The juvenile crime in question involves a felony perpetrated by a 12 year old in Texas. The teen whose name is anonymous shot and killed a 24 year old professional boxer named John VanMeter. According to a witness record by John’s girlfriend, the 12 year old broke into their home at around 8:00 p.m. and shot him on the head ( Phillips , 2019). Upon arrival by the police at his home, John VanMeter was found unconscious lying in the living room with a gunshot wound on his head. John received treatment on the crime scene and was later taken to Uvalde Memorial Hospital in Texas where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses reported seeing the 12 year old male who had concealed his face with a bandanna running away after shooting the boxer ( Phillips , 2019). The 12 year old suspect was apprehended and taken to Jourdanton Juvenile Detention facility located in Atascosa Texas. The teen remained in custody awaiting to be charged with capital murder. Questions arose as to what could have motivated the teen to commit the heinous crime. The teen’s crime can however be explained by the Anomie delinquency theory as expounded below.
Analysis of a theory that explains perpetrator’s actions
Robert K. Merton proposed anomie theory in 1948. According to the theory, crime is triggered by the divergence between legitimate social objectives and the limited access to realization of the objectives. As Merton asserted, majority of people in the society strive to actualize culturally recognized goals. However, a state of anomie develops when access to the means to realize these goals is blocked either to some individuals or to an entire group of people ( Khruakham, 2014) . The end result is deviant behavior such as the one manifested by the 12 year old teen who shot and killed John VanMeter. Anomic conditions arise from the discrepancy between means and goals. A state of anomie according to the theory is a condition of instability that results from lack of ideals, purpose coupled with a breakdown values and standards. In John VanMeter’s case, it is likely that the 12 year old boy had been blocked from realizing some individual objectives he was pursuing such as financial independence or having a positive relationship. In addition, the teen may have resorted to committing the crime after trying pursue an elusive goal in futility. Moreover, in reference to anomie theory, it possible that the 12 year old had been put under pressure by his family or the society to accomplish a certain goal. The limited access to the means to achieve a certain objective might have caused social conflict and imposed psychological stress consequently triggering the crime. Notably, it is probable that the 12 year old boy intended to rob John VanMeter but in the process shot and killed him.
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Breaking John’s home is an innovation act where the boy designed his own unconventional means in a bid to achieve a certain socially legitimate goal. In reference to Merton’s anomie theory, it is also likely that the 12 year old boy came from a lower social strata which implies that he had fewer opportunities to achieve cultural goals. As anomie theory assert, people from lower social strata resort to unapproved means such as burglary because they have limited chances than those from higher strata to accomplish cultural goals ( Khruakham, 2014 and Stults & Falco, 2014) . The inability to accomplish pursued objectives by the 12 year old might have resulted into a sense of futility, despair, emotional emptiness and lack of purpose ultimately leading to the motivation to commit the heinous crime. Difficulty to achieve an individual objective through the acceptable means might have compelled the boy to resort to illegitimate means as evidenced by his actions of breaking into John VanMeter’s residence. The boy’s actions can therefore be explained by either pressure from the society to accomplish certain objectives, psychological distress, lack of opportunities or/and limited means to realize a goal.
Strengths and Weakness of Anomie Theory
Merton’s anomie theory has a number of weaknesses. First, several studies have found a fault that the anomie theory does not factor other salient causal contributors of deviance such as illegitimate opportunity for success and social interaction. In addition, anomie theory is plainly meant to expound on only the causation of one type of deviance. Notably, this deviance is what Merton terms as innovation which is flawed since it subsumes a large part of delinquent and criminal cases. Research has disapproved the conclusion of Merton’s anomie theory which connects social class to delinquency ( Chamlin & Sanders, 2013) . In his theory, Merton compares only upper class vis-à-vis lower class strata thereby excluding individuals from middle class.
The anomie theory explanation of lack of success opportunity is termed as tendentiously restrictive as it only makes inference of the socially structured thereby overlooking the social-psychologically induced impediments that hinder realization of high success goals ( Chamlin & Sanders, 2013) . If the idea of social psychologically underpinned obstacles is introduced into the present analysis, it would seriously undermine the assumption by Merton that persons from lower strata are more likely to encounter difficulties than upper class persons in achieving high success aspirations. Apparently, people from higher class strata rather than those from lower class, typically experience social-psychologically induced constraints in accomplishing high success aspirations. This fact exposes the serious flaws that render Merton’s theory less applicable.
Contrary to what Merton asserts, anomie as a social condition affects the upper class more than it does the lower class due to the upper class inclination to entertain high aspirations. Merton does not recognize the link between social class and relative derivation nor does he apply it to the anomie theory. Furthermore, the discussion of aspiration-opportunity in anomie theory, fails to factor the dynamic interaction between opportunity and aspirations. Merton anomie theory is critiqued since it does not explain conformity ( Chamlin & Sanders, 2013) . Moreover, anomie theory ignores social interaction and group processes. Additionally, the theory assumes that the United States has a common culture which is not entirely true. Anomie theory overlooks felonies in suites that is, crimes perpetrated by the powerful and wealthy in the society. Instead the theory perpetuates a stereotyped notion that the lower class people are more likely to become delinquent, an assertion that is fundamentally flawed.
One of the strengths of the Merton anomie theory is the explanation is offers about the means of adapting to strain. In addition, the theory expounds about higher felony rates among the disadvantaged populations in the society and how cultural norms trigger crime and conflict. Anomie theory has had a profound impact on the trajectory of sociological criminology. The theory emerged as an analytical tool that has helped sociologists and criminologists to study how social factors influence rates of delinquent behavior. Anomie theory has been integral in guiding macro level research on societal felony rates and individual differences in crime. Merton’s theory is critical in guiding and informing policy making in a bid to tame delinquent behavior.
Subculture delinquent theory can also account for the particular aspects of crime that manifest in John VanMeter’s case. The theory as proposed by Phil Cohen asserts that affiliation to a subculture fosters criminality, often characterized by violent demeanor. Joining a subculture alters an individual’s values and customs ( Blackman, 2014) . A subculture according to the theory is an antisystem or subsystem of society whose norms and attitudes contradict those held by majority society. The theory indicates that the union of young individuals into subcultures results from problems triggered by the inequality of an existing strata in the society. For example, a teen from the lower class may strive to conform to standards of higher strata but is confronted by goals he cannot fulfill due to rigid social structures or because of his social background. Such a person is forced to recognize his own poor prestige and low status which presents him with limited chance of success in the society. The result is merging of such several boys into subgroups termed as subcultures. As Cohen notes, boys involved in gang subcultures often encourage each other to engage in delinquent behavior since they believe that doing so would enable them meet middle class standards ( Blackman, 2014) . In the John VanMeter case for example, the 12 year old boy criminal act could be a vengeful act of being left with inadequacy feelings after joining a gang subculture.
Conclusion
Delinquent behavior can be explained by a set of criminological theories such as the Anomie theory by Robert K. Merton. The theory notes that individuals engage in delinquent acts when they are unable to realize certain goals such as positive relationships, financial success, education and career prosperity. Individuals who commit crime experience anomie which is the inability to process the resulting strain thereby forcing them to react with delinquent acts. Some of the weaknesses of the anomie theory include failure to recognize social interaction and group processes and the assumption that the US has a common culture which is not the case. Subculture theory can also be applied to explain particular aspects of delinquent behavior.
References
Blackman, S. (2014). Subculture theory: An historical and contemporary assessment of the concept for understanding deviance. Deviant behavior , 35 (6), 496-512.
Chamlin, M. B., & Sanders, B. A. (2013). Falsifying Merton's macro-level anomie theory of profit-motivated crime: A research note. Deviant Behavior , 34 (12), 961-972.
Khruakham, S. (2014). Institutional Anomie Theory. The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice , 1-5.
Phillips , K. (2019). A Texas boxer was shot to death in his own home. The suspect: A 12-year-old boy, retrived from https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2019/01/26/texas-boxer-was-shot-death-his-own-home-suspect-year-old-boy/
Stults, B. J., & Falco, C. S. (2014). Unbalanced institutional commitments and delinquent behavior: An individual-level assessment of institutional anomie theory. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice , 12 (1), 77-100.
