The Theory of Strain - Essay Example

Strain theory argues that such punishing stimuli often increase the likelihood of deviance. Strain theory specifies many of the conditions, in which punishment is likely to be seen as unfair. For example, punishment may be seen as unfair if the juvenile did not have a voice in making the rules that were violated, if the punishment is perceived as disproportional to the infraction, or if the juvenile does not accept blame for the deviant act. As usual, punishment serves imprisonment. There is also an informal social control, where such kinds of punishment as denunciation, isolation, etc.

may be observed.3. When dealing with police, courts, and prisons there is an interaction between deviant and representatives of the body of the social control, which plays an important role. The initial contact with the youth generally involves the police apprehending the youth in the act of committing a crime or responding to a complaint about the youth. There are very few juvenile justice systems that can be said to represent a pure child welfare model of juvenile justice, although the model is evident to some degree in systems such as Australia that have diversion procedures that allow many cases to be directed out of the judicial system.

That is the acceptance of the strain theory may to a great extent to improve the justice system by providing its knowledge on juvenile behavior.4. This theory as any other has its advantages and disadvantages. Among the disadvantages we may state:It is very difficult to test and validate the goals, means, and aspirations of people. Moreover, Gang delinquency is overstated to some extent:* Constitutes small part of delinquency.* Gangs rarely so formal, specialized, or dominant.One more thing is that the theory is largely limited to lower class crime.