As future law enforcement officials, we understand it is imperative for police officers to understand and know the law to be able to enforce it. It is also important for police officers to have an understanding of why people commit criminal and deviant acts. If they understood why the person committed the crime, they might be able to go to the root of the problem to try to prevent other people from committing similar crimes. There are many different theories developed by criminologists that try to pinpoint why people engage in criminal or deviant behaviour. This paper will use the strain theory to help us understand why being a victim to bullying can lead to future problems in life; such as, participating in criminal or deviant behaviours. Almost half of Canada’s youth have been exposed to bullying; therefore, understanding the repercussions of getting bullied is important. If the repercussions of bullying can be understood further, it will create an even bigger awareness around bullying and could help deter it in the future.
Outline of the Behaviour
Did you know that 47% of Canadian parents reported having a child that is a victim to bullying (Bully Free Alberta, 2012)? Bullying is a huge problem in today’s society. One of the main problems with bullying is the effects that it can have on the victims of bullying for the rest of their lives. When you consider that 47% of children in Canada have been bullied, it raises the concern that bullying can lead to a chain of events in a person’s life that leads them to live a deviant life. According to www.dictionary.com (2014), the definition for a bully is “a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people”. It is important ...
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Cullen, F. T., Unnever, J. D., Hartman, J. L., Turner, M. G., & Agnew, R. (2008). Gender, Bullying Victimization, and Juvenile Delinquency: A Test of General Strain Theory. Victims & Offenders, 3(4), 331-349. doi:10.1080/15564880802338468
Hay, C., & Meldrum, R. (2010). Bullying Victimization and Adolescent Self-Harm: Testing Hypotheses from General Strain Theory. Journal Of Youth & Adolescence, 39(5), 446-459. doi:10.1007/s10964-009-9502-0
Patchin, J., & Hinduja, S. (2006). Strain and Cyberbullying among Adolescent Internet Users. Conference Papers -- American Society Of Criminology, 1-2.
Moon, B., & Blurton, D. (2005). General Strain Theory and Delinquency: Focusing on the influences of strain characteristics.Conference Papers -- American Society Of Criminology, N.PAG.
Linden, R. (2012). Criminology: A Canadian perspective. Toronto: Nelson.
Agnew stated general strain theory in a very clear way, which caused his outlook to be subjected to multiple empirical tests from its beginning to the present time. Several conclusions have emerged from the research of his perspective’s empirical support. There is consistent empirical evidence that exposure to strain increases the probability of criminal offending. The issue is that the strains that can be faced in life are everlasting. According to Agnew the studies that may show that strain-inducing situations are linked to crime, but they do not make sense of all the findings and tell us which strains are most criminogenic. Agnew understood this challenge and addressed it by identifying the strains that are most likely to lead to crime
Bullying has been around in Canadian history for over centuries. It has affected the development of many young teens and the growth patterns in forming young adults. It has also resulted in many unnecessary deaths. Bullying has not only caused physical damage but it also causes a lot of mental distress along with psychological problems. It can hinder the growing process of a child and potentially lead to life long permanent damage. In an effort to better protect those who are bullied, harsher punishments should be considered especially in cases causing death and for those who are young, more preventative programs should be instilled in schools.
Agnew, R. (2002). Strain theory and school crime. Of Crime and Criminality (Sally Smith Ed.)
Over the last decade, bullying has really been a worldwide issue. Bullying is affecting children all over the world and has grown into a huge epidemic. According to the National Education Association, “160,000 kids stay home from school each day to ...
Many people find the word “bullying” hard to define. In fact, the definition of the word has changed greatly within the last ten years. The current definition of bullying, according to stopbullying.gov, is “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is reappeared, or has the potential to be repeated over tim...
2012). Prevention in schools for example antibullying programs can help reduce gang involvement by creating a more positive school environment and reducing incidents of victimization and therefore students ' wont need protection from agang against the bully (Pesce and Wilczynski, 2005). Strain theory can be applied to this as strains such as being bullied by peers, are more likely to develop a positive attitude toward the use of violence, resulting in copying criminal behaviors to manage, or escape from strains (Moon, Hays, Blurton,
Remember being a little kid and being pushed down on the playground, being picked last in middle school, or being called horrible names in high school? Those are just a few examples of how people are bullied. A person who repeatedly physically or verbally torments or harasses someone in anyway is bullying (“Bullying” par. 1). It unfortunately happens almost everywhere. It’s a huge problem that is beginning to take over schools. Middle school is an especially troublesome time because this is the time where kids are just trying to be accept by others and they are the most vulnerable. Bullying damages children and teens in all aspects. (“Verbal” par. 4) Depending on how they are being bullied it can affect them physical, emotionally, and even physiologically. (“Verbal” par. 4) There are tragic stories of suicides and teenagers cutting themselves everywhere because of being bullied and finally they’ve reached their last straw. (“Verbal” par. 4) Which makes since because kids who are being bullied are twice as likely to commit suicide compared to someone who is not being bullied. (Murray par. 5) Suicide has hit number three on what kills teenagers in the United States. (Murray par. 6) Victims who become bullied are normally people who try to separate themselves from conflict. (“Bullies” par. 7) They normally are “loners” or “outcasts”, which makes them more vulnerable to become the victim. (“Bullies” par. 7) They may like different types of music, dress unlike others, or have a disability. (Petrocelli par. 3) Children who are being bullied often show common signs like crying and not wanting to go to school. (“Bullying” par. 4) Many say people bully others because they themselves feel like “outcasts” or like they have no friends but ac...
The scientific community has some explanations for the gender differences that affect juvenile delinquency. Science looks toward the General Strain Theory for conclusions here is a scholarly definition from experts, Based on Agnew's G...
Teens use technological devices as weapons through the use of social networking websites, text messaging and other ways. Teenager use these social networking websites and text messaging to make fun of one another, call each other names and threaten one another all to the point where the victim feels worthless and ends up with psychological problems or in the worst scenario, committing suicide. The most famous website that teenagers use these days for cyberbullying is Facebook; they login to their account and write a status about their victim and tag their victim on the status or ask a friend who has the victim as a friend to tag him or her in a comment below the status. Teenagers also use chat rooms to post pictures of their victim and publicly humiliate and make fun of their victims and others usually join in adding to it. I decided to write about cyber bullying because it has been happening a lot lately and as a mother I am really concerned about it, so I would like to know what to do in case my children were to go through a situation like that. I took advantage that it’s a good topic for a research essay...
Bullying has been a part of schooling for as long as children have been congregating. To some it seems like a natural, though uncomfortable, part of life and school experience, while to others it can mean terrifying experiences which spoiled and characterized otherwise happy years in school. Dan Olweus, a pioneer in bully behavior research documented that 2.7 million children are affected as victims, and that 2.1 children act as bullies (Fried, 1997, as cited in Aluedse, 2006). With bullying cited as the reason for violent, gun-related crime in the past few years, school districts as well as national governments have put anti-bullying policies in place. Bullying is a complicated phenomenon, involving more than one child demanding lunch money from a smaller child. It is a worldwide epidemic hitting schools everywhere. Virtually everyone has seen or experienced bullying. With technological advances, bullying is even hitting the internet. Parents, teachers, students and governments agencies alike are attempting to put a stop to bullying practices.
Bullying is a growing concern in a society where status and exercising power over another human being are increasingly important in developing one’s social circles. Dan Olweus (Norwegian researcher and founder of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program) defines it as an “aggressive behaviour that is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power. Most often, it is repeated over time” (Violencepreventionworks.org). School victimization is an especially delicate matter that has only really been in the public eye for the past half century, as more and more researchers and psychologists pointed out its short- and long-term negative effects on targeted individuals. It has since been widely investigated and numerous programs have been developed in an effort to address and prevent the many forms of bullying that exist today. The negative effects of such an abusive behaviour are various and can greatly differ from individual to individual. However, there are three main consequences that can be associated with school bullying, which are: school avoidance, depression/anxiety and even suicidal attempts.
In a CNN study by Chuck Hadad he states “That bullying is pervasive even though the schools have anti-bullying programs from kindergarten through 12th grade, assemblies throughout the year, and a peer-to-peer program where older students talk to younger students about the dangers of bullying” (Hadad). Robert Faris, a sociologist found that bullies and victims are generally the same person. Whe...
However, these common problems cause the victim to have a difficult life as they grow up and need psychological help. But the bullies will grow up to become troubled adults to commit unthinkable crimes or not getting any job offers plus no college/university would accept them. Bolton and Graeve both stated that “Bullies generally are strong, confident, and aggressive, much more so than their victims, who, by comparison, tend to be weak, timid, and nonassertive” (20). The victims sometimes can turn from being bullied to becoming a bully. The solutions to these problems are to ensure the quality of preventing bully attacks on students before they strike. The importance of preventing bullying is to make student feel safe , surrounding themselves around respectful people and have a stable well-being. Hence, the victims gain high self-esteem and have control over their lives. Students who bullies others need to seek a psychologist to examine their anger, especially making them calm and
Everyone has been bullied or encountered someone being bullied at some point of their life. Whether it would be physically or verbally both can be exceedingly traumatizing and can have a long-term psychological influence on children’s development. Majority people may define bullying in a more physical term; nevertheless that’s not always the case. The act of bullying can occur in several ways and in reality affect the individual in the same way. Bullying is generally defined as repeated, negative, and harmful actions focused at target throughout a course of time, exhibiting a sense of power difference between the bully and the victim (Olweus, 1993; Limber & Mihalic, 1999 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005). A survey was conducted in the United States estimating that over six million children, about 30% in grade six through ten have experienced frequent bullying in a school environment (Nansel, 2001 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005). Many people might debate that bullying is something that every child goes through and is simply a part of growing up, although there are several damaging consequences that happens to the child’s brain. Bullying causes the child to feel upset, isolated, frightened, anxious, and depressed. They feel like they reason they are being picked on is because there is something wrong with them and may even lose their confidence feel unsafe going to school (Frenette, 2013 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005) Anthropologically, sociologically, or psychologically, bullying can be analyzed through different perspectives and several questions can be asked based on the topic:
Bullying is defined as the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively to impose domination over others and is often repeated and habitual. Bullying is something that can manifest in all kinds of places whether it be at home, school, or in the community. There are different ways that bullying can manifest at home. For example, we often hear of fathers trying to “toughen up” their sons up and make them into a man, when in reality, they are bullying their children to make them tough. Parents often allow their sons to be aggressive and rough and find it appropriate for them to physically hurt other people. They often say “boys will be boys” as if that behavior is normal and okay. Well, it is not normal or appropriate behavior, that kind of behavior is only teaching them to be aggressive in society and to bully other people. This type ...