Unit 6 DB 1 Using Social Learning Theory
Introduction
Social learning theory is a considered an overall theory of crime and criminality and has been used to explain both criminal and non-criminal behavior. One of these youth gangs we will use this theory to understanding the criminal behavior is called the Zoe Pound. They are teenagers and older men in their 20s in this gang. They have become a problem in the last few years mostly because is of all the attention they are receiving all because of a special documentary on this gang that was broadcast on the History Channel. They have appeared in several times on the news in the last 15 years. This gang never stared out as a non-violent gang, and all efforts to control their growth have
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This group is best described by police officers in the ones that rule by committee; uses automatic weapons, uses extreme violence and power-bestowing amulets, and those are just some of their features that differentiate this gang from other criminal gangs in Miami South Florida 's of youth violence.
This gang is organize and is rule by committee rather than a leader, they do not fight amongst themselves, and thereby they do not suffer any type of setback if one of the higher up is arrest or killed (taken out). With such organization this means that means everyone 's a fall guy, and so far they have spread to other major cities like, New York, Atlanta, and Orlando Florida. This gang represents Akers (1998), statement, that the basic assumption behind this theory is that the same learning process can produce both conforming and deviant or delinquent behavior. He also “argues that individuals develop favorable or unfavorable definitions to deviance in interactions with their peers” (Akers, 1998). Thereby, just examine the Zoe Pound gang we can perceive that anyone who is hanging with this group is going to be deviant or display delinquent behavior. One might think that this would be labeling them, but this group is notorious for not letting just anyone hang around them if they are not with their set,
It seems only fitting after exploring the violent exploits of the Aryan Brotherhood, that the next gang to be evaluated is that of the Black Guerilla Family (a sworn enemy of the Aryan Brotherhood). A man named George Jackson initially founded this dangerous gang in 1966 while in the California prison system (Streetgang#1, 2009). It was initially comprised of members from some other gangs that were present during that time (Streetgang#1, 2009). This gangs is profiled to be the most politically oriented of all of the major prison gangs within the United States and at its core are said to be Marxist, Leninist and Maoist beliefs (gangs#1, 2011). One of the gang’s main goals, which conform to these beliefs, is their wish to overthrow the United States government, while eliminating racism in the process (gangs#1, 2011). When it comes to geographic coverage of the Black Guerilla Family, they are most prevalent on both the East and West coasts of the United States, with smaller groups scattered throughout the rest of the country (gangs#1, 2011).
Social Strain Theory and criminal offending are seen by most theorist as a way of understanding what could be the causes of youth committing crimes. Theorist are very concern if social strain theory really does have the answer to why this is happening, but they also believe that the result may be inconclusive, because of all the different variables and independent variables that could be used in their research. We will take a look at this theory, and see if they and ask our participants from the state of Georgia inner-city neighborhoods a few question that they will supply their own answer to, and then ask them an open-ending question face to face and ask them to choose the answer that best state why they might commit a crime or not. If we are able to understand the results then we hope we can implement it into policy. And by incorporating it into policy, then we might be able to design a strategy that will help LEOs or other agencies to reduce youth offending, deter criminal acts and future crimes. Lastly, so with the implementation of social strain theory into the policy and the evaluation of the data, discussion and the questions we can create a foundation for further research studies to build on our results.
Aker wants people to develop motivation to commit crime, and the skills to commit crime through the people they associate with. The social learning is that when people learn bad behavior by watching others and learning from the social factors in their daily lives. They also see with differential association and imitation can be either positive or negative. On the positive side we see when people are rewarded for their action we began to see more crime occur. Though on the negative side we see can still see a lot of crime occur, but when they know what the consequences are for the crime they are less likely to do it again, or even commit a crime. Though the social learning theory gives us four central concepts. They are differential association,
As seen in the video the one mother saw that the gangs were trying to pressure her son into a gang through school and his friends so she moved but the same thing happened once they moved to another school there was no avoiding it. So the kid’s peers have a very high influence on the individual. If the friends are already engaging in delinquent activity then it would be somewhat natural thing for the individual to mimic the same things. The second part of the theory is commitment. The theory explains that participating in activities the promote adherence to societies moral and ethical code of conduct will keep them from participating in delinquent behavior. Most of the kids are not engaging in after school activities or other activities that would promote behavior that is looked up to in society. The next part of the theory is involvement or preoccupation. Herschi related this mainly to school and doing homework to keep the kids occupied so they won’t get caught up in delinquent behavior. But many of these kids aren’t going to school on a regular basis or they gave up on the schooling system so they are not being preoccupied with anything that is beneficial to achieving prosocial bonds. The final part of this theory is belief in the laws and moral code. As the one man said “people in gangs don’t care as long as they’re making money.” By that statement alone you can assume that they will
Why do criminals commit crime? How to we learn to commit crime? These questions can be answered using social learning theory. "Social learning approach is the assumption that all human behavior is socially learned" (Thompson, Bynum 2013 115). The theory of differential association was developed by Edwin Sutherland to try and explain the development of criminal behavior. Essentially what this theory says is that deviant group behavior results from normative conflict. Normative conflict arises when multiple probable rules exist, specifying how one ought to behave in a given situation. Conflicts among norms affect deviant people of a variety of social groups. An individual is part of many social groups including friends, family, and school. Every group has its own set of social norms. Sometimes the norms between these groups can conflict with each other resulting in the possibility of deviant behavior
The social construct of crime - the process constructing crime was subjected to the constraints of a legitimate nature which allowed by law for the fairness between both the powerful and their less powerful counterparts. This was done with specific mechanisms to control the behaviour of the powerful, this process made laws such as environmental laws possible.
Association with Spur Posse gang this gang is a young gang that adults had a big influence on the boys of this gang. Primary groups can produce a dysfunctional adult, with these adult pushing the minors into something they feel is right. I feel like these boys feel loyal to their group even though other people feel like this group is wrong. I feel like the boys feel like this is alright to do when in society it is wrong. The spur posse gang is definitely a clique this is a cluster of boys that interact with each other and they convince other young boys and girls this group is ok. The boys are so brain washed at a young age they don’t know that is could ruin their future. This group has a lot of deviance this group is very illegal and this group should be shut down otherwise educate the young girls on this so they don’t fall into the mind twist of these young boys. This group is a negative sanction they are breaking norms of society which is going to ruin these young boys’ lives and these adults that are letting these young boys act this way.
Social learning, Social control, labeling theory share one key factor, it influences criminal behavior. Another thing these all share is the influences and impact society has on turning an individual into a criminal. The comparisons between these three theories to my knowledge are linked together building off each other. They all seek to understand what makes a person turn to a life of crime. In Social learning explains crime as a learned behavior.
as a general concept, social learning theory has been applied to the many different fields of social science to explain why certain individuals develop motivation to commit (or abstain from) crime and develop the skills to commit crime through the people they associate with. Social Learning Theory (SLT) is one of the most frequently looked at theories in the criminology field. This theory was introduced by Ronald L. Akers as a reformulation of Edwin H. Sutherland 's (1947) differential association theory of crime meld with principles of behavior psychology (Bradshaw, 2011). Akers retained the concepts of differential association and definitions from Sutherland 's theory, but conceptualized them in more behavioral terms and
Gang involvement and its associated violent crime have become a rapidly growing problem for the United States. Generally, gangs consist of young people of the same ethnic, racial, and economic background. Usually of a low socio-economic status, these gangs engage in illegal money making activities and intimidate their neighborhoods and rival gangs with violent crimes and victimization. Gang members exemplify a high value for group loyalty and sacrifice.
Crime is a social construct because it is an idea that is established by a society to control the behaviors of the people within the society (“Radical Concept of Crime”). What is considered to be criminal varies within different area and cultures and even time. Things that were legal two hundred years ago are illegal now. For example, in the 18th and 19th century when slavery was allowed in America, there were a lot of people who saw nothing wrong with it because they had been socialized to accept and justify it. If you ask most Americans now about slavery, they would say that it was a tragedy or that they just cannot understand how it happened. This is because we are now being socialized to think of slavery as wrong. Even though many citizens
Gangs originated naturally during the adolescent years of a child. They started from small play groups that eventually found themselves in conflict with other small groups of youth. Due to the conflict between the two small groups of youth it became a part of a child’s mind set to come together as a gang and protect their rights and satisfy the needs that their environment and families couldn’t provide. There are about 24,500 gangs in the U.S and out of those gangs 40% of them are juveniles (Hess, Orthmann, Wright, 2013). There are numerous reason why a child would join a gang, and the
There are many various types of theories that try explaining why crime continues to occur in everyday society. Although, only one theory in particular throughout my research stood out. This theory is the purpose of this research paper and that theory is the Social Process Theory, also known as the Social learning theory. This theory believes that criminality is a function of a person’s interactions with many organizations, intuitions, and processes in society.
Gangs are becoming prevalent in today’s society and within our schools. More and more young people are turning to gangs in an attempt to escape their everyday lives and the future, which they perceive as dismal and bleak. They are initially attracted to the prestige and cash flow, which is glamorized by the street gang. Many gangs are actively involved in criminal misconduct, such as drug and gun trafficking, burglaries and homicides. However, street gangs are not just a criminal justice issue, but a social problem, which is triggered by poverty, peer pressure, boredom, despair and lacking a sense of belonging.
The influence that certain neighborhoods or environments have on crime has been observed and studied throughout the last two centuries. Many theories, such as the social disintegration theory, have been hypothesized to explain the effects of certain neighborhoods on crime. In addition, other theories have been presented, such as the collective efficacy theory, which serve to explain the reasons for reduced crime in other neighborhoods while presenting possible solutions to solve the problem of crime in society. This paper will explore these two theories and how they not only help explain but also, hopefully, solve the problems of crime and criminal behavior in both youth and our adults.