Throughout human history, there has been crimes. Researchers have been on the work trying to explain the reason why the crimes have been committed. Thus, they have come with different theories to support their explanations. These theories encompass an array of criminal acts, with inclusion of general criminal act and digital criminal act ( Curran & Renzetti, 2001) . With the successive improvement in the technology, digital crime has been on the rise and developing as well. Some of the explanations arise from other broader theories. For example, the general strain theory connects the crimes to the Social Structure Theory. The General Strain Theory remains at the focal point of the when dealing with contemporary criminology. The theories are as explained below.
The first one is anxiety theory. It states that “genuine pressures or aggravation boosts the probability of depravity ( Agnew et al., 2002).” Many people have resorted to crimes to help them in curtailing the body from the pressures and looking for vengeance towards the source of the pressure. This theory has been used to explain why many retrenched individuals or those who have been openly rejected, may get themselves into criminal activities to obtain money. Some would seek revenge against the person who fired them. Some may immerse themselves into alcohol and substance abuse to help them feel better ( Curran & Renzetti, 2001) . Continuous indulgence creates an adverse mental state where the person becomes dissatisfied.
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The theory explains the status symbol of the United States. The country wants its citizens to aspire for individuality and financial success while it does not lay the equal opportunities to every citizens. The ones left behind seems to be having the pressure to succeed as their expectations and achievements are at a disjunction. Most people in this case set goals that are too good to achieve. In the general criminal act, most of the theories were attached to the social class and cultural variables ( Agnew et al., 2002) but in digital crime, general strain theory is the first in its kind to miss the two tiers since its introduction in 1992. However, the theory focuses on the effects of strain in the life of an individual ( Agnew et al., 2002) .
It further expounds on the effects of personal pressure and how it leads an individual to delinquency and crime. There are three types of pressure that produces nonconformity. These are the addition of negative stimuli, the failure to achieve highly valued goals, and the loss of active encouragement and support. The good thing is that the sources of pressure can be mitigated. Exercise, advocacy programs, and counselling have proved to bear fruits to counter nonconformity ( Agnew et al., 2002) .
Another theory is the rational choice (Taylor et al., 2014). This theory explains how human beings are inclined to engage in criminal activities when they learn that the result would be beneficial to them. As people are faced with the need to make decisions in daily life, they tend to make the decisions based on the pleasure while trying so hard to minimize contact with the discomfort. This human behavior has been integrated in many justice and criminology arbitrations. According to Taylor et al. (2014), rational theory states that “the offender commits the crime because they make decision to do so after they have weighed the pros and cons, the cost and the benefits of the situations.
In the past, theorists created a burdensome foundation on the approach of collective and concrete decision-making (Taylor et al., 2014). The current days decision theories have reshaped our views of rational choice in the means that are parallel to the circumstantial rebellion in a logical manner. Rational decision-making range from the positive acts in the society to a choice that only the partaker views as logical while it might hurt other parties ( Curran & Renzetti, 2001) .
For instance, when a person makes the decision to be switching off the lights every night at 10 pm, they make such a decision to save on power. So in the long run, when the bills come at the end of the month, they would have saved a significant amount of money as compared to when the lights such stay on till morning. Here, the consumer has a choice of whether to switch off the light or leave them on. They choose to have them off because they know it would be beneficial to them.
Likewise, the criminal can have such a mentality when considering an act of crime. Let us take an example of a disgruntled employee who struggles to make it and they have access to crucial company data. The person may choose to delete these data or sell them to a competitor or just another buyer. This act may be targeted at harming the company. But, what they also have in mind is the amount of money they would obtain from the sale of the information.
Generally, the theory of rational choice has been seen in many crime instances like drug peddling, money laundering, vandalism, and many official crimes (Taylor et al., 2014). When committing these crimes, the criminals have view the punishment as small. One way to curb the menace is making the perpetrators anticipate justice and be discouraged to take part. The contingency of being involved in the crime should be bigger than the benefit (Taylor et al., 2014).
Another theory that the researchers can use is the self-control one. Criminals have the tendency to commit felony when they are out of control. This comes up especially when especially seeking revenge for an action from other people. Cyber-bullying often arise from this idea.
In conclusion, the researchers have been on the work trying to explain the reason why the crimes have been committed. These theories encompass an array of criminal acts, with inclusion of general criminal act and digital criminal act. With the successive improvement in the technology, digital crime has been on the rise and developing as well. The theories we have learned have given us an insight on how to curb some of the causes of engagement in crime before they actually happen.
References
Taylor, R. W., Fristsch, E. J., & Liederbach, J. (2014). Digital Crime and Digital Terrorism. (3 rd ed). Prentice Hall.
Agnew, R., Brezina, T., Wright, J. P., & Cullen, F. T. (2002). Strain, personality traits, and delinquency: Extending general strain theory. Criminology , 40 (1), 43-72.
Curran, D. J., & Renzetti, C. M. (2001). Theories of crime . Pearson College Division.
