Rebellion) depending on how di...

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...offender’s strains did not produce negative emotions.

Q3 The third research question asked whether the offender’s negative emotions influenced him to commit murder.

H3a: It was hypothesized that the offender’s negative emotions influenced him to commit murder.

H30: The null hypothesis for the third research question was that the offender’s negative emotions did not influence him to commit murder.

Summary

Various research has proven that General Strain Theory is quite successful in explaining individual variations in offenses among many different demographics. What has not yet been seen is how this theory fairs in relation to the crime of murder, and whether it can share the same amount of success. The present study attempts to test this problem and examine the role that negative emotions and strains play on federal offenders, and specifically, murderers.