Essay Example on Kip Kinkel's Case Theories

Introduction

Kip Kinkel is portrayed as a tarnished killer who participated in the shooting of his parents and performed murderous activities in Thurston Highschool. The film gives deeper insights into the events that led to his crime and the various aspects of Kinkel's personality. This paper seeks to give deeper insights into some of the criminology theories that surrounded Kinkel's crime incidents.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

General Strain Theory

This theory supports the idea that criminal activities are caused by some constraints that may stress an individual who may, therefore, end up resort to making crimes (Reisig,). Negative experiences are part of the reasons as to why a person may be incited to commit a crime. As in the film, Kin confesses that he killed his parents because he would not let them know and bear the pain that he had committed two felonies. This can be related to the removal of positive stimuli and the introduction of negative stimuli, which are strains that could lead to a person performing a particular crime. These strains are part of the strains as explained by the general strain theory. Kinkel must have negatively responded to these strains and therefore resorted to committing more crimes. The strain theory projects that felony can result from the conflict between the objectives of people and the means that they can acquire them legally. Kip did not want to upset or embarrass his parents hence resorted to killing them. He never considered the consequences of his actions said he had the drive the urge to do what he wanted and had no other option.

Social Process Theory

This theory typically states that the cause of people not committing crimes is because of the fear that they will interfere with some parts of their life or that they will let their loved ones down (Akers). Kinkel realized that being terminated from school would cause his parents embarrassment and disappointment. If Kim had not brought the gun to school, he could not have upset his parents. Nevertheless, he chose to take the gun and was aware of the outcomes if he was to get caught. However, for the most part, Kip had tried to follow the social process theory for a while. His wish was that his parents could be proud and not upset. He was aware of the rules and regulations of what he was supposed to do and not what to do. Kip was afraid of hurting the emotions of his parents but was not scared of physically hurting them.

Labelling Theory

The labeling theory infers to the concept where the behavior and self-identity of a person may have been influenced by the terms used to classify or refer to them (Burke 202). It is probable that the arresting incident where the police got hold of Kip for rock throwing may have led to his development of a self-deviant perception about himself. He could have grown knowing that he was a bad person and hence grew more aggressive as he lived as per this perception. During his sentencing, Kip declares that he is nothing and he is a horrible son. Also, Kip had the assumption as a "good kid with bad habits" while his father labeled him as "a bad kid, with bad habits". His parents' opinion may have impacted his attitude towards everything.

Works cited

Akers, Ronald. Social learning and social structure: A general theory of crime and deviance. Routledge, 2017.

Burke, Roger Hopkins. An introduction to criminological theory. Willan, 2017.Pp 202

Reisig, Michael D. Advancing General Strain Theory: Three Empirical Studies. Diss. Arizona State University, 2018.