Merton's Strain Theory: A Psychological Analysis Of Homicide

The understanding of homicide can be explained by many theories, particularly biological, psychological and sociological. This essay will be competing the usefulness of the three explanations in understanding the homicide of Sukhdev who was killed by Ryan in a brutal attack. While all three explanations are useful in the understanding of this particular case, they have limitations and criticisms which will also be looked at.
One sociological theory of homicide is Merton’s strain theory. He theorised that crime and deviance emerged as an individual adaption to pressures flowing from the social structure (Merton 1938, cited in Carrabine 2014: 77). Suffering economically can cause an imbalance between social structure and culture because the
According to Athens ‘dangerous violent criminals represent the finished product of a lengthy, and at point’s tortuous, developmental process’ (1989: 6, cited in Brookman, 2005: 95). The criminal goes through a process of 4 stages: brutalisation, belligerency, violent performances and virulency (Brookman, 2005: 95). The first stage involves a family figure using violence towards the individual and the individual witnessing violent behaviour towards another, usually a family member. The next stage is when the individual starts to repress rage and begins to have feelings of inadequacy. This is when the violent performance stage occurs where the individual reacts violently when provoked. The final stage is when the individual starts to become aware of what people think about them and adopts their violent reputation which eventually results in them becoming a violent criminal. In the case of Ryan, this theory explains every aspect of his crime. Firstly, he witnessed his father and mother’s boyfriends act violently towards her and he himself suffered physical abuse. After experiencing this brutalisation, Ryan entered the stage where he began to feel inadequate and with repressed rage he experienced his first violent performances by getting into fights at school. He then adopted this violent reputation for being both unpredictable and violent. This internalised status resulted in Ryan becoming a violent
This approach theorises that ‘the internal psychological conflict that leads to lethal violence is shame and loss of self-respect’ (Brookman, 2005: 78). This occurs when the individual is subject to extreme physical and psychological violence. There are three preconditions which ultimately lead these individuals to kill. The first precondition is ‘feelings of shame or a wounded self-esteem’ (Brookman, 2005: 76). These individuals will therefore hide these feelings by showing arrogant and reckless behaviour. The second precondition is when the person thinks that in order to reduce their feelings of indignity they must act violently, which is rewarded with high social status and respect. The third precondition is when the individual doesn’t have or lacks the emotional capacities and ‘feelings that normally inhibit violent impulses stimulated by shame’, so they act violently (Brookman, 2005: 79). This explains Ryan’s behaviour because he was physically abused when he was younger and to hide his ‘wounded self-esteem’ he showed irresponsible behaviour by fighting with fellow pupils and damaging school property. This violent behaviour gave him the reputation of being unpredictable and violent, which reduced his feelings of shame by giving him social status. Therefore, he lacks the emotional capacity to empathise with others which led him to brutally murder Sukhdev. This inability to look out for