Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

VICTIMS AND OFFENDERS
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

THEORIES OF OFFENDING AND VICTIMIZATION
RELATING TO RACE AND ETHNICITY
•An offender is an individual breaking the
law
•Victimization is the process for becoming
the victim
•Researchers are of the opinion that
offending and victimization are not randomly
distributed in the population
•As per the researchers offending and
victimization are clustered between same
individuals
•The individuals can be seen as sharing
similar characteristics and experiences with
violence and deviance
•A positive and consistent relationship is
present between every form of offending

•Race and ethnicity can be seen as the strongest yet least
understood correlates for offending and victimization
•There are various theories for understanding the patterns
•Among these two theories the conflict theory and general
strain theory are used for explaining offending and
victimization
•The conflict theory has greatly been influenced by Karl
Marx
•As per the theory social and economic factors are the
cause for offending and victimization
•The evidence for the presence of inequality in system
(Unnever, Barnes & Cullen, 2016)
•The theory points out the imbalance in the punishment of
crime that has been based on the class power.
THEORIES OF OFFENDING AND
VICTIMIZATION RELATING TO RACE AND
ETHNICITY (CONTD.)

THEORIES OF OFFENDING AND
VICTIMIZATION RELATING TO RACE AND
ETHNICITY (CONTD.)•General strain theory has been developed by Robert
Agnew(Lilly, Cullen & Ball, 2018)
•The general strain theory originally put forward by Robert
Merton
•the youths s finding themselves in a position of financial
strain yet wish to achieve material success, resort to
•Although supported by Agnew, yet he believed that certain
other factors that incite criminal behavior in youth are to be
taken into consideration
•Full consideration is needed for the role of General Strain
Theory for aiding to explain racial differences
•Researchers argue that African–Americans are likely to be
experiencing more and unique types of strain in comparison
to the Whites,