Criminology: Strain Theory and Broken Window Model

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Introduction

Criminal activities cause significant threats to the people and even national security. In order to effectively understand and explain why some individuals opt to participate in wrongdoings, several philosophers developed various criminology theories to enable law enforcement units to decode the operations of such persons. Over the years, crime has been rising, and many people have suffered the consequences, which include theft of valuables, killings, physical assaults, and even sexual harassment. However, with the models in use, police are able to identify possible risk factors that influence offenders to engage in the offense. In addition, the theories expound on how the actions are undertaken and further elaborate on why some regulations and created and made obligatory. Having proper insight into criminal behavior is essential in facilitating the ability of law enforcement officers to curb and manage the rising crime rate. Various philosophies offer distinct approaches and solutions to illegal acts. By comparing and contrasting the implications of the Strain Theory and Broken Window model, police officers can formulate effective ways of preventing criminal behavior in society.

Over the years, police officers have relied on the criminology models to give them insight into the causes of crime in societies. Law enforcement units have formulated a number of policies to aid the operations geared toward preventing illegal acts (Gottfredson, 2018). Sometimes it is challenging to comprehend what prompts individuals to engage in criminal acts. However, with the various philosophies, including social and psychological, it is easier to have genuine reasons.

The Strain Theory

The Strain Theory was coined around the 1930s by an American Sociologist known as Robert Merton. Based on the argument proposed by Merton, individuals are more likely to engage in criminal acts due to pressure and strain (MacNeill et al., 2021). According to scientists, stress is caused by different factors within society. Some of the key contributors are social aspects, including limited income, inequality in resource distribution, and poor education, which have the potential to push people to involve in committing an offense. The Merton ideas were further supported by the American criminologists Albert Cohen and Lloyd Ohlin, who believed that social factors are influential in making individuals engage in the illegal act to meet their needs.

Generally, the concept of Strain Theory explores deviant conduct as an unavoidable outcome of the pressure people encounter, primarily when they cannot obtain what their cultural context values. People perceive different societies with various determinants of success as necessary, and almost every individual strives to attain respect (McKenna et al., 2020). For instance, the western culture has a high value on economic progress; however, only small section of the public has the ability to access wealth. Failure of some persons to achieve their goals, especially in the lower class community, prompts such people to adopt and use unscrupulous means to obtain the resources deemed necessary by society.

In order to make a proper conclusion about the concept of Strain Theory, Merton reasoned from a specific point of view to a general perspective. The Sociologist relied extremely on statistics to deduce and assert the assumptions to support the arguments. Merton categorized the criminal data by social classes to generate proper insight into how the strain and pressure experienced by different groups impact their deviant behaviors (Barbieri et al., 2019). Based on the findings made by Merton, people from communities that are deprived of economic resources have the tendency of committing crimes such as theft, robbery, and other forms of a felony that grant the acquisition. Merton concluded that when individuals cannot acquire the economic factors in a legitimate manner to achieve their financial success, the likelihood of formulating dodgy ways to attain progress is high. The need and pressure thus motivate such persons to engage in offenses punishable by law.

Based on Merton’s arguments, individuals have different ways of responding to the strains they encounter. They can conform to the already outlined cultural goals and pursue them through the means prescribed by the community. This perspective is termed conformity because individuals function as per society norms (MacNeill et al., 2021). In some cases, due to the pressure to attain the objectives, people may opt to become innovative and devise their own means of achieving society’s goals. Individuals in this category rely on unapproved measures to obtain culturally valued goals. For instance, a person may choose to sell illegal substances to generate financial security. Furthermore, Merton grouped people as rebellion whereby they may tend to reject the cultural objectives and the stated means of accessing them, and then they replace the criteria with entirely different approaches. Moreover, some individuals respond to the society strains by retreatism, whereby they discard cultural goals and ways of achieving them, then formulate means of escaping. Lastly, another category of people may act in a more modest way which involves relying on the same means allowed by society to obtain less of the objectives.

Understanding the Application of Strain Theory

In most cases, individuals marginalized by the aspect of racism have a high probability of experiencing strain because they have the same culturally valued objectives as their counterparts in society. However, they find it significantly challenging to attain the goals following systematic inequalities that deny them the opportunity to explore and exploit the available resources. In order to remain active and achieve economic success, individuals tend to involve in criminalities such as white-collar crime. The mentioned type of offense is primarily common at the corporate level, whereby the executive members might opt to engage in fraudulent acts such as conducting an inside business to make them additional income.

In addition, in a consumerist and capitalist society, the public considers economic success as a form of positive identity. Therefore, individuals strive and work hard to enable them to reach either middle or upper-class status in the community. The majority depends on education as a leeway towards achieving social rank. However, some people in society do not have the privilege of accessing quality education or better employment. Issues such as gender, sexual orientation, race, and class play a significant role in determining the chance of a person to progress through the socioeconomic ladder (Skoczylis & Andrews, 2022). The people who are unable to climb the social class experience pressure and strain that motivate them to practice criminal acts such as conning vulnerable individuals in the community. The engagement aims to increase their ability to obtain what society has deprived them of acquiring on fair terms.

Limitations of Strain Theory

The Strain Theory focused majorly on the felonies committed by people having low no income. It did not provide further explanation about the existing white collar crimes undertaken by an individual who has the ability and necessary opportunities to achieve the culturally valued goals in a more legal way. The perspective makes the concept to lean on side of the society. In addition, the sociologist did not provide reason about the wrong doings aligned to the gender of a person. In other words, it covered individual behaviors rather than ground responses.

The Broken Window Theory

The broken window theory is a criminology model that is used to construct and make an assertion about possible causes of criminal acts in society. The philosophy is a form of parable that depicts the aspects of the community that fuels the ability of individuals to engage and commit serious offenses (O’Brien et al., 2019). The concept was developed by scientists named James Wilson and George Kelling. According to Wilson and Keling, the model associates offense with visible signs of crime, civil disorder, and anti-social conduct. Both Wilson and Kelling assert that an environment that natures the mentioned aspects encourages crime events. In relation to the Broken Window idea, when the law enforcement unit formulates and applies policing methods directed towards petty offenses such as public drinking, vandalism, fare evasion, and jaywalking, they develop a lawful atmosphere.

In real life, the Broken Window model has been applied by police officers on various occasions, such as stop-and-frisk. The approach is aimed at promoting order in the community to ensure wrongdoings are controlled and reduced effectively. Based on the theory, it is vital for the law enforcement team to correct and tame lousy behavior in the early stages before they grow into large practices (O’Brien et al., 2019). In other words, the philosophy encourages police officers to tackle minor problems such as property destruction before such habits escalate to significant crimes such as killing people. In relation to the broken-window ideology, when the broken part is repaired early, it will stop other sections from unnecessary cracking. Therefore, it implies that taming illegal conduct before they grow is a powerful strategy that is applicable and efficient in managing and controlling the prevalence of criminalities in society.

Based on the Broken Window model, there are three key aspects that enable the urban setting to influence crime. The elements constitute social signaling and signal crime, conformity and social norms, and adequate or lack of monitoring. The mentioned facets are significant and play an important role in determining the state of criminality in a given area. Examining and understanding each of the aspects makes it easier for the authority and other responsible agencies to prevent possible illegal activities in the community.

Generally, when there are no people or only a few individuals available in society, the aspect of monitoring and social values are not clearly defined. In such situations, an individual will tend to examine possible signals that are within the area, such as social norms, and weigh the risks associated with being caught engaging in violating the rules. For instance, a person may evaluate the general appearance of the place to make a decision whether to involve in a crime or restrained. Supposing the environment appears to need and maintained in order, the suspect will assume that the setting is under tight supervision. In case of an attempt of any felony, the likelihood of being caught is high.

Based on the arguments of both Wilson and Kelling, the nature or setting of the environment directly communicates to the people around such landscapes. In other words, offenders understand the reasons associated with the appearance of a given environment (Jiang et al., 2018). For instance, when there are broken windows in the neighborhood, suspects perceive the region to be lacking the required social norms, and thus they do not care and are unable to prevent criminal events. The status implies how the community is vulnerable and defenseless. Furthermore, it displays a lack of cohesion among the people in the surrounding, thus giving criminals an added advantage to terrorize the given environment.

In addition, the Broken Window theory argues about the social disorders in society. Based on the argument of Wilson and Kelling, issues such as noisy neighbors and gathering of adolescents along streets are regarded as deviant behavior that predicts a lack of social norms. When the mentioned aspects increases, the citizens become fearful of the possible criminal acts that are threats to their wellbeing. A change in community culture is detrimental to society, making the unwanted people thrive and become a menace to the overall population. In other words, the interactions of individuals with space are vital and influential in decision-making. The figure below depicts a broken window that criminal may perceive as a form of disorder in the community.

Figure 1: Broken Window

Understanding the Application of Broken Window Theory

Based on the assertions of the Broken Window model, some kid of criminalities can be directly linked to various types of physical and social disorders. For instance, offenses such as assaults, thefts, burglary, and robbery are associated with neighborhood disorder (Jiang et al., 2018). This aspect makes the theory to be relevant in application to determine and explain the causes of crimes in society. By analyzing each element, including social conduct, the philosophy provides an adequate ground to identify ways of preventing felonies.

Weaknesses of the Broken Window Theory

Despite the effectiveness of the Broken Window Theory, the philosophy deals majorly about the poor neighborhood whose characteristics include broken windows that may imply inability to replace. In other words, the concept targets the socioeconomically challenged group and do not give attention to other category of people especially the rich people. The law enforcement unit is more focused on the homeless and less fortunate individuals. In addition, the model does not provide enough evidence to support whether a disorder in the society when left unchallenged can influence crime.

Comparing Strain Theory and Broken Window Model

Based on the two constructs, they share a number of similarities in their context. In both models, it is clear that crime is facilitated and influenced by a preceding factor that exists in society. In the case of Strain Theory, pressure due to the inability to achieve culturally valued goals prompts individuals to formulate unapproved ways of obtaining the necessary resources. The same perspective is evident in the Broken Window model, whereby either social or physical disorder sends a signal to the suspect to enable them to commit the intended crime. Supposing the facets that promote determine the possibility of engaging in crime can be prevented, then the likelihood of having severe and numerous offenses will be reduced significantly. When the contributing factors for both models remain unchecked, the rate of criminalities has the potential to increase, which is harmful to the well-being of the general society.

Both concepts are helpful in enabling law enforcement units to uncover the possible causes of crime in society. In other words, they provide a reference that police officers can rely on to speculate and determine the reason why the misconduct happened. In addition, the theories examine the nature and context of the society ranging from social norms to socioeconomic perspectives, thus making it easier to connect how the community is impacted. This implies that supposing the values of the community are broken, society becomes vulnerable to criminal activities.

Despite the similarities between the two theories, Strain and Broken Window philosophies diverge significantly in some aspects. For instance, when society fails to offer the necessary goals to the people, according to the Strain theory, individuals will be prompted to act in deviance. People will have to find alternative ways to achieve culturally valued objectives irrespective of the approved means by society. On the other hand, the Broken Window concept ties vandalism to potential risks (Yates et al., 2022). In other words, when criminals observe an environment with signs of destroyed properties, they assume that the community is less concerned; therefore, in the event of a felony, they will not be bothered to trace the offenders.

Applications of Criminology Theories in Crime Prevention

Both the Strain and Broken Window models are essential in the prevention and formulation of policing methods that are aimed at reducing criminalities in society. The philosophies give the police a basis to begin their investigation to determine the cause and reason behind the criminal conduct. For instance, Strain enables the law enforcement unit to link the nature of the felony to the economic status of the given area where the felony is committed. Similarly, the Broken Window provides proper insight into the social and physical disorder in the area of crime. When all the factors are placed together, it becomes easier for the authority to make a conclusion and a recommendation to stop future wrongdoings.

When borrowing from the Broken Window theory, authorities can enact policing methods that directly target minor offenses in society. When such an approach becomes practical and applicable, society will be reformed and have proper order, thus eliminating the possibility of significant and serious crimes. The police must correct petty misconduct and align the social norms before it grows to another level (Ren et al., 2019). For instance, executing night patrols and traffic checks are some of the measures that, when undertaken, the community will regain the required values, suppressing evil deeds.

The Strain Theory is helpful in creating programs that allow people to retain their valued goals. For instance, youth delinquency can be prevented when a policy prevents adolescents from bullying each other. When such measures are taken, the individuals will not have cases of stressors that might prompt them to engage in criminal acts (Isom Scott et al., 2020). In addition, law enforcement is able to establish an environment that embraces equality, and individuals are being treated the same despite their skin color. Such aspects have the ability to lower possible emotional concerns that can prompt a person to respond negatively.

Conclusion

Understanding the various theories of criminology is essential in establishing proper measures to reduce crime in society. Both the Strain and Broken Window models examine factors that prompt people to engage in a felony. When the law enforcement unit examines the philosophies, it becomes easier for them to deduce and formulate practical approaches that prevent crime. For instance, when the police deter youths from being in the streets at late hours, individuals will perceive the existence of order in such an environment, thus demoralizing their intent to commit an offense in such settings. Therefore, from the insights provided in each notion, the police have a higher chance of dealing with different forms of crime effectively and efficiency.

References

Barbieri, N., Clipper, S. J., Narvey, C., Rude, A., Craig, J. M., & Piquero, N. L. (2019). Assessing general strain theory and measures of victimization, 2002–2018. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 49, 101304.

Gottfredson, M. R. (2018). General theory and global criminology: Childhood environments, problem behaviors, and a focus on prevention. Asian Journal of Criminology, 13(4), 347-365.

Isom Scott, D. A., Whiting, S., & Grosholz, J. M. (2020). Examining and expanding Latinx general strain theory. Race and Justice, 2153368720930409.

Jiang, B., Mak, C. N. S., Zhong, H., Larsen, L., & Webster, C. J. (2018). From broken windows to perceived routine activities: Examining impacts of environmental interventions on perceived safety of urban alleys. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 2450.

MacNeill, T., O’Connor, C., Frederick, T., & James-Charles, E. (2021). From strain theory to the capacity to aspire: A contribution to the cultural political economy of development. Community Development, 52(3), 286-304.

McKenna, N. C., Golladay, K. A., & Holtfreter, K. (2020). Integrating general strain theory and trauma-informed principles into the study of older adult victimization. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 21(2), 187-200.

O’Brien, D. T., Farrell, C., & Welsh, B. C. (2019). Broken (windows) theory: A meta-analysis of the evidence for the pathways from neighborhood disorder to resident health outcomes and behaviors. Social science & medicine, 228, 272-292.

Ren, L., Zhao, J. S., & He, N. P. (2019). Broken windows theory and citizen engagement in crime prevention. Justice Quarterly, 36(1), 1-30.

Skoczylis, J., & Andrews, S. (2022). Strain theory, resilience, and far-right extremism: The impact of gender, life experiences and the internet. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 15(1), 143-168.

Yates, D., Bērziņa, D., & Wright, A. (2022). Protecting a broken window: Vandalism and security at rural rock art sites. The Professional Geographer, 74(2), 384-390.

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