Essay On Criminology

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Criminology is the scientific study of crime and criminals. It is also a study that is constantly changing due to the people in our society, which political, economic and spiritual views of individuals come into consideration. Robert Agnew, an important man to the world of criminology, he was born on December first, in 1953, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Agnew fortunately is still living, and ages sixty years of age. He Attended Rutgers College, a school in New Jersey, where he received his Bachelors of Arts in sociology, although both his Masters and PhD in sociology he obtained in University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Sociology being the study of the functioning of human society. Agnew discovered his passion for teaching after her worked as a teacher’s assistant and served as Associate Editor to Social Forces Journal for a couple years. Agnew started teaching at Emory University, the courses he taught varied from criminology to the introduction of sociology. In addition to teaching, Robert Agnew wrote many books and articles about either criminology or sociology. He was also involved in both field’s sociology and criminology through academics, and contributed to them greatly. Although his best contribution was his development of the general strain theory. A theory in which Agnew elaborated on and decided to adjust his perspective. Having gone through bad experiences in one’s life, can influence in the way that a certain individual thinks, and can lead them towards a life involving crime in their everyday lives. Adding to earlier strain theories from theorist like the French Emile Durkheim, who is considered one of the fathers of sociology because of his effort to establish sociology as a discipline distinct from philoso... ... middle of paper ... ... In Andy’s case he will now strike against the person who did not let him tryout in an illegal manner. The third and last type of strain that the general strain theory talks about it is the gained negative stimuli. Agnew states “A person tries to (1) escape from or avoid the negative stimuli; (2) terminate or alleviate the negative stimuli; (3) seek revenge against the source of the negative stimuli or related targets; (4) manage the resultant negative affect by taking illicit drugs” (Agnew, 1992:58). What Robert Agnew is trying to say with that is that an individual in society has a negative stimuli, and he has four different ways to cope with that. He can avoid the negative stimuli, alleviate the negative stimuli, or look for revenge towards the person who this negative stimuli came from, or lastly, fall into use of illegal drugs to forget the negative stimuli.

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