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Major theories of criminal behavior
Identify the strenghts and weakness of the criminal behavior theories
Psychological explanation of crime and criminal behavior in relation to sociological crime theories
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Recommended: Major theories of criminal behavior
Theories are comprehension methods that are used to determine the cause behind criminal activity. The theorists behind these theories help come to a conclusion on the structure of crime, the victims, and the offenders. The two theories addressed are Super Traits Theory and Social Learning Theory. The Super Traits Theory, by Robert Agnew, discusses five concepts (personality, family, school, peers, and work) that could possibly be the start of crime. Agnew argues that personality traits establishes a direct course as to how the other ideas react towards them. Ronald Akers’ Social Learning Theory discusses how people learn criminal behavior from their environment based on operant psychology. Although both Social Learning Theory and Super Traits Theory assists in the determination of crime, the different …show more content…
The violative behavior is differentially reinforced over behavior in conformity to the norm. (Differential reinforcement)
3. He or she is more exposed to and observes more deviant than conforming models. (Imitation)
4. His or her own learned definitions are favorable toward committing the deviant acts. (Excess of definitions) (pp.190).
Aided by Robert Burgess, Akers used differential reinforcement, a perception of operant psychology, to assure that criminal behavior was improved or reduced. With reinforcement, it is possible that behavior occurs continuously, if the predicament is somewhat similar; yet with punishment, certain behavior will be avoided and more than likely wouldn’t happen again. Applying operant psychology allowed Akers and his partner to see the way that individuals learn criminal behavior.
Discrimination is also a significant concept when dealing with the Social Learning Theory. It takes places before criminal behavior occurs. Discriminative stimuli are hints that help determine whether criminal behavior will be reinforced or followed by punishment. The clues indicate what criminal activity will be reinforced or punished.
Comparison
Differential association theory has a set of seven principles. Differential association theory says that criminal behavior is learned. By this, Sutherland intended for criminal behavior to be classified as a social-learning mechanism and can, therefore, be classified in the same manner as any other learned behavior such writing, talking, and walking (Siegel, 2012, p.237). Sutherland’s next point states that learning is a by-product of social interaction. Criminals learn by what they experience from exposure to the environment. Differential association theory views criminality not as something ingrained or as a result of socioeconomic conditions or physical characteristics but rather family, friends, and peers reflect the influence of the criminals. Differential association theory holds that the criminal techniques are the by-product of a person’s life interactions as well. The learned techniques vary from simple to extremely complex (Siegel, 2012, p.237). Some criminals begin this stage during childhood in which they meet up with mentors to learn to become successful criminals and to achieve the greatest reward for their efforts. These mentors teach the kids how to pick locks, shoplift, and how to obtain and use drugs. Another principle of differential association theory concludes that a person’s perceptions of the legal code influences motives and drives (Siegel, 2012, p. 237). This principle insinuates that criminals perceive the legal code as favorable or unfavorable. The legal codes do not fall into conformity among all citizens in a specified society and a person is almost certain to come across another person who views obeying the law differently.
The self-control theory suggested that people engaged in criminal behaviors as they believed that crime was an advisable way of fulfilling their self-interest, which provided them a sense of pleasure immediately. Everyone has different ability to control their impulses for instant satisfaction, the ability mainly developed before puberty and relatively stable over the life span. The probability for engaging in criminal behaviors was greater in people with low self-control than those with high self-control. Moreover, the self-control theory suggested that the relationship between self-control and the involvement in criminal behaviors was less affected by factors like peer influences or cultural influences (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). Therefore, self-control theory is totally different from differential association theory. According to Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), the major cause of children with low self-control may be inefficient parenting. Parents should monitor their children, keep the children under surveillance, and actively react to improper behaviors. They should be able to recognize when deviance occurs, then punished and disapproved that misbehaviors. If the parents failed to do so, children with low self-control may be produced and thus the children may have a greater likelihood to commit in
Social learning theory was first developed by Robert L. Burgess and Ronald L Akers in 1966 (Social Learning theory, 2016). In 1973, Akers wrote a book entitled Deviant Behaviour: A Social Learning Approach, which discussed Aker’s conception of the social learning theory. He developed social learning theory by extending Sutherland’s theory of differential association (Cochran & Sellers, 2017). Social learning theory is based on the principles of Pavlov’s operant and classical conditioning. Akers believes that crime is like any other social behavior because it is learned through social interaction (Social Learning theory, 2016). Social learning theory states that the probability of an individual committing a crime or engaging in criminal behaviour is increased when they differentially associate with others who commit criminal behavior (Cochran & Sellers, 2017). Social learning theory is classified as a general theory of crime, and has been used to explain many types of criminal behaviour (Social Learning theory, 2016). Furthermore, social learning theory is one of the most tested contemporary theories of crime. There are four fundamental components of social learning theory; differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement and imitation (Social Learning theory,
Differential association theory was founded by Edwin H. Sutherland (Lilly, 2012, p. 43). This theory states that “any person will inevitably come into contact with definitions favorable to violation of the law and with definitions unfavorable to violation of the law” (Lilly, 2012, p. 44). Whichever definition is more prominent in a person’s mind, will lead to their decision of “whether the person embraces crime as an acceptable way of life” (Lilly, 2012, p. 44). Sutherland composed nine propositions that explained the theory. He explained that “crime is learned through the process of differential association” (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). The nine propositions explained that “criminal behavior is learned” (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). He explained that by communicating with others, especially those that are close to them they are more likely to pick up behaviors from those people. Differential association theory also explains that learning criminal behaviors “involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning” (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). While learning a criminal behavior one not only learns “the techniques of committing the crime” but also the “specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes” involved with crime (Lilly, 2012, p. 45). This is theory is shown throughout the book when the young Mr. Moore was influenced by the life of crime that was present in his
In addition to this overview Sutherland outlines nine specific factors which may enhance one’s ability to learn the criminal behaviors but for the purposes of this paper, three of the nine will be analyzed closely;
This experiment is ultimately testing the adult obedience to authority. Only a select few are defiant towards authority because obedience is required for all life. For this test, the subject is told there will be one “teacher,” the one giving the punishment, and one “learner,” the one receiving the punishment. The subject thin...
Differential association theory best explains the burglary deviance. There are many principles associated with this type of learning theory. Edwin Sutherland’s theory discusses how crime is a learned behavior where one’s family, peers, and environment are of great influence. Differential association theory seeks to prove that criminal behavior is learned and this paper will evaluate the connection between the two.
Through Social Learning Theory, an individual can be studied based on the behavior acquired by a role model. Verbal conditioning procedures and observation influences the response to an individual’s personality. Environment factors contribute to the Social Learning Theory. Antisocial model is a major contribute to crime, which influences negative characteristics. The Social Leaning Theory has three core social concepts the must be followed: observational learning, intrinsic reinforcement and modeling process.
Social learning theory assumes that criminal behavior is similar to any human behavior. It can be learned through a socialization process, which occurs when interacting with other individuals or social institutions. The duration, frequency and content of this social interaction leads to shaping people’s attitudes and behaviors towards legal codes. Ronald Akers supports differential association as a significant part of his revised social learning theory that attempts to explain deviance. However, he incorporates additional elements, such as differential reinforcement, imitations, and definitions. In the movie, Training Day, the trainee Officer Jake Hoyt needs to do prove himself and impress Commanding Officer Alonzo Harris in order to obtain
Social Learning Theory is the progression that happens in the course of watching the punishment of others and by deciding if such activity is important enough to replicate (Wallace, n.d.) Fundamentally, this idea supports that individuals discover by examining others. In the 1930s, the Social discovering idea was evolved by Edwin Sutherland, Robert Burgess, Ronald L. Akers, and Daniel Glaser. This group of theorists evolved the discovering idea by distinguishing examples of criminalistic demeanor and the values that escorted these lawless persons, the way in which they dwelled and broadcast they called differential association (Schmalleger, 2012.) Albert Bandura is another theorist that has aided in the development of the idea. Bandura's work put the focus on reciprocal determinism, which focuses on how a person’s behavior, natural environment, and individual features all reciprocally leverage each other. ("Learning- Theories.com", 2012). Bandura evolved a form that involved the following steps. 1. Attention: In order for an individual to discover, they must be adept to pay vigil...
...more stimulus for the individual to learn from (Williams.F. McShane.M.2010.p241). Furthermore, deviance within the labelling theory is defined through society’s norms and value’s, where as the deviance within the learning theory is imitation of deviance from society.
In today’s society, one will find that there are many different factors that go into the development of a criminal mind, and it is impossible to single out one particular cause of criminal behavior. Criminal behavior often stems from both biological and environmental factors. In many cases criminals share similar physical traits which the general population do not usually have. For example criminals have smaller brains than properly adjusted individuals. However biological reasons cannot solely be the cause of criminal behavior. Therefore, one must look to other sources as to how a criminal mind is developed. Social and environmental factors also are at fault for developing a person to the point at which they are lead to committing a criminal act. Often, someone who has committed a violent crime shows evidence of a poorly developed childhood, or the unsuitable current conditions in which the subject lives. In addition if one studies victimology which is the role that the victim plays in the crime, it is apparent that there are many different causes for criminal behavior. Through the examination of biological factors, in addition to the social and environmental factors which make up a criminal mind, one can conclude that a criminal often is born with traits common to those of criminals, it is the environment that exist around them that brings out the criminal within them to commit indecent acts of crime.
Through the Social Learning Theory, one can absorb new behaviors from others or one can form attitudes toward something that can in turn influence behavior. The attitudes we acquire may sometimes be implicit or explicit and depending on the strength of these attitudes and environmental factors, behaviors may come about. If implicit attitudes are strong and an opposing explicit is weak, the behavior will portray the implicit attitude unconsciously.
Behavior and social learning are two theories that are inherently intertwined. Behavior to some extent is taught for social reasons, and social learning can very much shape and create behaviors. While behavior is something intentionally taught, social learning can teach and reinforce many unintentional behaviors, such as dishonesty or aggression. In order to adequately discuss these two interrelated topics, theory exploration is in order.
First deviance is learned through communicative interactions with social groups we belong to. Next one learns the techniques, motives, attitudes, and rationalizations to commit a deviant act. In this step one gets a positive mindset on deviant behavior and learns why they should be deviant. The third step a person learns methods favorable to violating the norms rather than learning how to conform to norms. Next the kind of people we associate with determine the intensity and duration of our deviant attitude and behavior. If one commits deviant behavior with best friends it is more likely that they will continue the deviant behavior. Sutherland states, at the very end of his theory, that deviance and conformity are learned in the same way. They both stem from the same needs and