Analysis: Theory Case Study

Juvenile Crime Name: Institution: Date: JUVENILE CRIME Introduction The twentieth day of April nineteen ninety nine was on Tuesday like any other day, and no one suspected that it would be made different in Columbia by two juvenile perpetrators. Eric Harris was eighteen and his mate Dylan Klebold was seventeen when they committed what can be termed as a memorable school massacre that left the town of Littleton, in Colorado horrified (Brown & Merritt, 2002). On that Tuesday morning at eleven thirty five o’clock in the morning, which was also the anniversary of one hundred and tenth since the birth of Adolf Hitler, the two juveniles rampaged through the Columbine High School corridors. The juveniles shot thirteen people dead, and left twenty-five others injured and others seriously traumatized, before ending their own lives. There is a delinquent theory that is most appropriate in explaining the actions of these two juvenile perpetrators. Theories explanation The theoretical descriptions of delinquency and deviance, which are combined together in the same class, contribute to an underlying supposition that behaviors that are nonconforming crop up from the social conditions that groups or individuals’ faces normative disruption or confusion. When some people are confronted with an advanced, traumatic or a situation that is socially frustrating, they tend to respond in a abnormal and even probably in a criminal manner. The theory behind the juveniles’ behavior Delinquency and Opportunity Numerous theories have been put across to explain the behaviors of the juvenile perpetrators, and are very applicable. The sociological theory that best explains the behavior of Harris and Klebold is Delinquency and Opportunity, which was founded by Ohlin and Cloward and classified under one of the strain theory. In deciding the theory, it is crucial to consider the earlier plan and preparation of causing the massacre, as well as their past social status, among other considerations. The concept of this theory is that the juveniles belonging to a lower class may normally internalize the goals of standard success (Casey, 2011). Moreover, Ohlin and Cloward were in agreement with Cohen and Merton that when these goals are blocked, a status of frustrations may happen, causing some juveniles to be pressed towards an untenable strain position. The youths that are affected by these results may experience a sense of anomie and alienation that causes them to change to delinquent. This occurs so that they would achieve some increment in status. The status in which they would like to increase in might be financial or in terms of popularity and fame, among others. In Columbia massacre, some psychiatrists tested that the reason as to why Harris and Klebold performed the criminal act, was to gain fame all over the world as well as to be noticed. In addition, the boys are said to have been involved in a “Mafia outcasts” gang that was symbolized by wearing the trench coats. This only indicates that the two juvenile perpetrators felt separated from the rest of the world and thus turning to frustrated young youths. The private journals and other records of the two prove that they were surely facing frustrations and had lost the meaning of life. They had plotted on the school’s destruction for a whole year prior to the fateful day. Moreover, Littleton is known to be a middle class town, which indicates that the two youths were not well of in terms of financial status, and, therefore, daring to perform such an act so that they may quench their devastation and frustrations according to their young minds. The process in which this massacre happened clearly shows that these two were out to make a world’s record. They were not on a revenge mission as the schools shooters usually act with great impulse and targeting their rage who are faculty and students. However, this case was different as Harris and Klebold had been preparing for the fateful day for a whole year. The school merely served as a way to grander the conclusion so that the entire nation may be terrorized by the act through the attack of the American life symbol. Even though their slaughter was directed to teachers and students, they were not driven by resentment of those in particular because they just sh...