Examining Stickup Kids through Social Train Theory and Techniques of Neutralization

Theory of the Stickup Kids
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Theory of the Stickup Kids
The drug market remains one of the most violent sectors in the criminal economy. In the late 1980s, the market for drugs became violent, especially in New York City. Dr. Randol Contreras has captured what happened during this historical period. For over a decade, Dr. Contreras studies a group called “stickup kids.” While drug dealers were known to brutalize the public, this group robbed and tortured drug dealers. The stickup kids targeted the drug dealers with large amounts of drugs and money. Both Robert K. Merton’s “Social train theory” and Matza and Sykes’ “Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency” would be utilized to examine the actions of the stickup kids.
Merton’s “Social strain theory” indicates that structures within society could encourage individuals to engage in criminal activities. The society pressurizes members to work towards achieving socially accepted goals (Agnew, 2012). For example, the American dream, which indicates that all individuals are capable of attaining prosperity as long as they work hard. The American dream may force individuals to seek material wealth, even when they lack the required means. Due to such pressure, people strain, which may lead them to commit crimes. The stress may be structural where the processes at the societal level filter down people and affect how they perceive their needs. Stress could also be individual which indicates the pains people experience as they identify ways of satisfying their needs.
The social strain theory applies in the case of the stickup kids. The neglect from authorities, unemployment, and the lack of economic activities in the late 1980s was a significant contributor to the rise of the drug epidemic. The racial and ethnic minority youths became disenfranchised; hence they resulted in drug peddling to survive (Contreras, 2013). With time, however, the crack market declined, which spelled doom to the drug dealers. These minority youths could no longer make money from their lucrative business. At this moment, they experienced a “strain” which forced them to result in alternative means of getting money. The members then reorganized themselves to form violent stickup kids. Now, they could commit brutality to other drug dealers and obtain more money and drugs to sustain themselves. Merton’s theory is applicable here because the stickup kids group came about because of the “strain” the members experienced due to the economic doom brought about by the decline of the drug market. They had to engage in deviant behavior to continue surviving.
Similarly, ...