As future law enforcement officials, we understand it is imperative for police officers to understand and know the law to be able to enforce it. It is also important for police officers to have an understanding of why people commit criminal and deviant acts. If they understood why the person committed the crime, they might be able to go to the root of the problem to try to prevent other people from committing similar crimes. There are many different theories developed by criminologists that try to pinpoint why people engage in criminal or deviant behaviour. This paper will use the strain theory to help us understand why being a victim to bullying can lead to future problems in life; such as, participating in criminal or deviant behaviours. Almost half of Canada’s youth have been exposed to bullying; therefore, understanding the repercussions of getting bullied is important. If the repercussions of bullying can be understood further, it will create an even bigger awareness around bullying and could help deter it in the future.
Outline of the Behaviour
Did you know that 47% of Canadian parents reported having a child that is a victim to bullying (Bully Free Alberta, 2012)? Bullying is a huge problem in today’s society. One of the main problems with bullying is the effects that it can have on the victims of bullying for the rest of their lives. When you consider that 47% of children in Canada have been bullied, it raises the concern that bullying can lead to a chain of events in a person’s life that leads them to live a deviant life. According to www.dictionary.com (2014), the definition for a bully is “a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people”. It is important ...
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Cullen, F. T., Unnever, J. D., Hartman, J. L., Turner, M. G., & Agnew, R. (2008). Gender, Bullying Victimization, and Juvenile Delinquency: A Test of General Strain Theory. Victims & Offenders, 3(4), 331-349. doi:10.1080/15564880802338468
Hay, C., & Meldrum, R. (2010). Bullying Victimization and Adolescent Self-Harm: Testing Hypotheses from General Strain Theory. Journal Of Youth & Adolescence, 39(5), 446-459. doi:10.1007/s10964-009-9502-0
Patchin, J., & Hinduja, S. (2006). Strain and Cyberbullying among Adolescent Internet Users. Conference Papers -- American Society Of Criminology, 1-2.
Moon, B., & Blurton, D. (2005). General Strain Theory and Delinquency: Focusing on the influences of strain characteristics.Conference Papers -- American Society Of Criminology, N.PAG.
Linden, R. (2012). Criminology: A Canadian perspective. Toronto: Nelson.
Bullying has been around in Canadian history for over centuries. It has affected the development of many young teens and the growth patterns in forming young adults. It has also resulted in many unnecessary deaths. Bullying has not only caused physical damage but it also causes a lot of mental distress along with psychological problems. It can hinder the growing process of a child and potentially lead to life long permanent damage. In an effort to better protect those who are bullied, harsher punishments should be considered especially in cases causing death and for those who are young, more preventative programs should be instilled in schools.
“Children who engage in bullying from a young age may be involved in what is known as precursory bullying. Precursory bullying has implications for future bullying, and is understood as ultimately destructive and damaging” (Levine and Tamburrino, 2014). There is no doubt about this, we’ve all heard about adults that have been bullied as children and do not come out successful members of society. Clearly, this is a lifelong
In conclusion, both strain/anomie and social disorganization theories are both very important theories in explaining the causation of crime and deviance. Many theorists today often rely heavily on these theories. As crime and society continue to change, these theories will continue to provide a solid foundation for future theories created.
Bullying has become a major problem facing the United States today. The American Psychological Association reports that roughly 40% to 80% of children are involved in bullying on some level during their time in school. (APA, 2014) The magnitude of the problem can be observed in the statistics. In the United States, a total of 4,080,879 children between the ages of five and 18 have been the victims of bullying compared to 3,892,199 who have reported that they have engaged in bullying someone else. Additionally, 851,755 said that they have been both the victim and the bully. That's a whopping 8,824,833 people in the United States that have been involved in bullying behavior on one level or another. (High, B., 2000 Census)
In his article for the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Robert Agnew succinctly defines a strain as “relationships in which others are not treating the individual as he or she would like to be treated” (vol.... ... middle of paper ... ... With inner city neighborhoods having a twenty percent higher poverty rate, almost two percent lower rates of employment, and median household incomes being half or less than that of their surrounding areas (ICIC, 2014), it can become clearer to see why youth, including those in gangs, would turn to delinquency to achieve their version of the American Dream. With this information, it is overtly understandable that the general strain theory is typified by many of the non-violent crimes committed by youth gang members.
Over the last decade, bullying has really been a worldwide issue. Bullying is affecting children all over the world and has grown into a huge epidemic. According to the National Education Association, “160,000 kids stay home from school each day to ...
The scientific community has some explanations for the gender differences that affect juvenile delinquency. Science looks toward the General Strain Theory for conclusions here is a scholarly definition from experts, Based on Agnew's G...
Wolke, D., Copeland, W., Angold, A., & Costello, E. (n.d). Impact of Bullying in Childhood on Adult Health, Wealth, Crime, and Social Outcomes.Psychological Science, 24(10), 1958-1970.
Across the nation, social scientists and criminologists have researched and hypothesized the main contributing factors that promote juvenile delinquency. The Strain/ Anomie theory introduced by Robert Merton and later revised by several other theorists, attempts to explain why juvenile subculture tend to behave certain ways when confronted with pressures from everyday life. Revised by other theorists, the Strain theory attempts to provide the framework of juvenile delinquency and its sources in order to analyze the effectiveness of this assumption, as well as to implement certain crime prevention policies and programs to curb this problem. This paper is going to analyze how the Strain theory contributes it’s principles of delinquency factors in order to explain and understand juvenile delinquency.
Everyone has been bullied or encountered someone being bullied at some point of their life. Whether it would be physically or verbally both can be exceedingly traumatizing and can have a long-term psychological influence on children’s development. Majority people may define bullying in a more physical term; nevertheless that’s not always the case. The act of bullying can occur in several ways and in reality affect the individual in the same way. Bullying is generally defined as repeated, negative, and harmful actions focused at target throughout a course of time, exhibiting a sense of power difference between the bully and the victim (Olweus, 1993; Limber & Mihalic, 1999 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005). A survey was conducted in the United States estimating that over six million children, about 30% in grade six through ten have experienced frequent bullying in a school environment (Nansel, 2001 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005). Many people might debate that bullying is something that every child goes through and is simply a part of growing up, although there are several damaging consequences that happens to the child’s brain. Bullying causes the child to feel upset, isolated, frightened, anxious, and depressed. They feel like they reason they are being picked on is because there is something wrong with them and may even lose their confidence feel unsafe going to school (Frenette, 2013 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005) Anthropologically, sociologically, or psychologically, bullying can be analyzed through different perspectives and several questions can be asked based on the topic:
In a CNN study by Chuck Hadad he states “That bullying is pervasive even though the schools have anti-bullying programs from kindergarten through 12th grade, assemblies throughout the year, and a peer-to-peer program where older students talk to younger students about the dangers of bullying” (Hadad). Robert Faris, a sociologist found that bullies and victims are generally the same person. Whe...
Strain theories of criminal behaviour have been amongst the most important and influential in the field of criminology. Taking a societal approach, strain theories have sought to explain deficiencies in social structure that lead individuals to commit crime (Williams and McShane 2010). Strain theories operate under the premise that there is a societal consensus of values, beliefs, and goals with legitimate methods for achieving success. When individuals are denied access to legitimate methods for achieving success, the result is anomie or social strain. This often leads an individual to resort to deviant or criminal means to obtain the level of success that they are socialized to pursue. This is the basic premise of strain theory. This paper will explore the evolution of strain theories by first examining their intellectual foundations which laid the foundation for Robert Merton’s theories of anomie and strain. Merton’s strain theory will be discussed in detail including the modes of adaptation that people use when faced with societal strain. Finally, the paper will conclude with the strengths and weaknesses of Merton’s strain theory and an examination of the criminological theories and social policies it has influenced.
Bullying has been around for decades and yet it is still a reoccurring problem, and it is only getting worse. The National Center for Educational Statistics, in 2009, said nearly 1 in 3 students between the ages of 12 and 18 reported being bullied in school. Eight years earlier, only 14 percent of that population said they had experienced bullying(Ollove,2014). There are two types of bullying the direct form and indirect form, in the direct form the victim receives physical harm example kicking pushing shoving. In the indirect form the victim receives emotional or mental harm by name-calling, rejection, gossip, threats, or insults(Green,2007). It doesn’t matter which way the victim was bullied it still causes
Bullying has been a part of schooling for as long as children have been congregating. To some it seems like a natural, though uncomfortable, part of life and school experience, while to others it can mean terrifying experiences which spoiled and characterized otherwise happy years in school. Dan Olweus, a pioneer in bully behavior research documented that 2.7 million children are affected as victims, and that 2.1 children act as bullies (Fried, 1997, as cited in Aluedse, 2006). With bullying cited as the reason for violent, gun-related crime in the past few years, school districts as well as national governments have put anti-bullying policies in place. Bullying is a complicated phenomenon, involving more than one child demanding lunch money from a smaller child. It is a worldwide epidemic hitting schools everywhere. Virtually everyone has seen or experienced bullying. With technological advances, bullying is even hitting the internet. Parents, teachers, students and governments agencies alike are attempting to put a stop to bullying practices.
However, these common problems cause the victim to have a difficult life as they grow up and need psychological help. But the bullies will grow up to become troubled adults to commit unthinkable crimes or not getting any job offers plus no college/university would accept them. Bolton and Graeve both stated that “Bullies generally are strong, confident, and aggressive, much more so than their victims, who, by comparison, tend to be weak, timid, and nonassertive” (20). The victims sometimes can turn from being bullied to becoming a bully. The solutions to these problems are to ensure the quality of preventing bully attacks on students before they strike. The importance of preventing bullying is to make student feel safe , surrounding themselves around respectful people and have a stable well-being. Hence, the victims gain high self-esteem and have control over their lives. Students who bullies others need to seek a psychologist to examine their anger, especially making them calm and