___________________________________________________________________________

Theory Paper in Social Deviance and Crime:

General Strain Theory and Adolescents Associated with Gangs

Chau Tran
Dr. George Baldwin
SOC 333 – Sociology of Deviance
26 October 2018
__________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction

Despite the fact that the United States’ violent crime rates have been declining over the

years, the government and the general public are still expressing concern over the presence of

negative influences in communities of color that are affecting their youth. The US Bureau of

Justice Statistics (BoJS) reported that approximately, 4 to 5 million adolescents ages ranging

from 16 to 19 have face-to-face contact with the police every year. With the attention brought

forth upon police brutality by social media in the past recent months, one could see that blacks

and Hispanics were more likely to experience the use of force against them. For instance, black

youth have an overall level of police contact rate of 1 in 10, but the use of force rate is 1 in 4,

according to a survey conducted by the federal government agency (Durose, 2005). These

statistics sparked an interest from the people as to what the reasons youth of color are being

targeted might be. Most importantly, why adolescents of minority commit indexed crimes such

as armed robbery, burglary, and gang violence, considering their young ages. In the past several

decades, sociologists and criminologists have been explaining the likelihood of youth of color,

and youth’s, in general, crime rates with general strain theory. General strain theory concludes

that some social units have more crime than others partly because their features – including their

organization, social, economic, and cultural characteristics – lead to the presence of large

numbers of strained individuals who are motivated toward crime (Agnew 1999). In other words,

poverty, labels, oppression, family life, and so on, are examples of factors that definitely

contribute to the likelihood of adolescents committing indexed crimes, especially those of

colored communities. This is because the youth of minority groups are more vulnerable to strains

from society due to their high percentage of low economic status and the pressures that they face

on a daily basis which convince them assimilate towards their assigned roles and stereotypes.
This explains the high crime rates of Oakland, Compton, Salinas, San Bernardino, where people

of minorities living below the poverty line make up most of the population.

2. Second Paragraph

The exemplary author of general strain theory is Doctor Robert Agnew, who has

extended it from Doctor Robert King Merton’s argument that general strain theory was

developed by this blockage in an individual’s life which does not allow him or her to achieve his

or her goal, leading to deviant behavior. This is a general theory of deviance because it is not

limited to explaining why adolescents commit crimes but also adults and other groups of people

in general. Criminologists and sociologists who have been influenced by this work were Émile

Durkheim, Robert King Merton, Albert K. Cohen, Richard Cloward, Lloyd Ohlin, Neil Smelser,

Robert Agnew, Steven Messner, and Richard Rosenfield. The current scientists/authors cited in

this paper who are publishing in general strain theory are Robert Agnew, Matthew Durose et al.

(Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2005), Yeungjoem Lee and Jihoon Kim (Examining

the Gendered Effect of Experienced and Vicarious Victimization: A General Strain Theory

Perspective, 2018), Desmond U. Patton et al. (Gang Violence on the Digital Street: a Case Study

of a South Side Chicago Gang Member’s Twitter Communication, 2016).

3. Third Paragraph

When one joins a gang or already belongs to one, it is not considered a severe crime nor

he or she is heavily criminalized by the legal system. However, being associated with gangs and

gang activities result in the negative labeling and hyper-criminalization towards the person. In an

effort to guide teenagers and young adults away from gang culture, the Youth Gang Prevention

program, also known as Gangs and Youth Violence Prevention, provides funding to states, local

units of government, and federally recognized tribes to implement programs and strategies to
prevent and intervene youth gang-related violence.According to Agnew, the theory is based on

the hypothesis that people react to strain by trying to mitigate it by various coping strategies,

most commonly criminals ones. Therefore, in order to divert the tendency to commit crimes,

Youth Gang Prevention has programs and activities that may include: 1) individual, peer, family,

and group counseling, including provision of life skills training and preparation for living

independently, which shall include cooperation with social services, welfare, and health care

programs; 2) education and social services designed to address the social and developmental

needs of juveniles; 3) crisis intervention and counseling to juveniles, who are particularly at risk

of gang involvement, and their families; 4) the organization of the neighborhood and community

groups to work closely with parents, schools, law enforcement, and other public and private

agencies in the community (Youth Gang Prevention n.d.).

4. Fourth Paragraph

It is not a common knowledge that "as youth cope with neighborhood stressors and

trauma, the pervasive nature of SNNs affords them access to an online community of peers who,

in some instances, may live down the block. In high-stress violent neighborhoods, SNNs have

been shown to fuel conflict between individuals and peer groups and incites violence in the

community” (Patton et al. 2017). Social media can be an effective way to keep in touch and

connect with each other. However, when used with a negative motive, such as cyberbullying,

discussing illegal activities, social media, being used out of context, can increase crime rates

among the younger generation. The idea that due to social media, one cannot be safe at home,

school, public, or wherever he or she goes, is a strain because it builds up the stress and trauma.

The person might feel as though he or she is being constantly surveilled. Additionally, as

juveniles often feel the need to be validated, respected, and welcomed by their peers. This is a
normal social construct which is built in the mind of youth, furthermore, it is also a strain. When

one is being persuaded or coerced into doing activities that are frowned upon by society, for

example: drugs, alcohol, violence, and/or gang. Oftentimes, teenagers would join gangs because

they know someone or more than one person who are already members. The pressure of seeing

possibilities of their relationships being affected could put them in a more vulnerable position,

leading up to those young people joining. “The individual will not see themselves, in the future,

as being able to develop important social networks or friendships. Thus, the rejection may have

relevance for the individual in the long term. Individuals that are often rejected from groups may

harbor feelings of loss or worth that are similar to those of other victims” (Higgins et al.). On a

mental and/or emotional level, being shamed, humiliated, or threatened contributes to one’s

tendency of turning towards deviant activities in order to regain his or her honor. In the Lee and

Kim report in a 2017 peer-reviewed journal that “…experiencing victimization predicted

engaging in violence, while witnessing victimization predicted engaging in violence only in

conditions where social support and self-esteem were low” (Lee and Kim, 2017).

Discussion and Analysis

In the study done by Desmond U. Patton et al., the authors used qualitative methods to

support the general strain theory. The careful and attentive coding by hand was done to examine

a small subset of Twitter data to observe social media activities of urban, gang-involved curates.

In the journal General Strain Theory, Peer Rejection, and Delinquency/Crime written by George

E. Higgins et al., the authors elaborate on the connections between general strain theory, the

relationship among friends, and violence. The methodology performed in this study is the use of

SAS-based PROC TRAJ procedure to examine the extent to which there are different

developmental pathways for peer rejection and delinquency/crime. Yeungjoem Lee and Jihoon
Kim, authors of Examining the Gendered Effect of Experienced and Vicarious Victimization: A

General Strain Theory Perspective, collected the data for their study by drawing from the

National Survey of Adolescents, which was obtained through a nationally representative

telephone survey using the random-digit-dialing methodology in order to support the theory.

The current laws and social policies as reflected in funding or law creation and education

function effectively as social control. Police and patrols serve as a way to keep gangs off the

street and/or preventing them from committing illegal activities. Social control policies reflect

the theoretical explanation for the deviance, this can be explained with the hyper-criminalization,

stereotyping, and labeling of gang members and convicts in general. The societal reaction to the

deviance has not been adequate because, in some communities, it is often overlooked when

teenagers associate with gang culture and gang violence is not deemed a threat to them, they are

rather the norm. I would advocate change in policies to educate children and especially those

who live in poverty that joining a gang is not the only way out. In my opinion, the current state

of social control of my selected crime fits, and the general strain theory can help us understand

and control it.

 References

Agnew, Robert. 1999. A general strain theory of community differences in crime rates. Journal
of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 36. 123–155

Durose, Matthew; L. Smith, Erica; and A. Langan, Patrick. Contacts Between Police and the
Public, 2005, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, April 2007, NCJ 215243, Appendix.

Higgins, G. E., Piquero, N. L., & Piquero, A. R. (2010). General Strain Theory, Peer Rejection,
and Delinquency/Crime. Youth & Society,43(4), 1272-1297.

Lee, Y., & Kim, J. (2017). Examining the Gendered Effect of Experienced and Vicarious
Victimization: A General Strain Theory Perspective. American Journal of Criminal Justice,43(2)
Patton, D. U., Leonard, P., Lane, J., Macbeth, J., & Smith Lee, J. R. (2017). Gang violence on
the digital street: a Case study of a South Side Chicago gang member’s Twitter communication.
New Media & Society, 19(7), 1000–1018.

Youth Gang Prevention. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2018, from

https://beta.sam.gov/fal/c12049eba98b4dcc9fdf94998f38d92d/view?keywords=youth
crime&sort=-relevance&index=&is_active=true&page=1