The Strain and Sub-cultural Theories of Crime: Drug Dealing
Within the past couple of decades, crime prevention and control has become such an important topic in the spheres of criminology and crime control policies that have demanded a close surveillance and timely research as well as conclusive opinions from various scholars. To the effect, a number of descriptive theories have been developed in a bid to explain what may be the utmost causative agents of societal crimes. These theories are configured at an angle that various social justice systems may be able to build up the best prevention or control measures.
Long as from the second half of the 20th century when the empirical social science methodology got an increasing influence on criminological research, the first victim surveys were carried out by Ennis in 1967. This breakthrough began to quantify the dark number or else termed victimizations, as well as the role of the criminal justice agencies and the attitudes individuals have towards punishment along the fear of crime and fear of discrimination. In reality, this article has opted to centralize its discussion on the criminological issue of drug dealing, from which a detailed review on the theories of anomie and subculture influences has been provided. Moreover, it discussed the role of law and criminal justice system implications, including criminal justice policy and correctional ideology and techniques of crime control.
Drug Dealers and Drug Dealing
When it comes to drug dealing, there develops an absolute underlying question in that is the drug economy fit enough to provide adequate incentives to the dealers in a means that the gangs can completely keep off from the legal work? Literally, the only ideal means to determine this is through an inclusive review that will instigate and investigate on the specifications within the various gangs, from which the different crime behaviors can be explained. It is obvious that if drug dealing (a dominant issue in societal crime) entails multiple risks accompanied with limited success stories, then the gang associates are expected to offer more variable relationships to the unlawful drug sales. On the other hand, higher numbers of adult gang associates are expected to have firmer commitment in cases where drug dealing is able to offer highly profitable opportunities, for which anyone could be willing to partake at the risk of other more legal channels.
In accordance to the review carried on various research works, different types of variations can be outlined within the drug dealing gangs. Some of these works are on the view that most of the associates are relatively invariant. In such cases, the gang delinquents are viewed as representatives of the lower class “cultural milieu”, showing a collective tendency of crime in the entire American “lower class”. Further extending on the invariant gang members, other research works pin-point to the male delinquents terming them as “one-dimensional- tough nuts, defiant individuals with a rational –social Darwinism worldview” who have concurrently demonstrated much defiant eccentricity more often than the low-income communities.
Alternative research outcomes suggest that drug dealing delinquents are much of made from conventional orientation rather than from the invariant means. Dealers such as the “corner or college boys” participate in the event because of the exposure directed towards them. They repudiate the legitimacy of their conventional society and prefer innovative solutions (which could include drug dealing) only in a bid to attain their success goals. Similarly, other founding research works find more variation in conventionality within crews. This is explained in the view that the policy makers today often use restricting or limiting measures that are more of encouraging the conventional values that conjunct the deviant behaviors for the gang members.
Explaining the Various Drug-Dealer’s Behaviors Using the Strain and Sub-Cultural Theories of Criminology
When it comes to terms and theories trying to give meaning to the various aspects of criminology, the sub-cultural and the strain else known as the anomie theory come at the frontier. Both theories are in a way a short means to arrive at a conclusive value that crime in most cases is not an alternative income-means that individuals turn to willingly. The subcultural theory, first developed at the Chicago school on gangs, is a constitutive theory suggesting that some defined groups (subcultures) in the society have values and attributes that collective environments best suited for violence and criminal behaviors.
In a similar view, the strain theory (as explained by Robert Merton) makes out that there exist some structures in the society that pressurize citizens into opting crime as the best survival option. Right from the very definition of the term strain, suggestive meaning can be obtained. Strain could be referring to an individual’s subjection to stress or tension that is the result of excessive striving to achieve a particular life goal or in the process to satisfy certain life forces such as paying debts. The nature of strain experienced in this case is strong to the extent that the individual observes crime as the easier means possible to succeed. In this means, a number of models such as innovation, retreating, conformity, rebellion and ritualism could be used to adapt in the respective sub-cultures.
Translating the Basic Idea of Criminology and Interrelating it with the Implications Countered by Today’s Criminal Justice Systems
It is from these aspects of strain and subcultural theories that the drug dealers’ analysis came up with grouped results as to why individuals (either youth or adults) would switch into societal crime. The first group ranks as that of the few who had gone “legit” and matured of drug dealing. The second group ranks as that one of the African American and Latino adults often regarded as the “homeboys” gang members previously working conventional jobs but later switched to drug sales. The third group emerged to be that of the “dope fiends”, the gang members who were primarily addicted to cocaine and hence got mixed in the dope dealing as a means to hold access to the drug. Finally came in the “new jacks”, a group of delinquents who officially regarded dope game as a lifetime career.
As viewed above, the sub-cultural and the strain theory portrays a basic idea of existence of some influential forces in the society that drives individuals into crime and violence-based activities. At the same time the judicial/justice systems play a similar negative role. These systems have in their day to day operations expounded and redefined criminal law, the constituents of a crime and defining the various criminal acts in a bid to maintain law and order in the societies. However, it could sound much amusing that in reality when implementing these duties. The systems have infiltrated the prisons with drug offenders (who in most cases are the minor), making them serve extra-long terms in the prisons. Such punitive measures have seen destruction to most individual lives, to whom in essence would rather be assigned more behavior-constructing punishments. These punishments could include decriminalization of the non-violent drug offences, which was a case witnessed with the African Americans and native Latinos who had opted drug dealing trying to achieve their success goals. Also there may be offering of treatment programs for the addicted or even suggesting other alternative sentences.
There may exist diverse views as to the source of various named crimes or even impacting critiques against the strain (subcultural) theory. For example, the Albert-Cohen critique that crime behavior is a malicious and negativism born-with trait that develops into full potential with time. Despite the criticism, a substantive sense in the theories still stands. Most of the crimes/criminals emerging in the current societies trace their origin from some pressures in the society, the majority of which are juvenile based. Theorists have further affirmed this from the fact that uncontrolled developmental environments lead to juvenile delinquency, whose transition break from teenage offender into habitual criminal.
About the aurthor — Rachel Braun is a specialist writer, who has a long-term experience in literature and currently work as a writer at https://resumesleader.com — resume writing service, which provides the assistance and help for people who want to acquire on some position. She always wanted to be a writer, because of her creatie charater and willingness to contribute something to the literature. Now she is working on a avriety of topics related to the human beings and human workship.
