General strain theory Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

General strain theory - Assignment Example The social control theory outlines that there may different social structures within the society which can actually induce a person to commit crime. General Strain Theory or GST therefore proved one of the most important and critical theories in criminology providing explanation to the issues such as the commitment of crime and deviance by the adolescents in a given society. (Agnew, 1992) GST can provide a set of plausible explanations to the crimes committed by the likes of John Wayne Gacy, Jr. This is owing to the fact that GST actually outlines as to whether some strains on an individual can actually force a person to commit the crime and engage into other activities in order to relieve such strain on him or her. GST on the whole therefore outlines different social elements which can combine together to help an individual to become more inclined towards crime and use crime as a tool to relieve pressure of such strains on him or her. This paper will therefore discuss the general st rain theory with special reference to the case of Wayne Gacy and will present the theoretical analysis of the same besides exploring the policy implications of the same. Description of the Offender John Wayne Gacy was one of the serial killers in US who have murdered and raped 33 teenage boys and men over the period of time. Most of his victims were buried in his own home whereas some of them were actually thrown into the river to discard them permanently. He was also nicknamed as Killer Clown because he would often dress like Pogo the clown in different charitable services and parties where he was a regular attendee. A closer analysis of the life of Gacy would indicate that his inclination towards the life of crime and sex was largely influenced by the environment in which he was living. He was offered a job of manager at three KFCs by his father in law in Waterloo, Iowa and it was in Waterloo that he started to engage himself in homosexuality besides forcing teenage employees of h is stores to make sex with him. (Cahil, 1986) He was psychologically examined after his first arrest and it was concluded by the doctors that he possessed antisocial personality and that it may be difficult to fully rehabilitate him out of such behaviors. What is however, critical to note that he was active in the community services and was also subsequently appreciated and rewarded for his community services also? Despite such behavior, he continued to commit the murder and rape of the teenage boys and other males to whom he described as male prostitutes. Overview of theory As discussed above that the General Strain Theory is a combination of different theories and finally culminated into a broader theory with focus on the sociology as well as the criminology. The basic postulates of the theory suggest that the social structures within society can pressure citizens to actually commit crimes and as such may result into the increased instances of the deviance and crime if society is not supportive for an individual. Robert Dubin, one of the earliest proponents of this theory outlined that the deviance is actually a function of the society and advocated to make a difference between the actual behavior of the individuals and the set of values which actually drive such behaviors. (Agnew, 1992) Explanation and Analysis General Strain theory is focused mainly on the interaction of the individuals and how the society can actually result into the adaptation of the crime as one of the means of relieving societal pressures. It is therefore argued that the general strain theory mostly focus on the negative relationships of the