Criminal Crime Theory Essay

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Recommended: Major theories of criminal behavior

Theories are designed and developed in order to explain the causes and effects of processes and phenomena, as well as to predict likely outcomes. There are many theories that attempt to explain the motives of criminal and deviant behaviours, including strain theory, structural functionalism, and conflict theory (Akers, Krohn, Lanza-Kaduce and Radosevich, 1979). Social learning theory examines the individual learning process, the formation of self, and the influence of society in socialising individuals (Brezina and Piquero, 2002). It is proffered that the formation of one’s identity is a learned response to social stimuli (Brezina and Piquero, 2002). That is, social learning theory postulates that an individual’s identity is not merely the product of the unconscious, but rather the result of modelling oneself in response to the expectations of others. Behaviours and attitudes are theorised to develop in response to the reinforcement and encouragement from the people around us (Jenson and Akers, 2002).
Psychologist Albert Bandura argued that human behaviour is significantly acquired vicariously through the process of modelling, whereby humans learn through the observation of others, and either imitating or avoiding their behaviours (Bandura, 1969). In relation to deviant behaviours social learning theory postulates that there are three core mechanisms by which individuals learn to engage in crime; differential reinforcement, beliefs favourable to crime and modelling (Jenson and Akers, 2002).
Differential reinforcement of crime refers to the notion that individuals can teach others to engage in deviant behaviour by reinforcing or punishing certain behaviours (Winfree, Bäckström and Mays, 1994). According to Akers (1973) individuals ...

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... of Criminology, 2006).
Conclusively, sociological attention on the study of deviance has provided various explanations of crime, such as social learning theory, which provide a strong theoretical framework through empirical research and ongoing anecdotal evidence in arguing that criminal behaviour is learned behaviour (Brezina and Piquero, 2002). While statistical analyses of adolescent offending in 2013 appears to further support this notion (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2013; NSW Recorded Crime Statistics, 2013; Western Australia Police, 2014; Victoria Police, 2013), it would be a correlative-based fallacy (Richardson, 2012) to assume all deviant behaviour is rooted solely in social learning and modelling in favour of examining all behavioural determinants and risk factors (Winfree, Bäckström and Mays, 1994).

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