What Causes People to Steal - Essay Example

? What Causes People to Steal Stealing has been considered as a social problem that has significant impact on the community. This paper intends to identify the causes that motivate people to steal. This research revealed that social factors such as unemployment, poverty, lack of adequate education and family background are crucial determinants that cause people to steal. I. Introduction and Thesis Question The behavior of stealing is considered to be one of the most persistent and urgent crimes prevailing in the community and seems to be at constant increase. Stealing in general can be explained as taking of anything or being in possession of things that belong to someone else without their permission. It is at times conceived to be common behavior in young people. Furthermore, stealing is unlawful, immoral and executing such activities drives for legal action. Stealing is a social problem, which has widespread impact on the community and the future generation. Thus, it is crucial to identify the reasons that contribute towards developing the behavior of stealing among the people (Jackson & Haines, 1980). This paper intends to discuss and answer the question, “What Causes People to Steal?” II. Analyzing Using Concepts/Theories The three major sociological concepts/theories have been applied for analyzing the causes that makes people to steal. The aforementioned sociological concepts and theories comprises of strain theory, social learning theory and self-control theory. These theories are applied in order to explore the reasons behind the intention of stealing among the young people. According to strain theory, people become inclined to commit criminal activities.re owing to the factors such as stress, strain and being upset that they experience in their lives. Correspondingly, people develop the behavior of stealing due to their inability to meet monetary goals or other objectives through legitimate avenues. Essentially, such inability of people lead towards the creation of frustration among them, which likely motivates people to seek alternative ways to meet the monetary or any other requirements. As a result people get engaged in illegal and anti-social activity of stealing. Moreover, the theory also revealed that experiences of people such as low level of aspirations and expectations often motivate people to involve in illegal activity of stealing. The theory also postulates the mixed relationship between stratification measures including education, income, unemployment and crime (Baron, 2009). Social learning theory stresses that people learns by observing others. The theory argued that people develops emotions, habits and behaviors by modeling other people. According to this theory, people become involved in criminal activities through their association with others. Subsequently, people are motivated for crime as they acquire beliefs that encourage crime due to the exposure of criminal models. As a consequence, people view crime as something that is appropriate and least reasonable in certain circumstances. The theory claims that friends, relatives and family members have radical impacts on what an individual learns. In other words, the theory stresses that association with delinquent people often causes other people to engage in criminal activities like stealing (Akers, 1990). According to self-control theory people are engaged in revealing self-indulgent behavior simply because it gratifies them. Furthermore, engaging in such behavior often leads towards criminal activity. For instance a person may steal a car for a nominal reason of joy riding. The theory argues that people having low self-control often have high tendency to get involved in criminal activities. Responsively, people with low self-control have diminish ability to refrain themselves from self-indulged behaviors. In addition, the theory also propagates that people with low self-control ability are risk -takers, selfish, impulsive and non-verbal who tends to harm others for their pleasure and enjoyment (Tittle, Ward & Grasmick, 2003). III. Application of Research In the research study “Testing the General Theory of Crime: Comparing the Effects of “Imprudent Behaviour” and an Attitudinal Indicator of “Low Self-Control” authors Bruce J. Arneklev, Lori Elis and Sandra Medlicott (2006) attempt to examine the general theory of crime by equating the impact of imprudent behavior and an attitudinal indicator of low self –control. The application of the research findings revealed that the imprudent behavior is less efficacious in predicting the crime while attitudinal indicator of low self –control is stronger predictors of illegal activities. These findings imply that imprudent behavior and attitudinal indicator of low self –control is the major reasons that cause people to steal. However, the imprudent behavior is observed to have less implication on people behind their stealing habit than attitudinal indicator of low self –control (Arneklev et al., 2006). In the research study, “Does Child Abuse Cause Crime?” authors Janet Currie and Erdal Tekin (2009) tries to identify the relationship between child abuse and causes of crime. The application of the research findings revealed that any type of maltreatment increases the possibility of an individual to engage in many types of crime. The findings revealed that family members are the strong determinants for shaping particular behavior within an individual. Correspondingly, it has also been ascertained that people who have suffered maltreatment or belongs to a family with criminal background are more likely to get engaged in stealing activities (Currie & Tekin, 2006). In the research study, “Theory of Desistance”, author Natalie Hearn (2010) attempts to explore factors, which lead to desistance amongst the offenders. The application of the research findings revealed that people are engage in illegal activities when their “social bonds” are weakened. Accordingly, it has been ascertained that poor bonds with social institution such as family, friends, education and society tends to motivate people to engage in the activities like stealing (Hearn, 2010). In the research study “Unemployment, Poverty, Inflation and Crime Nexus: Cointegration and Causality Analysis of Pakistan” authors Yed Yasir Mahmood Gillani, Hafeez Ur Rehman and Abid Rasheed Gill (2009), strives to establish relationships amid crime and various economic indicators such as unemployment, poverty and inflation in Pakistan. The application of the research findings revealed that economic indicators such as inflation, poverty, unemployment are strongly related with crime. Accordingly, it has been observed that people who are unemployed, poor and lack adequate monetary value tends to develop stealing habits for meeting their own and their family desires and requirements (Gillani et al., 2009). In the research study, “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration” authors Cynthia C. Harper and Sara S. McLanahan (2004) attempts to measure the likelihood of youth incarceration among the adolescent. The application of the research findings revealed that those people with father absent in the family are more vulnerable to develop criminal behavior. Correspondingly, it has been ascertained that people in the father absent families are easily tempted towards the illegal activities such a stealing. It was further observed that people who do not live with their family are more likely to engage in stealing activities (Harper & McLanahan, 2004). IV. Summary and Conclusions Stealing is a social problem that tends to exists in every community. There lie different causes and motives of people behind engaging in stealing activities. According to the different concepts and theories of sociology, there are various factors that cause people to engage in unethical and anti-social practice of stealing. Correspondingly, the strain theory revealed that people experiencing stress and upset are likely to engage in stealing activities. Similarly the social learning theory postulated that people often get engaged in stealing by observing others and having close association with other people who are involved in stealing activities. On the other hand the application of self-control theory acquainted that people who are low self-control often find it difficult to refrain from illegal activities like stealing. In a similar context, the application of the research findings revealed that social factors such as friends, families, level of education, poverty, unemployment and absent of father in a family are responsible for engaging in stealing activities. The rapidly changing society is closely accompanied with the above stated social factors such as unemployment, less interference from family members and unequal income distribution among others which have dramatically caused towards the engagement of people in illegal activities like stealing. It is essential for such social factors leading the people to steal, needs to be effectively tackled in order to ensure welfare of the society and people. This research study offered significant insights regarding, why people tends to get engaged in illegal activities like stealing and the factors that need to be addressed foe eradicating stealing from the society. References Akers, R. L. (1990). Rational choice, deterrence, and social learning theory in criminology: the path not taken. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 81 (5), 653-676. Arneklev, B. J., Elis, L., & Medlicott, S. (2006). Testing the general theory of crime: comparing the effects of “imprudent behavior” and an attitudinal indicator of “low self-control”. Western Criminology Review, 7(3), 41–55. Baron, S. W. (2009). Street youth, strain theory, and crime. Journal of Criminal Justice 34, 209-203. Currie, J., & Tekin, E. (2006). Does child abuse cause crime. Discussion Paper No. 2063, 1-61. Gillani, S. S. M., Rehman, H. U., & Gill, A. R. (2009). Unemployment, poverty, inflation and crime nexus: cointegration and causality analysis of Pakistan. Pakistan Economic and Social Review, 47 (1), 79-98. Harper, C. C., & McLanahan, S. S. (2004). Father absence and youth incarceration. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14 (3), 369-397. Hearn, N. (2010). Theory of desistance. Internet Journal of Criminology, 1-48. Jackson, M., & Haines, A. (1980). A comparative study of the behavior of normal and retarded subjects in hypothetical temptation to steal dilemmas. Retrieved from http://www.criminologyresearchcouncil.gov.au/reports/16-78.pdf Tittle, C. R., Ward, D. A., & Grasmick, H. G. (2003). Self-control and crime/deviance: cognitive vs. behavioral measures. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 19 (4), 333-365. Read More