SOCIETAL-LEVEL THEORIES OF DELINQUENCY

• Paradise Lost Discussion

• Societal-Level Theories of Delinquency
• Social Disorganization Theory
• Anomie/Strain Theory

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 READING REFLECTION

• Reading Reflection 1 due Wednesday, Oct. 2 by midnight

• Instructions available on Brightspace in ‘Reading Reflection’ tab

• Two parts to the reading reflection

• Short-Answer Section: 200-250 words per question (3 questions)
• Reflection Section: 300-400 words

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 DISCUSSION

• Discussion Question: Do you think the media helped or hurt the West Memphis
Three? Overall, do you think the media helps or hinders the justice system?

• Write answers and reasoning for each question on one sheet of paper and have every
group member sign it

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 PARADISE LOST

The Innocence Project: Contributing Factors to Wrongful Convictions

• False Confessions ✓
• Eyewitness Misidentification ✓
• Misapplication Of Forensic Science (Junk Science) ✓
• Inadequate Defense
• Unreliable, Unregulated Jailhouse Informants ✓
• Official Misconduct
• Coerced Pleas ✓ 4
• Current juvenile and adult criminal justice systems agree with choice and trait theories
conclusion that we must change people not society
• Deterrence most widely used strategy by police, prosecutors, judges, lawmakers…
• Incarcerated offenders universally given mental/physical evaluation before begin correctional ‘treatment’

• Emphasis on individual-level theories in justice system help explain race/class disparities

• Choice and trait theories both overpredict lower-income individuals becoming offenders
• Who’s to blame with individual-level theories? Offenders! (it’s your own fault!)
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 SOCIAL FACTORS AND DELINQUENCY

• What social factors are believed to affect delinquent behaviors?

• Interpersonal Interactions
• Social relationships with families, peers, followers, schools, jobs…
• Social Conditions
• Economic stress, political unrest, legal cynicism, family disintegration…
• Discrimination
• Criminal justice biases may contribute to race, class, gender, etc. disparities in arrest/incarceration rates
• Poverty? Why?
• Does poverty increase incentives to commit crime? (choice theory)
• Is there a ‘culture of poverty’ that is more tolerant of crime? (social disorganization theory) 6
 SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES

• Social Structure Theory: Explain delinquency using socioeconomic conditions and cultural values
• Socioeconomic conditions: Poverty, neighborhood deterioration, concentrated disadvantage
• High poverty areas have higher delinquency rates (Or do they? Arrest and Crime rates are not the same)
• Cultural values: Culture of poverty?, subcultural tolerance of deviance?, gang/delinquency culture, legal cynicism…
• Do high poverty areas have different cultural values that make delinquency and crime more likely?

• Two prominent views:

• 1. Social Disorganization Theory
• 2. Anomie/Strain Theory
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 SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY

• Social Disorganization Theory (SDT): Inability of community to exert social control allows youths freedom to
engage in delinquency
• Two types of social control:
• 1. Formal social control: Police, schools, teachers (formal social control agents of the state)
• 2. Informal control: Parents, family, neighbors (informal agents who also maintain social control in society)
• Communities with social disorganization have less informal social control which leads to kids breaking the law,
joining gangs, and engaging in uncivil/destructive behavior

• Indicators of social disorganization include:

• High unemployment, high school dropout rates, high poverty, high family instability, low parental guardianship, single-
parent households, disorderly people, vacant/deteriorated housing, graffiti, abandoned cars, broken windows… 8
 SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY

• SDT first posited by Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay (1942) and later developed by Robert Sampson most
notably in Great American City (2011)
• Theory: Areas with social disorganization pass on deviant traditions and delinquent values to children (cultural
transmission) which increase crime and delinquency
• Economic/racial inequality exacerbate social disorganization (relative deprivation/concentrated disadvantage)
while collective efficacy helps reduce disorganization and crime/delinquency

• Collective Efficacy: Mutual trust among residents, a willingness to intervene in supervision of

children, and maintenance of public order helps create sense of well-being and community
• Theory: High poverty neighborhoods have low collective efficacy and more crime

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THE CYCLE OF SOCIAL
DISORGANIZATION

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 SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION CRITIQUES

• Critiques of SDT:
• Overpredicts crime/delinquency for lower-income and minority residents and struggles to explain why
rich people commit crime (Offending Rates similar across class for juveniles)
• SDT studies never capture rich or rural areas (do rich people care about or trust their neighbors?)
• No evidence lower-income neighborhoods have deviant subcultures (nobody likes crime!)
• Ignores police discretion in arrest rates (lower class arrested more, but Arrest and Crime rates are different!)
• Legal cynicism (less trust in police/law) is higher in lower income areas (Sampson and Bartusch 1998)
• Why this matters: Deviant subculture theories blame poor people and indirectly racial minorities for crime
through ‘culture’ while legal cynicism blames police/justice system for crime by being biased/illegitimate

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 ANOMIE/STRAIN THEORY

• Anomie/Strain Theory:
• 1. People share similar values/goals, such as good education, nice home/car, family, material comforts…
• 2. But ability to achieve these goals is stratified by socioeconomic class
• Harder for the lower class to achieve the ‘American Dream’
• 3. Inability to achieve goals will cause frustration and anger or ‘strain’
• Sharp divisions between rich and poor can create violence and aggression
• The lower class is expected to have higher delinquency rates because they have more strain

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 ANOMIE/STRAIN THEORY

• Anomie (Robert Merton): Without acceptable means for obtaining success individuals feel social and
psychological strain
• Youths who lack acceptable means may use deviant methods to achieve goals or reject socially accepted goals for
deviant ones (either way increased likelihood of delinquency as goals/means influence behavior)

• Merton identified five types of social adaptions:

• 1. Conformity: Accept cultural goals and means of attaining them (obey the law)
• 2. Innovation: Accept goals but reject traditional means to obtain them (may not obey law)
• 3. Ritualism: Reject cultural goals but accept legitimate means to obtain them (obey the law)
• 4. Retreatism: Reject both cultural goals and the legitimate means to obtain them (may not obey law)
• 5. Rebellion: Reject both cultural goals and the legitimate means to obtain them (may not obey law) 13
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 GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

• General Strain Theory (Robert Agnew):

• Multiple sources of strain interact with individual’s emotional traits and responses to produce criminality
• Sources of strain:
• Failure to achieve positively valued goals
• Fail in school or wealth accumulation
• Expectations do not meet achievements
• Removal of positively valued stimuli
• Going through a breakup, moving to a new school, parents getting divorced…
• Presentation of negative stimuli
• Child abuse, neglect, victimization, racism, discrimination, role conflict, peer conflict…
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 GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

• Negative Affective States: Anger, depression, disappointment, fear, and other adverse emotions from
strain all make delinquency more likely
• Research supports those with strain more likely to be delinquent (may provide relief to strain)
• Those with more support from family, friends, and social institutions are better able to cope with strain
and less likely to engage in delinquency

• Differential Opportunity Theory: Posits lower class youths whose legitimate means are limited join gangs
and pursue criminal careers
• Related to strain theory juveniles become criminals as alternative means to achieve goals (the American Dream)
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 CRITIQUES OF ANOMIE/STRAIN THEORY

• Critiques:
• Over predicts lower-income crime and under predicts middle and upper-income crime
• Fails to explain white-collar criminals (many already achieved success through legitimate means)
• Over predicts racial minorities committing crime
• Why? They have more ‘strain’ due to discrimination/racism
• Does not account for group inequality in criminal justice system and unequal police deployment in
‘socially disorganized’ areas
• Does lower class actually offend more or are they just more heavily policed/arrested?
• Does society have a common goal? Is it the ‘American Dream’
• People may strive for a variety of different goals
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 SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORY AND POLICY

• SDT and Anomie/Strain Theory Policy Implications: Both theories view delinquency rooted in
poverty/stratification so reducing poverty will decrease delinquency
• Programs to combat delinquency should provide youth with greater opportunities to rewards of
conventional society (increase access to legitimate means)
• Mentoring, school/job training programs, community outreach programs, financial aid for education, public
assistance programs, improving community structures, neighborhood restoration programs…
• Example: Crime rates decrease when families receive more public assistance
• Punishment and incarceration would not be expected to reduce delinquency
• Stigma and economic penalty of incarceration will reduce access to legitimate means and increase crime

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 NEXT STEP

• Read Chapter 12 from Humes

• Complete Reading Reflection 1 Due October 2
• See you Wednesday!

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